Behind the drum, Bob shifted his weight. I caught the scuff of his boot on grit and lined the shotgun up on the spot, but he tucked back into shadow before I could get a shot.
The cave swam.
I blinked hard, and the floor came back into focus, but the edges of everything had a fuzzy halo around them that hadn’t been there ten minutes ago. The pain in my kidneys had climbed up into my chest. My heart was going too fast.
The adrenaline wasn’t pushing the cancer pain down none. It was making it fucking worse.
I bit down on the inside of my cheek ‘til I tasted blood again.
Get your shit together, Frank. Finish him.
“Where’s the rest of my money, Frank?” Bob’s voice was calmer now. Almost chatty. Like Lyle wasn’t dying on the floor behind him. Like we were just two old men having a yarn over the back fence.
“I don’t fuckin’ know.” My good hand shook so hard I had to brace the shotgun on the rock just to keep the muzzle steady.
“Don’t play with me. There was millions stacked in those walls.”
He’s right. There was millions. So who the fuck took it?
Lyle whimpered behind Bob. He doesn’t have much time left. Dying in the dirt is a fucked-up way to go. At least his pain won’t last as long as mine has.
A wave of nausea rolled through me. I swallowed it down and tasted bile and blood.
“Must’ve been your dipshit sons.” Bob’s voice came out as hard as steel. “They stole my cash.”
The cave went cold around me. “Bullshit,” I croaked. “They don’t know nothin’ about that money.”
“Has to be them. They know this land like you do. So, either you took it, or your dumb sons did.”
“Leave ‘em out of it.” I said it too fast. Too loud. He heard my desperation the moment it left my mouth.
Bob heard it, too, and he laughed.
It was the worst sound he’d made all day because that laugh meant he’d figured out how to fuck with me.
“Too late for that, Frank.”
I gripped the shotgun harder. “Too late for what?”
“Too late to leave them out of it. As soon as I’m done with you, I’m going to kill every one of those Branson bastards until somebody hands me my fucking money.”
My heart nearly split open.
I’d been ready to die in this cave. Made peace with it. Built the whole damn plan around it. I’d felt almost calm about the whole thing, ‘cause I’d be the one paying for all our bullshit and none of my sons would.
That was the deal I’d made with myself.
But Bob had just torn it up and pissed on it.
I closed my eyes for one beat, and the cave got heavier around me. When I opened them, I had to wait for the edges to come back.
Mitch.
Declan.
Kayden.
My three sons, who wouldn’t even come to my funeral.
