All Falls Down (44 page)

"Jared's going to kill him if you don't stop him," I mutter to him. "I can leave by myself."

He grunts, still following me.

I strain to hear what Jared and Toby are saying, but the soft patter of rain on the roof of the mansion drowns out whatever's happening between them. I give up trying to hear and head toward the mansion to get Chris, but Stewart cuts me off.

"Come with me," he says, turning to go around the side of the house to the driveway.

I start to argue with him, but I don't really want to go back inside anyway. I just want to go home and soak away the last few hours. Stewart can find Chris and save Toby's miserable life after I leave.

"Fine." I wave for him to lead the way.

My heels sink into the mud when we step off the sidewalk. Every step I take requires me to curl my toes and jerk the heel from the mud. I haven't exercised in God only knows how long, and we're not even halfway around the mansion when my legs start aching.

"Shit," I curse, stumbling over a rock.

Stewart slows and offers me his arm without a word. He's always so stoic, so quiet. Even before I left for Italy, he rarely smiled. He's maybe thirty, but he seems so much older.

"Were you ever in the MIB?" I ask him.

He just stares at me.

"Guess not then."

When we finally make it around the side of the house, he leads me toward an SUV parked at the very front of the line of cars littering the property.

"My car is over there." I point.

He just lifts a brow.

What is it with men telling me what I am and am not going to do? Or looking at me like they're telling me what I am and am not going to do? I've about had enough of it. I'm cold. I'm tired. I'm soaked. I've had to face Jared and Lexi and Toby tonight. I just want to make sure Jared doesn't kill Toby, and then go home.

"Please, Miss Savannah. Jared wants you to stay with me."

Dammit.

I give in and make my way toward the SUV.

Stewart silently holds the back door open for me.

I kick my heels off and climb in, dropping them to the floorboard.

Before I can say anything, he slams the door closed and starts around to the driver's side. I fasten my seatbelt and reach for my purse to pull my phone out to call Chris, only to realize I don't have the clutch anymore.

I don't know where it is.

Stewart hops into the driver's seat and starts the engine.

"I've lost my purse."

"Jared will deal with it."

"Someone needs to deal with him before he kills Toby."

Stewart just grunts again.

Am I the only one worried that he might really kill Toby?

"Stewart?"

"He'll be fine."

Well, lovely.

"Whatever," I mumble. I'm too tired for this shit right now. "Where are we going?"

"To wait."

For what?
I want to ask him. I just sigh and lean back against the seat instead.

I expect Stewart to take me to my apartment, though I have no idea how I'm supposed to get in without my keys. But half an hour later, we pass my exit and Stewart shows no signs of slowing.

"Where are we going?" I ask him again. The rain has soaked through my dress, giving me the chills. Adrenaline has bled away, and I'm exhausted. I'm sad and confused and proud of myself and a thousand other things, too. A hot bath and my bed sound better and better the longer we're on the road.

Stewart doesn't answer me.

"Stewart?" I lean toward him, thinking maybe he didn't hear me. "Where are we going?"

"Do you ever stop talking?" he asks, glancing at me in the rearview mirror.

"Excuse me?" I recoil from the anger stamped across his face. I don't know what I've done to piss him off, but the sheer hatred boiling in his expression throws me.

"Talking," he repeats. "Do you ever stop?"

What is he talking about? I think I've said more to him tonight than I have in the entire five years I've known him! I narrow my eyes, scrutinizing his expression. A muscle in his cheek jumps. His left leg bounces like he can't control it.

Something isn't right.

I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly chilled inside and out.

Why the hell didn't I refuse to get in the car with him?

Oh, right. Because Jared told me to go with him.

"What's going on?"

"I told you, I'm taking you to wait."

"For what?"

Stewart sighs loudly. "You coming back here was about the best thing you could have done, but then you had to go and get careless. Your little boyfriend almost killed Madeline. Now Corbit's back on task, and that's seriously messing up my plans."

"My boyfriend?" I gasp. "Jared would never hurt Madeline!"

Stewart offers me a grim smile in the mirror. "The other boyfriend, sweetheart."

The other–?

"
Toby
sawed through the branch?"

"Ding, ding, ding," Stewart says.

"Oh my God. Why would he do that?" I demand, though I'm not sure if I'm talking to Stewart or to myself. I'm winded again, horror twisting through me until I want to vomit. Not once have I even considered that Toby might be responsible for what happened to Maddi. I just assumed it was whoever was after Lexi. We all did.

"He waited for weeks to get you home alone, and the first time you were finally by yourself, Corbit showed up and ruined his plans." Stewart chuckles, amused by this fact. "I guess he decided to make sure you paid for it after he watched the two of you fucking in the pool, so he grabbed the saw the gardener left out and cut through the limb."

