Page 30 of Relentless Charm

“Moe,” Mrs. Tully answered with a gasp. “He tried to stop them and they punched him. He fought back the best he could but they got him good. Bertha has him now. She’s cleaning him up. Everyone is scared out of their minds and holed up in their houses. We didn’t know what to do.”

“It’s all right,” Bailey said, pulling Mrs. Tully in for a hug. “I need to speak with my mother. You go inside and take a rest. I’ll come find you in a little while.”

“People are talking about leaving,” Mrs. Tully said, letting Bailey go. “Anyone here from before doesn’t want to go through that again. And all the new residents are afraid of what will happen if James and those men take over. What are we going to do?”

When Bailey didn’t answer, King decided to. “It won’t happen again. I’m going to deal with them.”

“We’ll talk in a bit, Mrs. Tully,” Bailey finally added.

King could tell by her body language that Bailey was on guard, not just because of the situation but because of him too.

“I need to talk to my mother.”

“No, we need to act. Now we can call the police. Report the fact that they were here, stole things, and assaulted Moe, “King insisted.

“You heard Arnoldo, right? No one in town, including the police, want to get involved in this place after we brought so much bad press to the area. Some of the cops are related to the men who just robbed us. Even if we call them, it’ll take ages for them to send someone up, and when they do it’ll go nowhere. I have to talk to my mother and make some sort of plan. A peace offering. Maybe I can spin things to make them think this is a new kind of foretelling, from my mother now, that they should follow.”

“That won’t work.” King ran his hand over his head and groaned. “You’re going to walk into their space and try to negotiate? After they were here and violent? It’s an eye for an eye. We have to look strong here or they’ll exploit the weakness even further.”

“We aren’t strong,” she bit back. “This is not some underdog war movie where we are going to be able to outwit them. We’re not going to set a bunch of traps so they realize this is too much trouble. They are under a spell we will never be able to break. But maybe we can keep them at bay a little longer.”

King pounded his fist into his palm. “Let me go after them. Let me send them a message they can’t ignore. I told you I’m capable of that.”

“They’re probably armed.” Bailey shook her head.

“So am I,” King replied, feeling suddenly as though he’d said too much.

“You have a weapon?” She looked him up and down as if she might spot it on him.

“It’s in my vehicle. Locked up and out of sight. I know you said Cinderhill doesn’t allow technology or weapons. I wanted to respect that.”

“You were just driving around with a gun? You had no clue where you were headed or what you were going to do, but you were armed?”

“The life I came from required it.”

“And you think you’re going to go into the mountains and shoot all our enemies? You’ll be outnumbered and out-gunned. It’s going to cost you your life and merely enrage them.”

“They beat up Moe. Stole from you. And all you want to do is make a deal with them? That’s madness.”

“Let me talk to my mother,” Bailey said, setting her jaw in anger. “Give me some space. You can’t possibly understand how things work here. Don’t do anything.”

“You can’t ask me to do nothing now that the danger is at your doorstep. You invited me here, let me into your life, and now I’m supposed to sit by and watch people get hurt?”

“King, this is a world you’d never understand. Just back off.”

King took a step back, the wild look in Bailey’s eyes enough to make him worry. “Bailey, I can’t just—”

She stormed off toward her mother’s and left him standing with his heart in his hands. There was no way in hell he could walk away now. He knew what he needed to do. The phone call he had to make. They were out of options and she wouldn’t listen to reason. Maybe she would listen to Carmen.

CHAPTERSEVENTEEN

Bailey

Bailey's heart ached as she looked at her mother. She saw the woman who had caused her pain and trauma, but also the woman who had given birth to her and raised her to the best of her ability. She felt a mix of emotions: anger, sadness, grief, and guilt.

Taking a step closer to her mother's bedside she took her hand, feeling the fragile skin and bones. Her mother's time was running out. She closed her eyes and tried to hold back the tears that threatened to spill over.

“Mama,” she whispered as her mother howled in pain and then stopped suddenly, slipping back into sleep.