Impassable Force: Force of Nature Series (11 page)

“I’ll expect you to be moved out by the end of the day. I don’t know what sort of damage you did to my house
, but you’ll be hearing from my attorney, a real one this time, to pay for any and all damages.” He smiled when she looked to her left as if she didn’t see her sister sitting there. “You won’t think this is so funny when I take everything you ever hope to have. Your sister and I are going to have a grand old time getting reacquainted. I might even knock her up. With my dick this time, not my fist.”

“What are you talking about?” Carter looked at the judge
, who was standing over the dais looking down on him as he spoke. It might have been funny, his look of utter disbelief, if Carter wasn’t sure somehow they were all in on this. “Did you just admit to hiring someone to murder your wife and shoot your sister-in-law?”

Carter had to think. Had he done that?
Probably. But it was a moot point now as she wasn’t dead. Neither them were. So he nodded. Jackson sat down again and looked around the room as if he couldn’t believe it either. Carter stretched out his hands again. The sooner they took these cuffs off, the sooner he could get back to his old life.

“Didn’t you go to the funeral of your late wife?
I was there, I’m pretty sure, like the rest of us, we saw her, too.” Carter nodded, smiling. He had no idea how she’d pulled it off, but the judge was right, he’d been acting the grieving widower at her funeral. “And during all this time, you’ve been under the assumption that she’s been alive? You’ve seen her before today?”

“On no, your honor. I thought she was dead until she started showing up recently.
You see, she’s a really good actress, all the important people said so. So she’s been laying low until she showed up in my bathroom while I was shaving the other morning. She asked me if I was…I don’t remember what she said, but she told me she was…she loved me.” Several people snickered behind him, and he turned on them. “You should have seen her. I was shocked too. But she was in my limo as well as my office, too. She sat there looking like she always does, beautiful and made up to look like a star. I’ve been seeing her a lot over the past week. I’m pretty sure once this mess is over, she and I will go back to the way things were.”

“In your dreams.”
The voice whispered over his cheek, and he felt the hot breath. There was no one there, but he heard Mary speak to him. When he started to say something to the judge about her being there now, he looked over at Molly again and saw Mary still sitting there. The woman in the front, the one with the other man, turned and was talking to Molly. Both of them were shaking their head and looking at him. Then Mary walked through them. Just stood up and came toward him and blew him a kiss before she disappeared again, looking like someone had shot her head all up. Carter sat down.

“I don’t feel so well.” Jackson asked him what was wrong.
“I don’t know. I can see her sitting over there, and she looks like somebody hurt her. It wasn’t me this time. At least I don’t think so. Maybe it was Shawn who shot her again. He told me he was the best. It was why I kept him around. He was who I hired when things didn’t go my way. But this is making me sick and my heart is hurting again. I think maybe I’m having a heart attack. Christ, I hurt. Do you think I can have a nitro pill? I have them in my coat pocket.”

