Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“But you could have me kidnapped?”
“Is it kidnapping when it’s yer own kin?” he challenges me with a smirk as he rests his right ankle on his left knee. “I think you’re looking at this the wrong way, sweetheart,” he says. “I’m here to care for you. To show you I’m not an absentee father. I may not have been there throughout yer younger years, but I want to be here now.”
“What makes you think I need you now?”
“Nothing.” He shrugs as if it’s the last thing he would consider. He smiles and a glint in his eye sparkles. I wonder briefly if my mother ever loved him. To walk away from a man whose child you’re carrying can’t be easy. And yet, my mum did it. It doesn’t make sense to me.
“I just want to go home. That’s all.”
He chuckles. “I wish ye could, sweetheart,” he says. “But you’re here to tell me everything about ye ma’s work. Living with her, I’m sure there have been times you’ve come across colleagues of hers.”
Confusion now furrows my brows. My mother’s work has never been topic of conversation between me and her. She kept her work private. If he thinks I can offer insight, then he’s sorely mistaken. “I know nothing about what she does. I’ve spent my life being kept in the dark about her business. Mum has meetings away from the house, and if she does bring any of her partners home for dinner, or a party, they don’t talk about work.”
Patrick tips his head to the side as he regards me. “Now, I just don’t believe that. Because surely she would’ve said something to ye.”
“I can promise you, she’s never said a word.”
Frustration creases his expression, and his jaw ticks as he glares at me. Then he glances at the two men who are standing idly by and waiting instruction. “Take her to the basement.”
“What? No!”
I’m gripped harshly by one of the guards, and even though I try to fight, it’s no use. I’m dragged from the room, my eyes on my father as he watches. The room I’m dumped in this time isn’t as pretty as the last. It’s nowhere near a room—it’s a cell. And once the heavy metal door clicks, I’m left in the dark.
I don’t know how much time passes until the door opens and I’m dragged out of the cell. The man holding me can lift me without breaking a sweat. He takes me down a dark hallway, and we enter another dimly lit room, which I notice has chains on the walls and a metal chair right in the middle.
He plops me down and begins binding my ankles to the chair legs, while my arms are forced behind me and tied with cuffs.
Patrick saunters in and smiles at me. I want to claw his eyes out. Anger and hatred burn their way through me. “I want you to answer some very important questions, Miren.” His voice echoes in the room. The man who brought me here stands to the side, ready for an order from his boss.
“I told you, I don’t know anything,” I tell him, and a hand slams against the side of my face.
“I want names, all the names of the colleagues yer mam brought into that house,” Patrick says, his tone so light and carefree it’s as if he’s talking about the weather.
“I told you I don’t know,” I scream, but it’s no use. Each time I respond honestly, the man hits me. His hand stings against my cheek which causes me to wince in pain. The blood trickling into my mouth from my split lip coats my tongue. And I’m convinced I’ll most probably die here.
The guard pulls a knife out of a shoulder holster and brings it to my neck. The sleek blade bites into my skin as I look up at Patrick. A devil with a sinister smile.
“I’ll get the truth out of you,” he tells me, “one way or another.”
He turns and walks away, and the warm liquid dribbling down my neck into my cleavage is evidence the bastard has cut me. I don’t know what else to do but cry as I’m taken back to my cell. I have a feeling this isn’t over, not by a long shot.
FOUR
MONSTER
Each day that passes makes me anxious. We’re so close, yet still so far. As much as I want to avenge my mother’s killer, I know I must do it with a level head. I’ve never been known to have patience, but for her, I’ll do this the right way.
When Tye, our tech expert, looked into Bragan, there were things that didn’t make sense. His private plane was out of the country, so instead of making our way to the address Moore gave us, we waited. The plan is to go straight to the house the moment I know he’s there. The man has to be within my reach when I attack, because if he isn’t, the whole raid will be fruitless.