Cami shook her head. "There's no way he'd do that. He's promised to get Sophie and me out of here today."
Cami had a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she listened to Spike’s words. Griffin was the sort of person who would throw himself on his sword if he thought it would help others, and he'd sworn to protect her and Sophie. What if he thought this was the only way he could do it? It was utterly ridiculous, but Cami could imagine him taking such drastic measures.
"I knew you'd start to realise that I'm telling the truth, but now I need you to do something for me."
Cami folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes at Spike, who continued to grin back at her.
"I trust Griffin and I know he'll have a plan. There's no way he's gone into all of this blind. And I know he won't let me down."
Spike's smile faded and he pushed himself up from his place on the couch. Cami backed up as he approached her; the moment she felt the wall behind her, her heart sank.
"That's the part I'm worried about. He won't let you down, but what about me? What about Black Special? He doesn't care about us anymore. We gave him everything and he's willing to just turn his back on us without even a second thought."
Cami shook her head. "That's not true. Griffin wouldn't just turn his back on you, either, unless he had a really good reason."
Spike laughed coldly and Cami fought the urge to clamp her hands over her ears to blot out the sound.
"A good reason? Don't you realise that he thinks you're the good reason? You're the problem in all of this, and I need you gone."
"I'm not going anywhere, not without Griffin. You don't frighten me, Spike. You're nothing but a spoilt little brat who's upset that he can't get his own way."
He smiled and then his expression flicked as he lashed out and pinned Cami back against the wall, his hand holding her by the jaw. Cami fought against his grip as his fingers dug into the flesh of her face, the pain bringing tears to her eyes.
"I knew you'd say that. You've been a survivor for far too long and I know what that's like. I know no amount of threats will get you to do what I want."
Cami lashed out at him, her fingernails catching him across the side of his face and leaving a small bloodied trail down his cheek.
Spike roared and loosened his grip on her long enough for her to slam into him and knock him away. The pain in Cami's jaw radiated through her face as she ran for the open front door, her hand fumbling for her cell phone in her pocket.
Her finger slid across the screen, pressing the call button as Spike slammed into her from behind, knocking her to the ground before she had the chance to reach the porch.
Cami screamed, the sound muffled as Spike forced her face down into the carpet and sat down in the centre of her back, cutting off her air supply.
"Don't be a fool…" he hissed in her ear, holding her down easily as she fought against him.
Tears spilled down Cami's face as she slowly suffocated on the fibres from the carpet, Spike grinding her further down into it each time she bucked against him.
"Don't you want to be with little sis?" Spike asked, the edge in his voice instantly quieting Cami.
"Her daddy was so happy when I told him where he could go and pick up his little girl. He was a little suspicious at first, of course, but when I told him that I knew you and what I wanted to do, he was more than a little grateful."
Spike's words opened a pit of despair in Cami's stomach, and her tears quickly turned to wracking sobs as it dawned on her exactly what he'd done.
"Don't cry, Camille. He wants both of his girls back, and I'm more than happy to oblige him."
He loosened his grip on Cami, but she didn't try to fight against him. There was no point; her only priority was getting to Sophie and making sure she was safe. Everything else was secondary.
"You killed him, didn't you?" she asked, her voice still muffled by the carpet.
Spike stiffened against her, his hand tightening in her hair as he lifted her head up from the ground.
"What did you say?" he asked, his voice gruff.
"You shot him, you shot your manager. It was you I saw that night…"
"Clever girl! How'd you figure that out?"
"You slammed into me that night and knocked me to the ground. You did it again today and it jolted the memory free. It was you, but I just don't know why…"
Spike held her head and forced her to roll over beneath him. He continued to sit across her body, his legs straddling her chest as he kept his grip in her hair.
"He figured out something he wasn't supposed to. Wanted me to come clean to the rest of the group, and to Griffin, and I couldn't do it. I couldn't have anyone find out the truth."