Two men stepped forward as his head started to spin.
Carter could feel his heart pounding like someone had put a battery on it and turned it up to full force. Plus, he was dizzy and that, too, was making him sick to his stomach. He put his hand over his mouth, or at least tried to, but nothing was working right. When his mouth was pried open, he felt the little pill being shoved under his tongue. Carter had a feeling it was too late, and he was afraid. He dropped his head on the table as his body began to shut down. When the pain in his head exploded, Carter opened his eyes, and his last vision was his wife laughing at him.

~~~

He was dead. Carter Ravenhall was dead and now it was about over. Except that Molly knew things would never be the same again. She stared out the window as people talked behind her. When she felt someone come up beside her, she turned and looked at Nancy Force.

“You should eat something.”
Molly didn’t say anything. She’d been telling people she wasn’t hungry for the past two days. She just wanted them to leave her alone. “There are things that need to be said between the two of us. Would you mind going to the kitchen with me?”

“There’s some sort of meeting going on in there. The staff is trying to figure out who I should hire as the next cook.
Apparently none of them cared all that much for Shawn in the first place. Not even his wife. Did you know that she was forced to marry him because he wanted to fuck her? Never mind. I just thought of that and for some reason my filter is all fucked up.” Molly saw a deer run across the yard and watched its progress as she continued. “I don’t really have anything to add to what is going on, Mrs. Force. I’m sort of just waiting for them to tell me what I do. I’ve been dealing as best I can, but I’m just…I’m really tired right now.”

“You’re being lazy.”
She supposed she was but didn’t rise to the bait of her angry words. “Are you just going to waste away to nothing while your mate’s heart breaks? Is this how you love someone? Look at that poor boy. He doesn’t know what to do to help you, and you’re not giving him what he needs. Love is a give-and-take sort of thing. Where is your giving?”

“I really think you should back the fuck off. I’m dealing with a lot of shit right now and I don’t want to say something to you I might regret.”
The pain in her head had her whipping around so quickly that she had to steady herself. Nancy was holding the spoon out like she was going to bonk her again when Molly took a step back. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Do you know how much I’ve lost in the past month?”

“I do. And what will sulking do to improve your lot in life? Nothing.
You’re hurting the people around you and you don’t even seem to care.” The spoon lashed out and hit her between the eyes this time, and Molly had to sit down. “Is there anything up there in that head of yours, or are you simply using it to hold up your hair?”

Molly felt the tears pool in her eyes as she sat there.
“My family is all gone. What the hell am I supposed to do now? Have a party? Or would you like for me to go dancing tonight because everything worked out? It’s gone. All of it is gone.”

Nancy sat down next to her but didn’t put the spoon away.
Her voice was softer now and full of pain. So much so that Molly could feel it coursing through her own body and heart. “And again, how is sulking going to make that any different? You don’t think all of us have lost someone? My mate left me when I had five children to raise. The youngest three were still in diapers when he died. And Austin and Dallas lost their father too. Holly lost her daddy, the man she thought would be there forever for her. How do you think that affected their lives? Look at CJ, her father…well, we won’t use him as an example. He was a turd-head and made everyone miserable. But each of us have lost our family and we’re for the most part better for it. What did Mary want from you?”

“Want from me?
She’s dead, how could she want anything?” The spoon hit her again and she glared. “I’m going to use that on you if you do that to me again. That fucking hurts and I’m sure you know it. If not, I can show you.”

But she thought about what she’d asked her. What did Mary want from her?
She’d made sure that she had everything she had. It was more than she wanted or even knew what to do with. She and Randy had yet to decide what to do with the house. But for now, they were having the house appraised as well as the contents. Not because she thought they’d sell it. The pool people were supposed to come by tomorrow and give them an estimate on how much it would cost to put one in. And they’d interviewed several pack members who said they’d keep their lawns for them. She and Randy had decided to help some of the younger pack members get businesses started, like pool services as well as lawn care ones.

“She was such a wonderful person.”
Nancy nodded and leaned back. “And when she was on the big screen, I was never more proud of anyone than I was her. She could make you believe whatever she was portraying up there and you’d walk out knowing that she believed it too. I’d help her with lines at night. She’d call me and have me read some stupid part she had to learn. We’d do more laughing than anything. I’m going to miss her.”

“This house, what does it mean for you?” Her first
thought was memories, but she knew that wasn’t what Nancy meant. Molly looked out the window again and imagined the pool there with lots of kids and adults hanging around it. There were hot dogs for the kids and thick steaks for the adults. The whole house could be decorated for Christmas, not just their special room. She’d see about having Thanksgiving here as well as parties for Memorial Day and the Fourth. The house could heal her, she thought, not just flood her with memories.

“When she first took me through it
, all I could think about was this is what Carter wanted, not her. She gushed over some of the rooms but not as much as she did his office. We worked for months on getting the desk that’s in her office. Carter hated it on sight. I guess we both knew he would too. But we decorated it because we wanted to, not because a decorator told us what to do with it.” She looked around the room they were in now as she continued. “We spent so much time in this room together when I’d come to visit. She and I would have our own Christmas and Thanksgiving in here. It was silly because there was the huge dining room, but we would do it all the same. Our presents weren’t expensive. One year I got her a framed picture of the two of us as children. I think this house would be a balm to a lot of people in the pack, a place where there can be merriment.” Molly flushed. “You must think I’m a sap.”

“
I don’t think that at all. I think it’s wonderful and something your sister would have loved.” Nancy reached for the picture and looked at it before handing it to her. “You two look a great deal alike. I never realized that before. I’m surprised they didn’t use you as a double for her sometimes. Did you ever think Mary would be so famous?”

“Oh yes,” Molly said without hesitation.
“She was forever playacting and standing in front of a mirror to practice her face. That’s what she called it, face practice. And it wasn’t like she was vain. She wasn’t, but she was going to be someone someday, and she wanted to be an actress. And I never believed for one minute that she’d be anything but that. She made me want it for her.”

“She was very good at her craft. What will you do with yours?”
Molly put the picture back, thinking about her craft. She had no idea what Nancy was talking about but assumed she meant being a cop.

“I’m supposed to interview for a position on the force here in town. I go in on Monday morning.”
Nancy cocked a brow at her, something she’d seen all her sons do. “If that’s not what you mean, then I don’t understand. I don’t have a craft.”

Her laughter had the room turning toward them and Molly was slightly embarrassed.
“Oh my dear, you have a very fine craft. And once you figure it out, I hope I’m there to see you use it again and again.”

Molly had no idea what she was talking about and looked around the room. They were all there. Most of them had been there when she and Randy had gotten up
…Nancy had been making breakfast for them. The others, with their children and nannys, had shown up just as another run was made on the pantry Nancy was helping her set up. And they’d brought more food. Now they sat around laughing and joking with each other as if there was a trial tomorrow for what they had considered one of their own.

“They love each other, don’t they?” She didn’t wait for Na
ncy to answer her but continued. “Austin isn’t just their leader but truly their brother. And not just to the men here but to the women as well. Dallas is so amazing that no one looks at his limp. They only see the strength of the man standing with them. Connor and Gordon try so hard to be like them both, going so far as to mimic his every movement and his advice. And Holly…she has her own strength, that seems to be a pride and a burden to all of them. You know what I mean?”

“
Yes, she does. And Phil is the perfect foil for her antics too. As for Austin, they’ve always looked up to him. Not just because he’s the oldest but because he’s always been there for them.” Molly nodded at Nancy as she pointed to Myles. “He was so lost when they brought him here. His body alone was destroyed by the man who killed him.”

“Killed him?”
Nancy nodded. “You mean he’s not always been a vampire? I thought…I have no idea why I thought he’d been born one, like Phil was. He seems so…I guess so natural at being what he is. Like he was supposed to be that since birth.”

“Oh no. He was helping to save one of my daughters when he was torn apart. It was save him or let him die. But he’d come to mean so much to them, especially Phil and Holly
, that they couldn’t let him be gone from them forever. Myles had a hard time of it, of course, but they have brought him around. And he’s done a fine job of it as well. I’m very proud of him and the others.”

“Phil terrifies me.” As if he knew she was talking about him
, he turned and winked at her. “I think he knows when I’m doing something I shouldn’t, and…I’ve altered my thoughts about things when I think he might come for me because of it. I have no idea why I think that of him. He seems like such a nice guy, but there is something very…murderous, I guess, about him that makes me think he’d stop at nothing if he thought an injustice had been done.”