Toby came looking for me, and he found me with Jared?

I can't even wrap my mind around that. But… it makes sense, doesn't it?

That's why I hadn't heard from him until tonight.

That's why Maddi was hurt.

Toby caught me with Jared and wanted to make sure I suffered for it. Because that's what Toby does. He hurts people to make them do what he wants. And he couldn't get to me, so he hurt Maddi instead. Because he knew she loved that damn swing, and he fucking
knew
I'd blame myself when she was hurt. That I'd run. He separated me from Jared, and then sent that damn newspaper clipping to twist the knife a little deeper.

Something else occurs to me, freezing me in place.

Stewart didn't get to the mansion until Chris and I were leaving the night Maddi was hurt.

How did he know about what Jared and I did in the pool? Or that Toby saw us? Or what Toby did?

Oh my God.

"I'm going to throw up," I mumble, clamping a hand over my mouth.

Stewart swears loudly and swerves onto the side of the road.

Gravel still pops beneath the tires when I fling the door open and dive out. I land in the wet grass on the side of the highway. Before Stewart can climb out, I jump to my feet and take off. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm not stupid enough to stick around and try to figure out what the hell he wants with me either. I don't trust him.

"Son of a bitch!" Stewart yells behind me. His door slams shut.

I stumble along in my bare feet, twisting my ankle in the gravel. I keep running, waving my hands in the air like a crazy person, praying someone stops.

Of course they don't though.

I barely make it ten feet before Stewart grabs me around the waist, dragging me backward.

"Let me go!" I scream at him, kicking my feet and clawing at him, trying to force him to let me go.

He grunts when my heel connects with his shin, but he doesn't let me go.

Someone blows their horn as they fly past. They don't bother to slow down or come to my rescue though. People are too busy pretending not to notice what's happening to get involved. Just like they did in Italy. I'm not important to them… why should they care what happens to me? Or inconvenience themselves to help me?

"Stop fighting before I break your arm," Stewart hisses in my ear, wrenching my arm behind my back.

Pain radiates from my fingers to my shoulder and back again. I scream and try to wiggle free, but I can't. He's holding me too tightly. Trying to fight him off is like trying to fight off a grizzly. Worse. Because I know what a bear is capable of. I don't know what Stewart's capable of or even what he wants from me.

He tosses me back into the SUV. I land hard on my knees in the floorboard.

"Try that again and I will kill you." He glares at me, panting.

I stare at him, taking deep breaths. My arm hurts, almost worse than my back did when I landed in the glass.

"You killed Matthew, didn't you?" I pant.

Stewart doesn't say anything. He just stands there. But I see the truth burning in his gaze.

He killed Matthew.

"Why?" I mumble a few minutes later. I'm still on my knees in the floorboard. My legs are so weak, I'm not sure I can move. All I can think is that Stewart murdered Matthew. He's the one trying to kill Lexi. And I don't understand why.

Stewart's back behind the wheel, waiting for a break in traffic so he can pull out onto the road again. He's child locked the doors so I can't get out again. I'm trapped, and I'm scared.

"He trusted you!" I say when he doesn't answer me. Anger and revulsion pound through me, shaking loose rage. I want to kill Stewart.

"Hardly, sweetheart." Stewart guns the engine.

I slip sideways, hissing when I try to catch my fall with the arm he almost broke. Stabbing pains run through it, an intense electrical current that brings tears to my eyes.

"Matthew's not the saint you think he is."

"He's better than you," I snap between gritted teeth, trying to wiggle my way back into the seat. I plop down and glare daggers at the back of Stewart's head.

"Don't be so sure of that. The same blood than ran in his veins runs in mine."

I think I'm beyond being shocked at this point and yet… I'm nowhere close.

My mouth falls opens, but no sound comes out.

Stewart notices. "He was my father," he says quietly.

I shake my head, trying to deny that.

Matthew and Caitlyn never had a son. They had three daughters. That was it.

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not." He shoots me another grim smile in the rearview mirror, the shadows acting like a mask, hiding his eyes. "Matthew Talbot was my father."

I think he's telling the truth. I don't know why, but I do.

"How?" I manage to ask him.

"Before he left for Oxford, he had an affair with my mother. She thought he'd marry her when he came home and realized he had a son, but he came home married to Caitlyn."

"D–did he know about you?" I whisper.

Stewart throws his head back and laughs loudly. "Why do you think my mother's on the Board of Directors at T.I.? He thought he was doing right by her, giving her a cushy job." Stewart shakes his head, his voice hardening. "When I finished college, he put me in charge of security at the estate. I got to stand at the fucking gate to the mansion, watching his perfect little family while he groomed Alexis for the job that should have been mine."