"You won't get away with it. You know Griffin will figure it out," Cami said, a wave of calm washing over her. She knew what was coming, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. The best she could hope for after Spike delivered her back to her stepfather was that she would be able to get Sophie out of there.
No matter what, she wouldn't allow her to stay with that monster. She wouldn't let all that they'd achieved be a waste.
Spike smiled as his fingers locked in against her head. "He's an idiot, a blind idiot who’ll believe whatever he's told."
Pain exploded in the back of Cami's head as Spike slammed it down against the floor. Stars burst behind her eyelids as the pain blossomed outward, and then there was nothing but blissful darkness.
Chapter 21
"You shouldn't be doing this alone," Riley said, his expression a mask of irritation as he watched Griffin check the bag once more for the money. "It's all there, I'm hardly going to short-change my own brother."
Griffin smiled, but he couldn't shake the nervous knot in the pit of his stomach. The last time he'd paid a visit to Elijah Scott he'd had the snot beaten out of him.
"I'm not doing it alone. You're both here with me," he said, gesturing to Stuart, who sat staring out the car window at the deserted industrial estate.
"Not only that, but there's a least twenty bodyguards here. If the two of you and all of them can't keep me safe, then nothing will."
"He's right, Riley. Stop panicking. I won't let anything happen to the idiot," Stuart said as he darted a grin in Griffin's direction.
The more time they spent together, the more Stuart seemed to be warming back up to him. Griffin couldn't quite wrap his head around the reason why.
He'd spent so long knowing without a doubt that his brother hated him that to have this kind of thawing out towards him was almost unnerving. Every time Stuart smiled at him, Griffin couldn't help but wonder if the world was going to spin off its axis.
He planned to get to the bottom of it eventually, but for now he would have to content himself with the knowledge that Stuart didn't seem to hate his guts the way he used to.
"When all of this is over and done with, there's something we need to talk about," Griffin said, drawing the attention of Riley and Stuart back on him and away from the paranoid vigil they were both in the middle of performing.
"What about?" Riley asked in a suspicious voice.
"There's something I've got to tell you both, something I've got to do, and I know you're both going to be pretty pissed at me."
"Is this about the murder of your manager?" Riley asked, his expression suddenly unreadable.
"Yeah, how did you…"
"Did you really think Barry would keep something like that from me?"
Griffin groaned as he realised that Barry Griswold had obviously not been as trustworthy as he'd pretended.
"I thought lawyers were supposed to keep things in confidence."
Riley smiled and shook his head. "You forget that Barry is my lawyer. He's only on loan to you until everything is cleared up. He knows better than to keep something like that from me."
"Wait, Griffin's manager is dead? When did that happen?" Stuart asked, his expression betraying his annoyance at being kept in the dark about Steve’s death.<
br />
"He was shot and Griffin found the body. He, along with Camille and Spike, agreed to keep the entire thing hidden for some stupid reason. I mean, I can understand Camille's position but, really, Griffin, what the hell were you thinking?" Riley cocked an eyebrow as his eyes bored into Griffin's.
It was almost as though Riley thought studying him hard enough would help him work out the motivations behind Griffin’s actions.
"Jesus Christ, Griffin, are you insane?" Stuart asked, his voice booming in the small confines of the limousine where they sat.
A dark car pulled into the industrial estate's wide open parking lot and Riley nodded toward it, drawing the attention of both Stuart and Griffin.
Griffin hugged the bag of money to his chest and pressed his hand to release the door, but Riley's words made him pause.
"Don't get too close, and if you think for one second that something's not right, you get the hell out of there. Am I making myself clear?" Riley asked, his voice suddenly serious, and Griffin could hear the note of concern in his tone.
"Got it," Griffin said, saluting his brother with a wide grin on his face. Joking was the only way he knew how to cover up his true feelings.
He climbed from the car and straightened his shoulders in an attempt to appear more confident than he truly was.
"Don't worry, I won't let Elijah kill you. That's my job," Stuart grumbled.
