Out of the corner of his eye, Kaden could see Lia had at last reached the bunk beds.

  “Actually, your problems are just about to start,” he drawled.

  The words had barely left his lips when he heard Lia abruptly call out, “Kaden!”

  With a confused frown, Kaden started to turn in her direction. It was only then that he heard the footsteps directly behind him.

  Too late.

  The pain exploded in the back of his head as something hard smashed into his skull. He had enough time to curse himself for not having searched the rest of the building to make sure there weren’t more bad guys hiding in the dark before he was tumbling forward to land face-first on the wooden floor.

  Rookie mistake . . .

  Chapter 29

  Lia had been reasonably confident in their chances of surviving the encounter with Jolene. As long as Kaden was with her, she felt strong enough to face any demon. Including one with a puff of blond hair and deceptive dimples. Plus, she’d taken the opportunity to dial 911 on the cell phone she had tucked in the pocket of her parka while the older woman was distracted. She’d been forced to turn the sound down so Jolene couldn’t hear the operator. And because she couldn’t risk pulling the phone out of her pocket to explain what was happening, she had to hope they hadn’t already hung up, assuming it was some sort of prank call.

  Now, she wasn’t nearly so confident as she watched in horror as Kaden crumpled to the ground. Dammit. She’d been so focused on inching her way toward the bunk beds, she hadn’t noticed Sunny enter the room until she was swinging a heavy board toward the back of his head.

  Why hadn’t they searched the building . . . no.

  Lia shoved aside futile recriminations. What was the point? Nothing was going to change the fact that Kaden was knocked out cold and it was up to her to keep them alive.

  And there was only one way to do it.

  With a rush of adrenaline, Lia dove toward the bunk beds and knocked the suitcase aside. The pile of money spilled onto the floor as she grabbed the gun, along with several passports and a burner phone. Clearly, Tate Erickson had prepared for the day he might have to go on the run. His only mistake was marrying a woman with more brains and bigger balls than him.

  Wrapping her fingers around the grip of the weapon, she pointed it directly at Jolene, hoping no one could tell she didn’t know what the hell she was doing.

  “Put your gun down,” she commanded, her voice remarkably steady as she kept her gaze trained on Jolene. She had to assume Sunny would have shot Kaden if she had a weapon.

  “Don’t be a fool,” the older woman chided. “I’m willing to pull the trigger. Are you?”

  It was a direct challenge. Like a deadly game of chicken. Lia instinctively understood she had no choice but to play.

  “Let’s find out. On the count of three.” With a cold smile, Lia swung her arm until the gun was pointed at Sunny. “One, two—”

  “Don’t!” Jolene cried out, the word sharp with genuine horror.

  Lia swallowed a sigh of relief. Certainly, this was far from over, but even if the cops weren’t coming, Kaden could wake up at any moment. And the Jeep was outside running, she reminded herself. It wasn’t that late at night. Someone might come along and see the vehicle. They would be certain to stop to see if they needed help.

  She just had to stay alive until then.

  “I’m confused,” she forced herself to say in mocking tones. If Jolene had time to think, she might realize that the longer this encounter went on, the more chance there was of her being caught. “You came here to murder your husband and you brought along your daughter?”

  “It’s not the first time she brought me to a murder,” the younger woman drawled.

  “Sunny, hush,” Jolene snapped.

  Lia turned her head to study the teenager. She was wearing a heavy coat with a knit scarf wrapped around her neck, but there was a dark flush staining her cheeks. Was she cold? Or excited by the sight of her father’s dead body? Maybe both.

  “It’s true.” Sunny ignored her mother, flashing a smug smile in Lia’s direction. “Not that I recall much. I was only three. But I have a vivid memory of seeing my mother’s body curled under the frozen bush.”

  Lia gasped, her stomach clenching into a painful knot as she realized the extent of the perverted relationship between the two women. Jolene had not only invited her daughter to witness the murder of her father, she’d brought her to this place when she was just a baby to watch her mother being killed.

  What sort of psychopath did that?

