Part 13 (2/2)
”Christ, just answer the question. Why did you leave? What's hard about that?”
”I don't want to change how you feel about Cain just because you're curious. It's hard because by telling you what she's capable of, that's what's going to happen.”
”She's at least willing to take that chance. Why can't you?”
The question should have sent up a warning flare in Emma's brain, but her anger at Cain clouded her judgment. Hayden's reaction to the truth of her departure might be what she needed to win him over. ”I don't see her out here answering any questions.”
”She didn't abandon me. You did. Now I want to know why.”
Emma glued her eyes to the ground and kept walking. Moving would make the tale easier to tell. ”A little before I left, Cain and I hosted a party for your aunt Marie.”
”I remember. We've been over this part already.”
”The first time you asked me, I did tell you about the attempted rape Cain saved me from, but I changed the ending. I asked her not to hurt the guy too badly, but she went a lot further than that. She killed that guy for touching her property. He lost his life for something he almost did.”
Hayden stopped and felt shocked. Cain was harsh when warranted, but she rarely lost control and made such stupid mistakes. ”She told you she killed him?”
”She lied to me to cover for herself, but I found out later what she had done.”
”Who was it?”
”What does it matter now, Hayden? It's done, but it doesn't change how she feels about you.”
”Just answer me, and let me worry about how I feel about my mother.”
”All right, but I found who it was the most disturbing since he was part of her family.”
The cold weather intensified as he felt the blood drain from his face. ”Who was it?” asked Hayden through clenched teeth.
”Cain's cousin, Danny Baxter.”
He stumbled when Emma said the name, certain he had heard wrong. ”Impossible.” He felt her arms come around him, but he was too confused to care.
”It's hard to believe, I know, and maybe now you'll understand why I had to leave. My greatest regret, or should I say biggest mistake, was you, Hayden. I should've fought harder to keep you with me.”
”You're lying, it couldn't have been Danny.” He pushed Emma off him and looked like he was about to bolt.
”I'm telling you the truth, son.”
”You're the one who begged her for Danny's life?”
The warning bells finally went off in Emma's head. Hayden couldn't possibly remember the man who had come so close to violating her, and Cain had admitted she hadn't answered Hayden's questions. His question was totally out of context to what they were talking about. ”How do you know Danny?”
”I asked you a question first.”
The anger, the straight body, the ice in his eyes and voiceit was all Cain she was looking at. What Emma didn't realize was that she was standing on a cliff of her own making, and by encouraging her to tell Hayden the truth, Cain was about to push her off.
”I asked her, yes, but she didn't listen to me.”
”She listened to you, all right. It's your fault she's dead, and I never want to see you again. I hate you!” Hayden screamed the last part so loudly the people in the yard heard a faint echo despite the distance. He ran back as fast as he could manage through the tears, his lungs burning from the cold air.
Cain was waiting for him, and he lunged into her arms. As upset as he was, he felt better when he realized that Cain wore her usual suit and cashmere long black coat instead of jeans and boots. He wouldn't have to stay here any longer.
”Let it out, Hayden. It's all right. I've got you.” Cain just held him until the tears subsided.
”Why, Mom?”
”It was a mistake.” She shook her head when he began to blame Emma. ”My mistake, and mine alone. I have to live with the lesson that sometimes you have to choose the hard road, because in the end it'll get you where you need to be that much quicker. I chose with my heart because it was easier and it cost me, so it's my mistake, not hers.”
”I want to leave.”
”Go help the guys pack up. We're going home.”
Cain sent him off knowing it wasn't the end of their talk, but they would have to wait for a less public area to rehash it. Kyle had access to her business here, but her personal life and her relations.h.i.+p with her son were off limits. She started walking to intercept Emma, now that she was prepared to finish their talk.
”Why didn't you tell him the truth?” Emma accused when she stopped in front of Cain, gasping for air.
”What truth is that?” She pointed her finger at Emma, almost poking her in the mouth. ”The truth you spun for yourself to get you through the days?”
”You killed that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, and now all of a sudden I'm the bad guy here? I won't let you get away with this, Cain. He's my son and he deserves the truth.”
”Emma, you left because you believed what you thought was a minor infraction on Danny's part sent me into a jealous rage and I killed him, right?”
Emma nodded.
”I beat the s.h.i.+t out of him, that part I'm not going to deny because to me it was no minor infraction, but Danny survived that night because you asked me and I gave in. I did, even though I knew he had done it before to other young women and no one was there to stop him. His punishment was the beating and banishment from my family. You know what that means, or at least you should.”
”Why continue the charade now? I know the truth.”
She kept going, not caring not if Emma believed her or not. ”He went to work for Giovanni Bracato's organization. I'm no saint, but I'm not an animal like Bracato. Danny waited and took his revenge on me by going after the most innocent of my family. He lured Marie away from her school and beat and raped her until she was barely alive. She was taking a f.u.c.king cla.s.s she talked me into so she could keep up with Hayden better G.o.d.” She stopped and turned her face to the wind in the hope it would dry her tears before they fell.
”But Agent Kyle said...” Emma fell to her knees and couldn't finish as the shocking truth hit her.
”That answers my question as to who turned you. Be careful the company you keep, Emma, lest you drown in the s.h.i.+t they wallow in.”
To cement the truth in Emma's mind, she threw her the picture the police had taken of Marie's swollen face just hours before she died. It was for their investigation, they had said, to help show the jury the damage when they caught the guy. She had let them take it just to get rid of them. She wouldn't need the police or a jury for Danny Baxter. Not caring to offer comfort, she left Emma there on the ground, staring at the picture.
”Cain, wait, please.” Emma looked once more at the picture and remembered the sweet person Marie had been. No wonder Hayden had gotten so upset when she had brought up his aunt's name before. How could she have known what happened?
Cain was too far away to hear the plea to stay. It was one of the first times she had said all that out loud, in a way proving to herself Marie's death was her fault. Had she buried Danny, like she had wanted to all those years before, Marie would be alive. She had failed her family by not killing him when she should have.
The group was ready to go when she got back to the farmhouse, waiting for her by the car.
”Ross, thank you so much for having us.” She pulled out a business card and handed it over. On it was a list of numbers, should Ross need to get in touch with her.
He put it in his coat pocket and nodded.
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