He shot his brother a sarcastic smile and slammed the door before beginning the slow walk towards Elijah's town car.
He paused in the centre of the parking lot, his stomach flipping nervously as he waited for Elijah to join him. It felt more like a bad mafia movie than it did real life, and the thought of Riley as Godfather made him smile as the back door to Elijah's car swung open.
"Something amuses you, Griffin? I'm glad to see the last lesson I taught you didn't destroy your sense of humour," Elijah said as he sauntered forward.
He appeared utterly unconcerned as one of Riley's bodyguards stepped forward, signalling he'd come close enough. But Griffin knew Elijah wasn't the type of man to be told when enough was enough, and so it didn't surprise him when he continued forward.
The guard pulled out his gun, pointing it squarely at Elijah's chest, but Elijah just smiled in response.
"Tell your pet to put his toy away or I'll have one of my men splatter his brains across the asphalt."
"I don't see anyone but you," Griffin said, staring around at the empty lot.
Elijah's grin widened, reminding Griffin of the programs he'd watched during Shark Week: the extreme close-ups of great white sharks, apex predators. Or, in other words, Elijah.
"I'm not like your brother. I prefer my power to remain hidden until necessary."
Griffin smiled, but he knew it was little more than a baring of teeth. "You're talking about the snipers you’ve positioned in the buildings surrounding our location?"
Elijah's smile faltered and Griffin felt the first stirrings of triumph. He watched as Elijah's eyes flickered to the buildings surrounding them.
"You didn't," he said, his voice trailing off as realisation dawned on him.
"We didn't kill them if that's what you're wondering. We're not murderous scum like you," Griffin said.
"I suppose you're referring to your manager's death?"
Griffin nodded; Elijah's smile infuriated him enough to make him want to wipe it clean off his face.
"What good did it do you to kill him? He knew nothing."
"Did it ever occur to you, Griffin, that it wasn't me who murdered him? I've spent a lot of time in this business, and there's one thing I've learned…" He trailed off, as though he was waiting for Griffin to figure out what he was trying to say.
"What?" Griffin asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
"Dead men don’t pay. Breaking legs and arms, threatening the lives of loved ones, these are all efficient ways of ensuring someone pays up. After all, it's worked on you." Elijah gestured to the bag Griffin still held.
"That doesn't make any sense. You said you killed him, and now you're backing out because you're afraid."
Elijah smiled, suddenly resuming his role as apex predator. "I didn't admit it; I simply didn't deny it. There's a difference. Your fault lies in the fact that you're blind to the truth, and your loyalty to the wrong people makes you easy to deceive. If you want to know who killed Mr. Robinson, you should look to those who had reason to see him dead. Those who had a secret dark enough."
Elijah's words sent a shiver down Griffin's spine, and he threw the bag of money towards him. Elijah laughed, but Griffin didn't care anymore. A seed of doubt was sprouting in his mind as Elijah's words began to sink in.
There was only one person he could possibly mean and, if he was telling the truth, Griffin had made a huge mistake. The bottom of his stomach dropped away as his cell phone rang.
He pulled it free and stared down at the screen. Cami's number flashed up at him as he swiped to answer the call. Pressing the phone to his ear, Griffin's worst fears were confirmed as the sound of Cami's frightened sobs reached his ear and turned the blood in his veins to pure ice.
* * *
Griffin didn't waste any time. The sound of Elijah's laughter rang in his ears, but none of it mattered anymore. There was only one person who mattered, and the sound of her frantic please filled Griffin with a rage he hadn't known he was capable of.
He raced across the asphalt, making it back to the car in record time. He flung the door open and climbed into the backseat. The expression of shock and confusion on his brothers’ faces might have been amusing had the situation not been so dire.
Griffin didn't say a word, instead flipping a button on his phone so the sound of Cami's sobs filled the confines of the car.
"Don't you want to be with little sis?" Spike's words were filled with bitter hatred, but it was the excitement in his voice that sickened Griffin.
