That Rae could have stolen the security away from Lara and Davey was too much for her. Quinn was supposed to be helping them through a hard time in life, not making it worse.

  Once the kids were dropped off at school the next morning and Max at work, Quinn stayed in town, but pulled into the grocery store parking lot and made a call to Karl. There was no response, just his voicemail. She hoped that was a good sign. That maybe he was at work.

  Her next call was to an old number she still had. One that she had wanted to forget but kept in her phone anyway. That way she’d always know if Rae tried to call her. Her phone even said Rae, not Mom. She didn’t deserve that title.

  For all she knew, Rae could have changed her number, but she wouldn’t know unless she dialed it.

  Taking a deep breath, she pressed the call button and waited. After a few rings, the call was picked up. “Yeah.”

  Same shrill voice from her nightmares. “Where are you?” Quinn asked.

  “Who the hell is this?” Rae asked. Quinn wasn’t surprised her mother had no clue it was her oldest daughter calling.

  “You know who it is. Where are you?” she asked again.

  The nasty smoker’s cough sounded on the other end this time. “So the princess has decided to make contact.”

  Princess. Yeah, that’s right; she was a damn princess in her mother’s eyes. The only person who ever thought that and Quinn could never figure out why. “Answer my question.”

  “Why do you care where I am?” Rae asked over the TV Quinn could hear in the background.

  “You know why.”

  There was some hesitation on the phone, then her mother finally gave her the address of a run-down motel right outside of Lake Placid. Damn it.

  ***

  Max was just getting ready to walk into his office when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw a Chicago phone number.

  Not knowing anyone from that area, he was just going to send it to voicemail, but something in the back of his mind told him to take it.

  “Hello,” he said.

  “Is this Dr. Hamilton? Max Hamilton?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  “This is Lily Baker. Quinn’s sister. I’m sorry to bother you.”

  “No bother. What can I do for you, Lily?”

  “Do you know where my sister is? I need to reach her and she isn’t answering her phone. It’s important.”

  He heard the urgency in her voice. “What’s going on, Lily? Tell me what’s wrong.”

  There was hesitation on the other end. “I don’t know if I should say.”

  “You can tell me anything if it concerns Quinn. Is she in trouble? Are you in trouble?”

  “No, it’s not me. Quinn told me about your robbery and I was calling to warn her.”

  “Warn her about what?” Max asked, confused.

  “Quinn is going to meet our mother. I know she is. She needs to know our mother isn’t alone. She shouldn’t go meet with her.”

  “How do you know this?” Max asked. He didn’t like where any of this was going. Last he knew Quinn had no contact with her mother at all. Neither did Lily.

  “Brett called me. Our brother. He spoke to Quinn last night. He knows where our mother is and he’s positive Quinn is going to confront her. She believes our mother is responsible for your robbery.”

  “Tell me the address. I’ll call her now. Don’t worry, Lily. Everything will be fine.”

  Max ran out of the office, dialing Quinn on the way.

  ***

  Quinn saw her phone ringing on the passenger seat, saw Max’s name, and let it go to voicemail. She couldn’t deal with him right now. She wasn’t sure how she was going to deal with anything after today.

  Illness and nerves were rushing through her on the drive, but nothing was as strong as the anger she felt.

  How could Rae do this? Or better yet, why? “How” was easy enough—Rae never cared about anyone but herself. But why would Rae come all this distance? To take a shot at Quinn? She hadn’t spoken to Rae in longer than she could remember.

  Hell, Quinn did her best to run whenever her mother got too close. There was no reason for them to talk or see each other. They had nothing to say to each other in Quinn’s mind.

  She pulled outside the rundown motel and parked Max’s car. She should have gone home to get her own car for this, but she hadn’t thought she’d be in this situation right now.

  As much as she wanted to confront Rae, she hadn’t really thought it all out. If it weren’t for the kids, and even Max, she’d be long gone. She would have packed up her belongings and taken off faster than she could blink and kept driving until she was far enough away.

  That was how she ended up in Lake Placid. Whenever Rae got close, Quinn got in the car and drove, no destination in mind. The little calls and messages over the years were always enough for Quinn to move.

  She’d stop and stay if she could find a job and a place to live, until she earned some more money. Until it was time to flee again.

  Lake Placid had never been on her radar before, but it was so far north and with not much really there, or on the way, she figured it was far enough away that her mother would never find her.

  She should have known better though. Rae had her nails sunk into Karl, and Karl was still in contact with Brett. There was no escaping it, unless she cut off ties with her siblings, and she refused to do that. They were all she had left.

  Getting out of the car, Quinn made her way to the room number and knocked. It was only a matter of seconds before her mother opened the door wide. “That didn’t take you long at all. I’m surprised it took you so long to figure out it was me.”

  “I had no reason to think you would have broken into Max’s house or the other three houses on the lake. I just found the note yesterday.”

  “I don’t know why you didn’t think it. You’re never going to get away from me. Why you keep trying is beyond me.”

  Quinn looked at the woman who gave birth to her twenty-seven years ago. Rae was thinner than she used to be. Too many years of drugs and alcohol mixed in with cigarettes. Food had never been high on Rae’s priority list. Least of all feeding her kids.

