Surrender Read Free Page B

on her father—a man named Darius—for as long as she could remember, but it was like tracking a ghost.
    When the past came knocking, she knew she had to answer the door.
    “I’m scared of heights,” she told him when he’d gotten down to the level of grating below hers.
    “You should be more scared of jail. They’ll eat you up in there.” His comments both scared and infuriated her, so much so that she followed him out onto the rusted stoop and down the stairs and was threading her way down behind him.
    She hadn’t realized how fast they’d been going until her feet hit the ground with a hard thump on the concrete. She found herself looking down the barrel of a mean old Sig. “I’m already following you.”
    “Just making sure.” He motioned for her and caught her arm, hustled her to a waiting truck. She’d barely scrambled into the seat when the man was in his, cranking the old vehicle out of the alley.
    She turned to see the unmarked car starting to make chase but she felt the truck speed up under her, as if there was something extra under the hood. Whatever it was, she was more than grateful. Maybe her mother really was looking out for her. “Who are you?”
    He didn’t answer as he edged the car through traffic, winding along the side roads, and finally zoomed along the ramp toward the highway.
    She turned to check the trailing car’s progress.
    “Don’t bother—I lost them,” he told her.
    “You’re that sure of yourself?”
    “I’m that good.”
    That should’ve sounded cocky, but instead it came out like a simple truth from a handsome man who was no doubt a warrior.
    Like your father . . .
    At least that’s what her mother had always said about Darius. Avery wanted to believe that, felt like she had some of that warrior inside her.
    Now revenge ran too hot in her blood and she was discombobulated. But she was free—for now. “Who are you and how do you know my father?”
    “He’s my father too.” He glanced at her for a second before his eyes were back on the road. “My name’s Dare.”
    She couldn’t speak for a long moment, the surprise stealing her breath as she stared at Dare’s—her brother’s—profile. His hair was dark, strong cheekbones . . . a full mouth. He had blue eyes, nowhere near as light or cold looking as she’d always thought hers were.
    Her mom used to tell her with affection,
They’re just like your daddy’s.
“Are you sure?”
    “You knew you had a half brother?” A question for a question—from that alone, she could see the resemblance between them.
    “I knew. Mom always said I’d never meet you.”
    “You weren’t supposed to, but you’re in a hell of a lot of trouble.”
    As she stealthily wiped away a tear, Dare asked, “Why are you wanted?” and handed her the paper with her picture on it.
    She studied it as the truck barreled down the road. “It says ‘wanted for murder’ right here.”
    “I don’t believe everything I read.”
    “It’s true.” She wondered if she should just surrender. Explain. But those men she’d searched out were the ones who’d hurt the one person who’d kept her safe all her life, and she’d hurt them.
    She’d felt indestructible. Lethal. An angel of death no one saw coming.
    Afterward, she’d felt angrier, not better. She had to make things right, had to balance out the bad deeds with some good ones.
    “Why’d you do it?”
    She glanced at Dare and wondered if he knew what it was like to live with a heavy burden of guilt. “I hunted down and killed the men who tortured, raped and killed my mother. Think a jury of my peers would understand that?”
    “I have no goddamned idea what drives most people,” he muttered. “You’re going to have to fill in the story.”
    “My mom did bail bonds.”
    “She was a bounty hunter?”
    “Yes—she owned the company and had men working for her. She wouldn’t go out alone—but she was the one who usually talked the fugitives into surrendering.”