  Jolene made a sound of annoyance. “She wasn’t your mother.”

  “No,” Sunny hastily agreed, as if anxious to avoid provoking Jolene’s temper. Lia didn’t blame her. “You have always been my true mom.”

  “That’s just . . .” Lia shuddered. “Sick.”

  Sunny hissed in outrage. “Shut up, bitch.”

  “Sunny!” Jolene called out, her gaze on the gun clenched in Lia’s fingers. “Be careful.”

  With an effort, Lia bit back her words of disgust. She wanted them distracted, not angry.

  “It makes sense to kill your husband.” Reluctantly, Lia forced herself to glance toward the dead body just a few feet away. Bile rose in her throat, but she managed to maintain her composure as she returned her attention to Jolene. “Why run over Drew?”

  Jolene shook her head. “I didn’t.”

  “I did,” Sunny announced in proud tones, shrugging as her mother clicked her tongue in warning. “We’re going to kill her, aren’t we? Who cares if she knows the truth?”

  Lia hissed in shock. “You ran over Drew?”

  “I did.”

  “Why?”

  Sunny tossed her dark curls, her expression defiant. “He came to our house a few hours after he found the skeleton. I assumed he was there to brag. That was the only thing he was good at. Well, that and ramming his head into players on the football field, I suppose.”

  Lia ignored the girl’s disgusting lack of guilt for nearly killing Drew. She was more interested in why he would go to Sunny’s house. It wasn’t like the two of them were friends.

  “He wasn’t there to brag?”

  “He did that.” Sunny curled her lips in disgust. “But he found something on the skeleton.”

  “What was it?”

  “A leather satchel that held a picture of me.” The pale blue eyes shimmered with sudden anger. Unlike Jolene, this girl was filled with fire, not ice. Lia, however, didn’t doubt she was equally dangerous. “Along with my official birth certificate, signed by Tate Erickson and Vanna Zimmerman.”

  “He knew Jolene wasn’t your mother,” Lia breathed.

  “I am her mother,” Jolene reprimanded her in frigid tones.

  Lia ignored her. “What did Drew want?”

  “Money, of course.” Sunny lifted her hand to stifle an exaggerated yawn. “So predictable.”

  Lia grimaced. She had no difficulty imagining Drew Hurst searching the skeleton for valuables. Or using what he’d discovered to try to make some extra cash. He obviously didn’t have a clue he was dealing with a family of liars, psychopaths, and cold-blooded killers.

  “So you hit him with your car?”

  “What else could I do?” Sunny looked disgusted. “I knew he’d never keep his fat mouth shut. He’d be blabbing all over town that the skeleton was my mother. It’s a pain in the ass he didn’t die like he was supposed to.”

  “A loose end we need to tie up,” Jolene drawled, as if Drew was a piece of trash, not a young man she’d known since he was born.

  “Yes,” Sunny agreed, an ugly smile twisting her lips as she glanced down at Kaden’s unmoving form. “When we’re done here.”

  Lia shuddered. She’d always wondered whether it was nature or nurture that formed the personality of a child. After all, she didn’t have any connection to her father’s family. Did that mean they had no impact on who she became as a person?

  Now she knew without a doubt.

  Sunny didn’t have any blood ties with Jolene, but she’d developed her psychopathic tendencies.

  Imagining the girl’s pleasure when she rammed into poor Drew with her car, Lia abruptly recalled a question that had been nagging at her.

  “Did you steal Drew’s pocketknife?”

  “Yep. I gave him five hundred dollars to get him to hand over the birth certificate. I wanted it back,” Sunny readily admitted. “After I ran him over, I got out of the car and pulled the money out of his pocket. I didn’t know I had his knife until I was driving away.”

  Lia was still puzzled. “Why did you use it to vandalize Kaden’s Jeep?”

  “I wanted your boyfriend out of town.”

  “How could slashing his tires get him out of town?”

  Sunny shrugged, as if she hadn’t really given her impulsive decision much thought. “I hoped it would scare him.”

  “Is that the same reason you threw a rock at me?”

