Chapter 3 - THE GOLD WATCH
“Dean never took that watch off,” I said. The air in the diner felt instantly heavier, thick with a truth I hadn’t wanted to see.
“People change, Kaylee,” Mercer said smoothly, slipping the watch back into his uniform pocket. “Dean needed cash to start his new life away from this place. Away from you. I bought it off him.”
“You’re lying.”
Mercer picked up his pistol. He didn’t point it at me, but he rested his hand on the grip. “I’m giving you until sunrise. The storm will break, the bank will open, and you will sign this deed, or you and your boy lose everything.”
He turned and walked out into the rain.
The door clicked shut. Outside, two of the unmarked SUVs pulled to the edge of the parking lot, blocking the highway exit. They were boxing us in.
Dominic Vale stepped out of the shadows.
He looked at the door, then at me. “You know that man.”
“He’s the sheriff.”
“He is not a sheriff,” Dominic said quietly. “He is a butcher with a badge.”
“What do you mean?”
Dominic touched his bandaged side. “The men chasing us tonight. The ones who ambushed my convoy on the interstate. They were not a rival family. They were wearing tactical gear. They were local police.”
A chill rushed down my spine. Mercer’s men.
“Why would the sheriff ambush a mob boss?” I asked.
“Because I am moving through his territory, and he is protecting something,” Dominic said. He looked around my diner, his dark eyes analyzing the worn floorboards, the cracked ceiling. “He wants this building. Why?”
“It’s just a diner. We barely make rent.”
“Men like that do not extort waitresses for cheap land. There is a reason.”
Before I could answer, a small voice echoed from the hallway.
“Mommy?”
Toby stood there. He wasn’t holding his rabbit. He was holding a small, rusted metal lockbox.
I rushed over to him. “Bug, I told you to stay in bed.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” Toby whispered, rubbing his eyes. “The bad man with the star was here.”
He held the lockbox out to me. It was heavy. It looked like it had been buried in dirt.
“Where did you get this, Toby?” I asked, my heart pounding.
“Daddy gave it to me,” Toby said softly. “A long time ago. The night he went away. He said to hide it in my toy chest. He said if the bad man with the star ever came inside the diner, I had to give it to you.”
May you like
Answer one. Open two. Dean hadn’t abandoned us because he stopped loving us. He had run because he was in danger.
But what had he left behind?