  The bedazzled flared skinny jeans her mother had on were more suited for a teen and even then they hung on her mother’s frail frame. Rae’s top was old and dirty…ratty was probably a better word. For someone who’d stolen what she had, she didn’t spend any money on clothing.

  “What do you want with me?” Quinn asked. “Why can’t you just let us all live our own lives? Why do you have to keep coming back around?”

  “Because you ruined it for me,” Rae spat out. “So I’m going to return the favor.”

  “What’s all the yelling?” a strange man asked, walking out of the bathroom. He was just as dirty looking as her mother, but much bigger. “Who’s this?”

  “Freddie, this is my daughter Quinn. You know, the one in that big house on the lake. The first house we hit.” Rae laughed. “That doctor’s ten thousand dollars has held us over good.”

  Quinn hadn’t realized her mother wasn’t alone and started to regret her impulsive decision to come here. Sensing trouble, she reached into her pocket and started to press buttons. She’d left the screen open with Max’s last call and prayed she was doing the right thing.

  “You should have left town when you could. Why stay here?”

  “I stayed for you, princess. Why else?” Rae snarled.

  “She’s kind of cute, Rae. I’m not sure why you always talk so bad about her.” Freddie leered at her. “Why don’t you stay and have a good time with us, darling?”

  “Never,” Quinn said, repulsed, then turned her head back to Rae. “You know you’ll only get caught.”

  “No one in this bumcrap town is smart enough to catch Freddie. He’s got a history of breaking and entering. Nice clean jobs we had. I read in the paper they thought it was drifters that were long gone. They got half of it right.”

  Quinn was losing her patience. “Just take your stuff and leave and I won’t turn you in.”

  “What? You want to take something else from me again. That’s all you ever do is take shit from me!” Rae shouted.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You ruined everything, Quinn. You had to go and be careless and get caught stealing. You had to get the cops involved.”

  It was the last straw. “Caught stealing!” Quinn screamed. “You’re joking, right? Maybe if you’d stayed around and fed us or took care of us, left us some money, something, I wouldn’t have had to steal to take care of everyone.”

  “You could have been better at it though,” Rae replied, snorting. “Your father was a pro until he got caught. Still in prison, last I knew. Never could master it the way I wanted him to.”

  That was the first Quinn had ever heard anything about the man who’d fathered her. Yeah, she knew he was jail. All of their fathers were. Rae had a thing for dangerous lowlives. Other than that, Quinn was clueless. She didn’t know her father’s name and never thought to ask. It’s not like Rae ever talked about their fathers or even gave them their names. Only Karl had a different last name.

  “I was a kid. You think I wanted to steal? You think I liked doing that? I was hungry! We were hungry. Someone had to take care of us and it sure the hell wasn’t going to be you.”

  “This is boring,” Freddie said, sitting down on the bed and flipping through channels on the TV, ignoring them, which was just fine with Quinn.

  “I didn’t even want you little brats. I left enough for you. You needed to learn to survive on your own.”

  “I did. I could, but Lily was just two. Why even have us if you didn’t want us?” Quinn asked, though she wasn’t sure why she was bothering. It didn’t matter at this point.

  Rae shrugged. “I’d had a few abortions already. I didn’t want to risk anymore. Besides, the more kids I had, the more money I was getting from the government. That is until you went and got caught. You were all taken away then, along with the money I was getting.”

  “That’s what this is about?” Quinn asked, stunned. “You hate me. You’ve followed me everywhere you could because you think I caused you to lose a few hundred dollars a month in public support? That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “You wouldn’t understand!” Rae yelled. “I was saddled with you four rugrats. I left what I felt was enough. The rest I had to go earn on my own.”

  “Earn on your own? By what, selling drugs, your body, or whatever else you did?”

  “You aren’t one to judge. Living all high and mighty in that nice house there. I saw some nice clothes, lotions and such in that room. You’re sleeping with your boss, too. I can tell. Don’t judge me when you’re no different. Deep down you’re still a thief and a whore.”

  She refused to let the tears burning her eyes fall. She was nothing like her mother. She’d never been anything like Rae and she never would. “I love him! You don’t know what that is like. You’ve never loved anyone but yourself.”

  “Mom. What’s going on?”

  Quinn spun around when the door opened to see her brother standing there.

  “Karl, what are you doing here?”

  She hoped to God that Karl didn’t have anything to do with what her mother had done in the last week.

  “We came to see you,” he said. “Mom told me we were going to visit.”

  Karl looked at Rae, who was laughing at him, then back to Freddie on the bed, who wasn’t paying attention to anything at the moment.

  “You know I don’t talk to her, Karl. You know I don’t want to see her. Why would you believe she was coming to visit me?” Quinn asked.

  Karl was looking upset. She hadn’t seen him in years and he looked rough now. Rougher than she remembered him looking. Then again, time in jail could do that to you.

  “I had hoped—”

  “Karl always believed everything I said to him. Unlike you and the other two I birthed.”

  “Do you know what you’ve done?” Quinn asked Rae. “How could you bring Karl with you to do this?”