  Without warning, Sunny released a high-pitched giggle. As if the memory of hitting Lia with the rock was hysterical.

  “I was hoping it would bash your head in.”

  Lia felt another shudder race through her. It was no wonder the sporadic attacks had all seemed so strange and childish. Sunny was a spoiled, immature brat who wallowed in her unstable emotions.

  The question now was what other crimes she had committed.

  “Did you kill Judge Armstrong?”

  “Of course I did.” Sunny glanced toward her mother, as if seeking the older woman’s approval. It was only when Jolene offered a small nod of her head that the girl returned her attention to Lia. “I overheard a meeting he had with my dad. It was obvious he intended to squeal like a pig to whoever would listen to save his own neck. As if he had anything to live for, the senile old shit.” Sunny stuck her finger in her mouth, as if she was gagging. “I couldn’t risk having anyone with actual brains poking their nose into our business.”

  Lia narrowed her gaze. It wasn’t much of a reason to kill the old man, she conceded. As Sunny had pointed out, the judge wasn’t as sharp as he’d once been and few people took him seriously. It was doubtful he could have done much damage.

  Had Sunny decided to murder him simply because she wanted to? That seemed the most reasonable explanation.

  “So you hid in the garage and bashed in his head,” Lia said, using Sunny’s own words. “Then you placed something on the accelerator to make it look like an accident, right?”

  “Very good. Cord taught me that handy-dandy trick.”

  “He knew what you were doing?” Lia’s brows snapped together. Cord Walsh could be a troublemaker, but he was usually following Drew’s lead. And she’d never heard that he was violent.

  “That idiot? Hardly.” Sunny rolled her eyes. “We were at a pizza party together and he was telling some kids that he was going to ram his truck into a tree to get the insurance money. He said all he had to do was wedge a brick against the gas pedal and put it in gear. It seemed simple enough. Not that the loser ever did it. He’s still driving around that piece of shit.”

  “If he’s such a loser, why spend time with him?” Lia demanded.

  “Because he did anything I asked. And I mean anything. The stupid idiot is like an eager puppy, falling over his own feet to make me happy.”

  Ah. That certainly made more sense than Sunny being interested in a boy who was destined to be a dairy farmer.

  “You used him. . . .” Lia’s words died on her lips as she realized Cord wasn’t the only boy Sunny had manipulated to get what she wanted. “You were driving his truck when you threw that brick at me.”

  “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, just that I wanted you hurt. Or dead,” Sunny confessed with a shrug. “But I couldn’t risk being spotted by one of those nosy bitches who are always roaming around town, so I told Cord I wanted to go buy a bag of weed and I didn’t want to take my parents’ car.” She laughed. “Guys are so easy, aren’t they? Especially guys in this town. One smile and I have them wrapped around my little finger.”

  Lia couldn’t argue with that. She didn’t doubt for a second that the boys in Pike were willing to do whatever Sunny asked.

  “Why would you poison me?” she demanded instead.

  Sunny’s smile faded, a hint of irritation darkening her eyes. “You kept digging into the past. You and your boyfriend had to be stopped somehow. I noticed your vehicles were missing from the alley and it seemed the perfect opportunity to get rid of both of you. After all, Wayne conveniently left the key to the shop where I could find it. Such an idiot.”

  Lia ground her teeth as fury blasted through her. She wanted to reach out and slap the little bitch. Anyone could have eaten those cookies. Even Della, who was in the store every day. At her age, there was no way she would have survived.

  Wisely, Lia bit back her words of condemnation. She wasn’t sure Sunny had the moral capacity to understand what she did was wrong. Besides, she still had more questions.

  “Is that why you killed Ryan Burke?”

  Waiting for Sunny to brag about yet another murder, Lia was caught off guard when Jolene interrupted the conversation.

  “She didn’t. I did.”

  Lia glanced back at the older woman, a combination of shock and horror and disbelief making her feel nauseated.

  “Quite the murderous tag team, aren’t you?” she accused, her voice harsh in the frigid air. Jolene arched a plucked brow, her expression indifferent. “Why kill him?”

