thirty-four
BILLIE
Jeremiah Townsend was dead, and the whole Townsend Community was in shock—even more so when they realized he’d left no will. According to his personal-estate lawyer, it was something he’d been urged to do several times in the past weeks, but he’d refused. He’d been so supremely confident that Rhett would save him, so arrogant in his immortality, that he’d seen noneedto complete a last will and testament.
This left the hospital staff at a loss for what to do. The doctor initially tried to have Rhett arrested—with absolutely zero plausible grounds—but a scuffle ensued when Bellerose security stepped in. When one of the hospital staff timidly reminded them that Rhett was, unfortunately, Jeremiah’s next of kin, they’d reluctantly backed off. Which was how we found ourselves back in the VIP Suite of the hospital, only this time it was Rhett’s mom in the bed.
“She still hasn’t said anything?” I asked softly, coming back into the room from my coffee break. Mary had gone catatonic when Jeremiah died, so the hospital had admitted her for assessment. Rhett had stayed by her side the whole time, pleading with her to hear him, toseehim, but she just stared blankly at the wall.
He shook his head in reply, sniffing hard. “Nothing. She barely even blinks.”
I was at a loss for what to say, so I just sank down into the chair beside him and took his hand in mine. “Have the doctors been back to check on her?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. They’re in chaos mode trying to work out who the fuck they all answer to now, like it even matters. This whole town is notnormal,though, so it’s stupid of us to think their hospitals operate anything like what we’d expect. Don’t forget, every single person living and working here in Townsend has lived under his influence their whole fucking life. They don’t know anything but how to follow his will.”
Silence fell over us, and I rested my head on Rhett’s shoulder as he sat there watching his mom like he was just waiting her out.
“She won’t talk to me,” Rhett eventually said in a hoarse voice, “not until she gets told she’sallowedto. Per the Townsend Doctrine, her son died when I left the community. If she acknowledges my existence, she is going against the word of Jeremiah. And that… carries punishment. Until his successor—whoever the fuck that is—tells her otherwise, I may as well be a ghost.”
I hated that. I hated the whole creepy, pod-people vibe of the whole town. But that lined up with the cult situation. It still made me furious for Rhett and his poor mother for whatever horrors she’d endured in the name of religion.
“The guys are on their way here,” I told him, trying to shift his focus even for a moment. “They’re worried that the people here will do something. I don’t know. The guys are just worried. So they’ll be here in a couple of hours.”
He pressed a kiss to my hair, with a soul-weary sigh. “Good. That’s good. They’ll know what to do next.”
I swallowed hard at the empty hopelessness in his voice. This was far from the reunion he’d probably imagined with his mom. After all these years…
“Sounds like Giovanni is freaking out, too,” I said, picking up a different thread in our fucked up tapestry of life. “His office at Ricci Corp looks like every document got shredded in a hurry, and he’s disappeared. Angelo thinks he got tipped off early because he hasn’t been seen sincebeforethe arrests started.”
“Probably gone to try and strongarm the IRS into letting his guys go with a warning,” Rhett murmured distractedly.
I chewed the edge of my lip, searching my brain for another line of conversation to help pull him from the pit of despair that only got worse with every second that Mary stared into space. Before I could go commenting on the weather—it was raining and dull, very appropriate—the door to the room opened and a broad-shouldered man with a bushy beard stepped through.
The shift in the room was undeniable as the emaciated woman on the hospital bed shrank smaller, her hands clasping in her lap and her eyes lowering. Rhett sucked in a sharp breath, then gritted his teeth and stood to face the imposing man.
“Garth,” Rhett growled with undeniable hatred in his voice. “You’re not welcome here. Get the fuck out of my sight before I drive my fist through your sorry skull.”
The man barked a laugh, but it was cold and cruel. “Look at you, Nathan, all grown up. Found a set of balls out there in the world, eh? Well, save it. Yourfamemeans nothing within Townsend. I’ve come to collect my property.” He looked over at Rhett’s mother with disgust. “Mary,come.”
He treated her like a dog, and she responded in kind, scurrying out of the bed and crawling to him on all fours. It made me nauseous to watch.
Before she could reach the newest asshole in the room, Rhett reacted with lightning speed, getting between them. “There’s no fucking way I’m letting you touch my mother,” he snarled. “You might think you own this town, but unless Jeremiah left his estate toyou, there’s no paperwork to back that up. And I’ll use every dollar to my name to have you destroyed.”
Garth’sI’m-the-top-fuck-herepose didn’t falter, but I was fairly sure there was a flash of unease on his face. So brief. But Rhett had hit him hard enough to leave a mark with that statement. It also had Mary hesitating in her animal-like crawl to the nextmessiah.
“You don’t scare me, boy.”
It was a weak statement by a man who had nothing fucking else to throw Rhett’s way.
“Liar,” Rhett murmured. “You always did have a tell, you old bastard.”
Garth went for him then, hands held out in front like he was going to attempt to strangle Rhett. Good fucking luck with that. Rhett might not be the largest of the Bellerose boys, but he was hardly small, and he worked out just as fucking hard.
Still, just in case, I was already searching for a weapon to use if needed. Being a hospital room, I was sure there’d be something in one of the drawers, but I didn’t have time to search cabinets during a fight.
The hospital door slammed open then, just as Rhett was straightening up to meet the asshole face to face. I swung around to find the doctor there, two suited men behind him, and all of them looked grim.
It was enough to stop Garth and Rhett in their tracks as they both swung on the newcomers. “What are you doing here?” Garth snapped at the doctor. “I told you to leave this usurper to me.”