How could he have been so blind? So utterly stupid to miss what was right in front of him the entire time? Spike had once been his friend, but not anymore. He had become a hateful monster, and Griffin knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was capable of terrible things.
Griffin listened with a growing sense of horror as Spike told Cami of his plan to deliver her back to the stepfather she had fought so hard to escape from. A whimper of pain, a dull thud, and then silence sent a shiver of fear racing down Griffin's spine.
What had Spike done to her?
The line went dead, and Griffin stared down at it as though it had suddenly turned into a poisonous snake intent on delivering a lethal dose of venom into his veins.
"There was never any indication from Spike that he was the type to murder your manager?" Riley asked, his tone strained, and Griffin could see the anger in his expression.
"Never. I never suspected a thing. He's good at hiding who he really is, and he's not the guy I made friends with all those years ago. I thought I knew him. I have no idea what happened to cause him to change so drastically."
"He's a cowardly bastard," Stuart said, the venom in his voice surprising Griffin. "Any man who can do something like that… he deserves everything that's coming to him and so much more."
Griffin nodded his head in agreement. He would make Spike pay for what he had done. Killing Steve was a despicable act, one Griffin couldn't wrap his head around, but what he was doing to Cami was unforgivable.
"What's the plan?" Stuart leaned forward in the seat with a serious expression.
"There's nothing we can do. I can put out some feelers, but our chances of finding Cami and her stepfather now are rather slim. He's not going to want to be found," Riley said, his tone utterly matter-of-fact.
Anger bubbled in Griffin's veins, his blood pressure spiking at the thought of being forced to sit back and doing nothing. But he couldn't, not when Cami needed him.
He'd promised her that he would keep her and Sophie safe, and he had no intention of reneging on that deal now. He would do whatever it took to find the
m and save them from the monster Spike was delivering them to.
"You can't be serious?" Griffin asked, balling his hands into fists in an attempt to keep from lashing out at his brother.
"I'm deadly serious, Griffin. There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry this has happened but…"
Griffin growled in frustration and launched himself across the car at Riley. Stuart wrapped his arms around him, pinning him back against the seat before he could even land the first blow.
"Easy, Griff, easy! We'll work something out, but there's no point in lashing out at Riley," Stuart said, his tone soothing. All it did was further enflame Griffin’s rage.
He didn't want to be soothed. He wasn't a child who needed calming down because he was throwing a tantrum. There was far too much at stake to just sit back and wait for something to happen.
"Riley, you can't honestly be suggesting we do nothing?" Stuart asked, a look of confusion crossing his face as he studied his older brother.
Griffin relaxed back against the seat, and Stuart slowly released him. If he at least could get Stuart on his side, then the situation might not be as impossible as he'd first feared. This was the type of thing Stuart did for a living. If there was any chance of succeeding, Stuart would be able to come up with a plan.
"That's not what I'm saying at all, but we need to approach this calmly and rationally. Flying off the handle won't help," Riley said, and it took all of Griffin's willpower not to throw himself across the car at his brother once more.
"Just drop me off at Cami's house. I'll deal with this," Griffin said with a sigh.
"I'm coming with you. Spike might have screwed up, and our best chance at figuring this out is by starting at the beginning," Stuart said, gesturing to the driver to follow his directions.
Riley sat silently staring out the window, his lack of input hurting Griffin. He'd always considered Riley the more understanding of all his brothers. He was a complete hard ass, and his continuous demands that everyone fall into line had always been a little irritating. But this was different.
As far as Griffin was concerned, this felt like a betrayal, and he wasn’t sure whether he would ever be able to forgive his brother for it. Riley had always been there; whenever there was trouble, Riley came through for him. Just as he had now with Elijah Scott. To see him so callously dismiss Cami, despite knowing how much she meant to Griffin, was surprising.
Breaker's Point Bad Boy Billionaires Boxset Page 48