  “It was becoming increasingly obvious that someone was going to be blamed for killing Vanna,” she pointed out. “Why not my faithless husband?”

  “You intended to frame Tate for the murder?”

  “It was easy enough. All I needed was the proof of Vanna’s blackmail and the picture of Tate and Vanna I’d given him.”

  Lia blinked at the woman’s cunning. She didn’t know what was scarier. The fact that Jolene was a psychopath. Or the fact that she was clever enough to avoid getting caught.

  “You put the envelope in Kaden’s Jeep,” Lia said, speaking more to herself than Jolene.

  The older woman glanced down at Kaden. “He kept threatening to go to the FBI. I assumed he would eventually get around to handing the evidence over to the authorities. I followed him from the hospital in Grange, and when he went into the store, I dropped the envelopes into his vehicle.”

  “Why bash in Ryan’s head?” Lia asked, her voice louder than necessary. She wanted Jolene’s attention on her, not the unconscious Kaden. “I’m sure he would have handed it over.”

  As she’d hoped, Jolene looked up, her expression puzzled. As if she didn’t understand why Lia was asking the question. Obviously, in her mind, it was perfectly reasonable to murder anyone who might be a threat to her role as mother.

  “He knew I didn’t give birth to Vanna. He was . . .”

  “A loose end,” Lia finished for her.

  “Exactly.” Jolene stepped forward. “Just like you and your lover.”

  * * *

  Kaden swallowed a curse as he felt a cramp twisting his calf muscles into a painful knot. He’d been alert for several minutes, watching the situation from beneath lowered lashes. He was waiting for the right time to make his move. Annoyingly, he didn’t know what his move was going to be. Or when he would know the time was right.

  His body, however, had just made the decision for him.

  The freezing temperature in the building combined with the hard floorboards were causing his muscles to stiffen. Soon it would affect his mobility. If he was going to do something, it had to be now.

  The thought was still forming in his foggy mind when he heard the distant sound of sirens blasting through the night air. They were growing louder with every second, and Kaden allowed himself a tiny spark of hope they were the calvary riding to their rescue.

  At the same moment, there was a loud creak of the floorboards. Obviously, Jolene had heard the sirens as well and was instinctively turning toward the window.

  A grim smile curved Kaden’s lips. At last the bitch had made a mistake. Not only had she taken her attention off Lia, she’d lowered the gun to her side. Now it was up to him to make her pay.

  Planting his hands flat on the floor, Kaden used his considerable strength to shove himself upright in one smooth motion. Or at least as smooth as possible, considering he was cold and cramped and amped on adrenaline.

  Sensing his movement, Jolene whirled back in alarm, but she was too late. Kaden was already lunging forward, lowering his shoulder to jam it into the center of her chest and using his leverage to lift her off her feet. It wasn’t a trick he’d learned as a stuntman. This was pure street fighting.

  Barreling forward, Kaden slammed the smaller woman into the wall with enough force to crack the decayed paneling and dislodge a layer of dirt from the exposed rafters.

  Kaden, however, barely noticed the cloud of dust and debris that clogged the air. He was far more concerned with the deafening boom as Jolene managed to pull the trigger. The shot wasn’t unexpected, but he wasn’t prepared for the shocked scream that immediately followed the blast.

  Shit. Kaden had been convinced that Jolene was at an angle from which she couldn’t do any damage, even if she did get off a shot. With his heart lodged painfully in his throat, he jerked his head to the side. A second later, relief surged through him as he caught sight of Lia. She appeared shaken but unharmed as she stared down at the floor.

  Lowering his gaze, he discovered what held her horrified attention. A startled curse was wrenched from his lips as Kaden caught sight of Sunny, crumpled next to her dead father. Blood was pouring from a bullet wound in the center of her chest and her face was unnaturally pale in the firelight.

  There was another scream that threatened to burst Kaden’s eardrums as Jolene realized what she’d done.

  “No!” she wailed, collapsing against Kaden as if she’d lost the will to live.