I quickly recall that Cassie is the missing girl and realize my father must have had her here for weeks. “Kyle, please, you don’t have to do this. I’m begging you…”
“Save your breath, Emily. This goes way above me, but like I said, if you would have fucking listened to me I could have protected you. Instead you chose Jameson.” He shakes his head in disappointment. “I do believe though that I have convinced them to spare your life. You’re just going to have a new life now, somewhere far away.” He smirks tauntingly and walks closer to me. The girl shirks back in fear the closer he gets. I try hard not to do the same, not wanting to give him the satisfaction. He leans down then grabs me by my hair and yanks my head back. I bite back a cry at the stinging pain. He brings his face only a mere inch from mine. “But they don’t get you until I’m done with you, and I am going to fucking collect what you so self-righteously have kept from me all of these years.”
The way he talks about me as if I belong to him makes my blood boil. “No part of me has ever belonged to you and I never will,” I choke out.
He chuckles but there’s nothing funny-sounding about it. Shaking his head, he releases my hair then slaps me again, knocking me over. My head hits the cement floor with a loud crack. I grab it and scream at the sheer agony ripping through me. Ryder’s roar through the wire has my head feeling like it’s going to explode. He’s yelling something at me, but I can’t understand him. The pain becomes too much and before I can stop myself I reach in and quickly rip the tiny ear bud out.
Kyle doesn’t pay notice to it and thinks I’m just grabbing at my head. “You still haven’t learned when to shut that pretty mouth of yours.” I cry out again when his foot connects with my ribs. My breath stalls in my lungs and I desperately try to gasp for breath, the pain robbing me of air.
“That’s enough, Kyle.”
Kyle hauls me up and locks an arm around my throat, keeping me snug against him. I try to focus through my blurry vision, and stare into the faces of the men who ruined my life. Archer Benedict, Vincent Prescott and my father.
I make eye contact with my father, a moment of silence stretching between us. “Why?” I ask, not knowing what else to say.
“I tried to warn you, Emily, but you went against me.” That’s all he says, no explanation, no hint of remorse. Nothing.
“You killed Rosa,” I state through clenched teeth.
“I did what I had to do. If she hadn’t gotten snoopy she would have been fine. But when she found Cassie…” He shrugs. “I had no choice.”
Fury erupts through me as he talks about it so nonchalantly, acting as if he didn’t rip away from me one of the most important people in my life. Like he didn’t murder a beautiful, loving woman in cold blood.
“I hate you!” I scream on a sob. “How could you do that to her? How could you do this to me? Your own daughter!”
“You have no one to blame but yourself for this predicament you’re in. You refused to listen to reason, Emily.”
I stare back at him aghast, but my attention gets drawn away when Paul Kensington comes rushing in looking panicked. When he gets a good look at me his gaze darts away, seeming remorseful.
“Yes, this is true.” Archer cuts in now with a sigh. “It’s unfortunate it has come to this, Emily, but you left us no choice. After you got your sight back I figured you had remembered, but when your father assured me you hadn’t I was nice enough to leave you be. But then you wanted to do the hypnotherapy, and we couldn’t let that happen.”
“It’s your fault I went blind. It’s all of your faults,” I seethe.
“I wasn’t a part of it, Emily,” Paul mutters. Again I notice how regretful he looks.
Why is he involved in this then?
Archer chimes back in. “I wouldn’t be upset by that. Your disability was the only thing that kept you alive all of these years. And, thanks to your boyfriend, you were saved a second time in front of that theatre. By the way, where is he? We are having difficulties finding him and I’d like to tie up all of my loose ends tonight before we leave.”
I ignore his question about Ryder. “So it wasn’t a drive-by shooting. It was you?” I ask, wanting to get his confession on tape.
He nods. “I felt like I had no other choice at the time, but thanks to Kyle here, he suggested another alternative and I have to agree it’s a good one. I think you will make us a lot of money.”
I quickly realize what he’s talking about and I look to my father again. “You’re going to sell your own daughter?”
“Yes, he is,” Kyle responds, bringing his mouth to my ear, “but he agreed to let me have my fill first.” Complete disgust fills me, knowing my father promised him my body. But my revulsion quickly turns into panic when he begins sliding his hand in the top of my dress. I try to wiggle away but I can’t, his grip is too tight. Then the unthinkable happens – he finds the wire.
I feel him freeze behind me. “What the fuck?” Pure fear washes over me when he rips out the mic. “She’s fucking wired!” Everyone’s expression turns to utter shock.
“How is that possible?” Vincent shouts in alarm.
Kyle is the one to figure it out first. “It’s fucking, Jameson. I told you that asshole was lying. He’s a fucking cop! That’s why we can’t find him.”
Archer turns to my father, pure fury transforming his expression. “You told me you checked into his background.”
For the first time, my father looks fearful. “I- I did. It said…” A loud gunshot goes off and I watch my father drop to the ground, a bullet firmly implanted in his head.
A scream bubbles up my throat but before it can escape me Kyle drops the wire and smashes it with his foot then slams his hand over my mouth. My shocked gaze looks back at Archer to see a gun in his hand, and I quickly comprehend he just killed my father.
“Holy shit! What the fuck are you doing, Archer?” Paul shouts in alarm, seeming just as shocked as me.
“He’s been listening the entire fucking time,” Kyle yells. “We have to get the fuck out of here before they find us. Who knows how many fucking cops are here right now.”
“Grab her!” Archer orders, pointing over to Cassie. Kyle’s father runs over and unties her.
“Listen, I think we need to reassess our situation. Everything is out now; they have this all on recording. We can’t…” Paul shuts up when Archer points the gun at him.
“You are not pulling out! We are sticking to the fucking plan. Now get moving before I blow your brains out too.”
Kyle follows the others, dragging me to the other end of the room. I watch Archer put a key into a panel then suddenly an overhead door opens above us, unveiling the dark night sky and leading to god only knows where. Where are you, Ryder?
Chapter 23
Ryder
I pace back and forth like an animal, a dangerous violence rushing through my veins like hot lava. Fear has my chest constricting so fucking tight I have not been able to breathe for the past ten minutes.
At first when I heard Emily get grabbed by Prescott it took all three agents to take me down. Then it took some rationalizing from Stone before I could calm down enough to think straight. I knew he was right, if I went in guns blazing and they were alerted of feds they would kill her. I’m trying my best to treat this as any other case and use my training, but fuck is it hard. Because this is not just any case, this is my girl, the one I promised to protect.
Somehow I managed to get my rage to a simmering calm so I could focus. We went through blueprints trying to figure out where the fuck they could be, but when I heard that motherfucker strike her, all bets were off. I ran and grabbed the first security guard that was out searching for me and Nick grabbed the second, then we brought them back to the surveillance van for questioning. I was pulled back from it after I smashed my fist into the first guy’s face and threatened to shoot his dick off if he didn’t tell us where this hidden room is. These assholes are swearing they don’t know where it is, that they were only instructed to find me then report back to Michaels. Now, five minutes later, we are still nowhere closer to finding Emily.