“How much were you hoping to get for my daughter?” she demanded.
“I should’ve known you’d be here,” Mitzie sneered.
“How much?”
“I didn’t want to be greedy, so I was only gonna ask for twenty-five thousand,” Mitzie said with exaggerated exacerbation.
I don’t know what I expected to happen next, but it wasn’t Mackenzie leaning forward and laughing so hard she had to brace herself. “Oh,” she exhaled and wiped the tears from underneath her eyes as she tried to regain some composure. “This is like a fucked up version of that Christmas story with the gifts. But instead of selling something of yours to get something for me, you stole my daughter to get something for yourself!”
“I did not steal your daughter,” Mitzie snapped.
Mackenzie narrowed her eyes and slowly nodded her head. “You’re right,” she acknowledged. “You tried.”
“What do you want from me?”
“There was a time when I did want something from you. But that time has long since passed. If you’d tried to be any kind of a mother to me, instead of trying to fuck your way through life, you’d have everything you always wanted. Instead, you’re locked up in a basement waiting on a motorcycle club to decide your fate.”
Mitzie rolled her eyes and held up her bound wrists to talk with her hand. “Blah, blah, bullshit.”
“All I wanted was a mother. I really needed a mother when I lost my husband. And again when I delivered his daughter nine months later. But all you ever wanted was money.” Mackenzie’s smirk turned into a deviously proud smile. “Here’s where you fucked up. When I received the payout from Russell’s life insurance, I invested it wisely. Now, I have what you’ve always wanted, and you’ve got,” she paused and used her thumb to point to the brothers lining the wall behind her, “problems.”
Mitzie’s mouth started to drop open before she quickly slammed it shut.
“Hundreds of thousands, ‘Mom’. It didn’t even occur to you, did it?”
“Mackenzie, hun, let’s talk about this,” she started. Then, her eyes widened, and she pointed her finger toward several of the brothers. “Blame them! It’s their fault I wasn’t there for you. They told me I had to stay away.”
“Nice try,” Mackenzie said. “But that happened well after Brinkley was born.”
“I’m sorry, hun. Momma’s always loved you. I just don’t always show it so good. Please, baby, give me another chance. I’ll get it right this time,” Mitzie begged.
“Shut her up,” I ordered and pointed to my son.
Trey stepped forward and raised his bat in the air. When he started to swing, I moved my eyes to Mackenzie’s face and waited for the sound of impact, but it never came. And neither did the recoil I expected from Mackenzie.
I turned to see Mitzie’s head slumped to the side as my son smoothed a piece of duct tape over her mouth.
“I wasn’t going to actually hit her,” Trey said disappointedly. “I was just gonna scare her a little before I covered her mouth, but she fucking passed out and stole all my fun.”
“It’s okay. I’ve heard similar bullshit from her over the years,” Mackenzie said, directing her attention to me. “It doesn’t matter what she says; I won’t fall for it.”
“If there’s anything else you want to say to her, we can wake her up,” Trey offered and produced a vial of smelling salts from his pocket.
Mackenzie smiled appreciatively. “Thank you, but I said all I needed to say.”
I put my arm around her shoulders and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Do you care at all what happens to her?”
“Would it make me a bad person if I said no?” she asked with genuine concern in her voice.
“Not by the standards of anyone in this room,” I told her honestly.
“As long as I don’t have to worry about her being a problem for us ever again, I don’t care how that happens.”
“I’ll take care of it,” I told her and walked her back to Brinkley.
“She hasn’t made a sound the whole time,” Coal whispered when we entered the room.
I turned to Mackenzie. “I’m not sure how long I’ll be, but if you need anything, let Drew know. He’ll be outside the room until I get back.”