Page 101 of The Heir

“He said if I made any noise, he’d tell the father of the baby that I’m carrying now that I do drugs. He said he’d see that both of my children were taken from me. I don’t want to do this anymore. I can’t do this anymore.”

The desperation in that woman’s voice had me lifting from the stool and heading that way. The phone was hanging limp in May’s arm, and his gaze was fixed on the office door too. His pupils were blown, leaving him looking much like Mackie had that first night we met.

“Hey, Mackie,” May drew, throwing his tone in a way that made it clear he wanted a word.

Mackie was holding a very distressed Nikki. She was clinging to him, and I couldn’t see her face, but I could see him. He was furious, his brows stitched with rage and his jaw tense.

“I ain’t no dope whore, Mackie. I swear I ain’t no dope whore. I never touched drugs since I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. I gave all that up to be a mom, I swear to God.” She wailed. “I tried to be strong. I tried. I went there and kicked on his door until he answered it, and I tried to fight him for her, but he beat the fuck out of me. He poured gas on me while I was seeing stars and laid out on the ground. I could smell it and taste it as it splashed into my mouth– and when I managed to get my eyes open, my daughter was watching from the trailer window.”

“Mackie, where the fuck is this clown?” May snapped.

Makaveli groaned and swigged from his beer bottle. He laid one forearm on my shoulder and leaned toward me so no one else would hear.

“You ready?”

“Hmm?”

“I said are you ready?” He pointedly sniffed, “Where the fuck is that forty-five?”

I reached behind me, beneath the kutte, and he stilled my hand.

“Nah, not yet.” He patted my shoulder and cleared his throat.

Mackie grew quiet and stared out at his father from the office over the top of Nikki’s bowed head. He didn’t say anything, he locked eyes with Makaveli and his father lifted his chin in somesilent understanding that sent March stomping from behind the bar.

“Where did you find her?” I whispered, once she’d made it to my side.

“She was walking on the highway.”

“She was driving–” I pointed out.

March nodded, “I couldn’t leave her out there like that, and she wouldn’t get in the passenger seat, and she was freaking the fuck out thinking he was going to come after her. She wasn’t going to trust her life to my hands, or anyone’s— Except Mackie, apparently.”

“Alright, alright, listen–” Mackie spoke up. “You’re gonna call him, Nikki. Tell him you ain’t got nowhere to go.”

“Wh–? I can’t, I can’t go back there–” She instantly flew back to level ten panic.

He shushed her, and took her by the shoulders, “You tell him you’re willing to pay whatever price he wants to make shit right, and you get back in that house with your daughter, Nikki. And when he goes to bed, you stay up. And when you let me in, you’ll go wake your daughter up–”

“He’s not going to let me.”

“He’ll be asleep.”

“What if she asks questions?” Nikki sounded so helpless and scared.

“Tell her there is a fire,” Mackie offered without hesitation.

“A fire–” Nikki’s face gently contorted with confusion.

“There will be.” Mackie nodded, encouraging her to accept the orders he’d laid at her feet. He caressed her face, and then clutched it like she belonged to him, drawing the woman’s haunted, green eyes to his face.

The terror and uncertainty in their depths broke my heart. Somewhere, in a trailer with a waste of air that clearly never deserved a woman, let alone a daughter, her little girl was probably wondering if she’d ever see her mother again.

“She’s four?” I whispered, drawing everyone’s attention toward me.

Nikki nodded and curled her head toward her lap, covering herself with her hands while her body rocked with silent sobs.

My gaze met Mackie’s, as the memories of mob terror at such a tender age came back to me. What the fuck made a woman afraid to call the law in such a circumstance? The moment the question flashed across my mind, I knew I had no business or right to ask it. He tried to kill her, in front of their child, clearly this wasn’t a normal situation in which normal solutions were effective.