  “He didn’t rob anyone. He’s too much of a chickenshit,” Freddie said, getting a laugh out of Rae. “I wanted to leave his sorry ass a few towns back.”

  “Yeah,” Rae added. “He stayed back here at the motel. Said he wanted no part of it and didn’t want to go back to jail. Wah, wah, wah. He’s too stupid to realize he’s an accessory now and it doesn’t matter. If Quinn turns us in, Karl, you’ll go back to jail. Is that what you want, Quinn? You want to play a part in sending your brother back to jail?” Rae asked sweetly.

  She should have known her mother would do this. It was her end game. Her ace in the hole to get away with something.

  “I don’t want to go back to jail, Quinn,” Karl said, pleading with her. “Don’t send me back.”

  She couldn’t worry about it though. She couldn’t think about Karl, or Freddie, or Rae. She only had herself to think about now, and she had to do what was right. What she did most of her life.

  If she went outside of her values, she’d be no better than Rae right now.

  “It’s not up to me,” Quinn said.

  The timing couldn’t have been any worse when there was pounding at the door, then a shout. “Police, open up.”

  “Do what they say, Karl. Don’t fight,” Quinn said when she saw the panicked look in his eyes.

  “How could you?” Karl asked. “How could you call them?”

  “I didn’t,” Quinn said.

  “I told you she’s nothing but a snitch,” Rae snarled. “Do something, Freddie.”

  Quinn looked over and saw Freddie pull a gun out from under the bed, wondering what she’d gotten herself into.

  “Police,” Quinn heard again. “Open up or we’re breaking the door down.”

  “Put your hands up, Karl. Please don’t fight them. I’ll help you. I promise,” Quinn said, pleading with him to not make it worse.

  The door burst open and Quinn stood still, her hands in the air. She knew enough to not fight and prayed she’d make it out alive.

  The police rushed in, guns pointed in every direction. Freddie lifted his gun and the police fired, hitting him in the shoulder. Rae was smart enough to drop to her knees on the floor. Even Karl backed against the wall and didn’t fight anyone.

  It wasn’t long before all four of them were cuffed and being led out of the motel when a sheriff’s car came to a screeching stop. The sheriff that interviewed them from the robbery climbed out, followed by Max.

  The last thing she ever wanted was for Max to know how bad her life really was, but there was nothing she could do about it now. It was all over.

  Never

  Max swore fifty years were shaved off his life when he heard the gunshot. “Drive faster,” he told Sheriff Miles.

  Trevor had grunted at him, but hit the gas just the same. Max had hoped they’d get there first, not the State Troopers that Trevor had called the minute Max explained what was going on.

  When he jumped out of the car and saw Quinn being led away in cuffs, he started to rush forward, but Trevor pulled him back. “Let it go. Don’t aggravate them. We’ll take care of it.”

  “But she’s innocent,” Max argued.

  “Trust me on this. Let it go. We’ll get it taken care of back at the station.”

  Max had no choice but to follow the advice, and trust Trevor knew what he was doing.

  Once all four of them were in the cars and driven away, Trevor walked up to the trooper in charge. “I’ve got a recording of everything that’s gone on in that room for the last ten minutes.”

  “How did you get that?”

  “Quinn Baker called me from her phone,” Max said. “No one must have been aware, but it was on speaker phone and I recorded it. She’s innocent. The young girl is innocent.”

  “We’ll take that recording from you and go from there when we get back to the station. For now, we’re going to search these two rooms for the stolen property.”

  Max was helpless to do anything else other than stay there and watch as they went through both rooms and brought out cash that was most likely his, along with several pieces of jewelry and drugs. None of the electronics were around at this point.

  “Max, why don’t you ride back to the station with one of the troopers? I’ve got to stay and take care of things here. Give them your phone and just relax. It’s going to be a long process, but we’ll get it straightened out.”

  There was nothing Max could do other than get to the station and see Quinn, so he left. On the ride back he made a call to his lawyer, then got a recommendation for a defense attorney and arranged to have them there for Quinn within minutes.

  Though the ride to the station didn’t take long and the attorney was there waiting for them, it was over an hour before Quinn was released and Max could hold her.

  She came out crying and his heart broke. “I’m so sorry, Max,” she said, sobbing on his chest. “I never meant to bring this to you.”

  “You didn’t,” he said, his hand running up and down her back. “You couldn’t have known this would happen.”

  “I should have, though. I should have left when I knew she might have been in town looking for me months ago. I should have left when we got back last week.”

  The thought of her leaving him had his arms holding her tighter. No way, never. She wasn’t leaving him, not if he had anything to say about it.

  “We’ll get it taken care of. You aren’t being charged with anything. You didn’t do anything wrong. Stupid, sure. It was stupid of you to go there alone, but stupidity isn’t against the law.”

  She snorted. “It should be in my case.”

  He leaned back and lifted her chin, placing his lips to hers. “We’ll get through this.”

  The attorney that Max had hired for her came out a few minutes later, looking like he was going to leave. Quinn rushed over to him. “Wait. Can I retain you, or whatever, for my brother?”