It was maddening. All of it.
She opened the desk drawers, looking for anything that might be useful. She came up with a dried-up pen, a few paper clips, and an old eraser. She tossed the eraser aside, but pocketed the other items. Then she sat on the desk to wait.
The minutes ticked by, and anxiety crept in. She wished they would get a move on with whatever it was she was waiting for. The waiting was killing her.
And maybe that was the point. Maybe making her wait was another form of a power play.
When the door finally opened, she knew her theory was correct.
Because in walked her father.
Chapter 25
Her father looked the same as he always did: tailored suit, dark hair with a touch of gray at the temples, and a smirk that reeked of self-importance. As he walked farther into the room toward her, Natalie instinctively backed up.
Then she squared her shoulders and stood her ground. She was done being afraid of him.
He waited until the door was closed behind him to speak. “That hair color is hideous. Although it does complement your lovely black eye.”
She hated that he was seeing her like this—injured. It probably made him feel even more superior, if that was even possible.
She curled her lip. “I’d like to say I’m sorry you disapprove, but the truth is I don’t give a shit what you think.”
He arched one brow and reached into his inside jacket pocket for a thick envelope. “Harsh words, my dear. Harsh words.”
She didn’t respond and narrowed her eyes at him. Her words may be harsh, but they were true. It had taken her years—way too long—to see her father for who he truly was. He was nothing but a fancy suit and an expensive haircut. He had no soul. And now, staring at him in these filthy surroundings, she didn’t see how she ever could have missed it.
His heart may beat, but it was dead inside. He had no feelings for her, and she wondered if he had ever felt the affection he used to display or if she’d always been just a pawn to him.
And her poor mother. She’d been taken in by his charm. Had any of it ever been real?
She felt a mix of grief and anger. Grief for the false memory of the good father he’d been, and anger in knowing what a coldhearted bastard he was.
He took some papers out of the envelope and laid them on the desk, then tossed a pen on top. “Sign these.”
“I’m not signing anything.” Part of her didn’t even want to look at them, while the other part was dying to know what was in those documents.
“You will sign these, or you can kiss your boyfriend good-bye.” His lips stretched into a lazy, self-satisfied smile. “Actually, on second thought, he’ll be dead before you ever see him again. So no kiss, after all.”
Her hands shook—the only outward sign that his words affected her—and she worked to hold her father’s gaze, not wanting to give him the upper hand. She made no move toward the papers.
Her father rested a hip on the edge of the desk. “You see, I bet you didn’t know this—actually, I know you didn’t know this, but X and I are already acquaintances. More than acquaintances. Business partners. And he’s willing to spare Knox’s life in exchange for your signature on those papers. It’s really kind of funny how all this worked out.”
She lowered her gaze to the papers, finally snatching them off the table.
“You don’t have to read them,” he commented. “Just sign.”
She ignored him and scanned the first page, then flipped through the rest of them. From what she could tell, her signature on these papers would make her father the permanent custodian of the Farrington fortune, even after she turned thirty. So while the money would legally be hers, she would have no access to it.
She didn’t know if this was legal, but the documents looked pretty official. Only a lawyer would be able to tell her for sure.
She tossed the papers onto the desk. “You have no right to this money.”
He sighed and ran his finger along the edge of the desk, frowning when it came away covered in dust. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket to clean his finger.
“Might I remind you that your mother’s name was still Kent when she died? I’d say that entitles me to it.”
“Did you ever love us?” She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but looking into his cold, calculating eyes caused it to slip out. Although she’d moved past caring what he thought of her, she still wanted to know the truth about her life.
“I gave your mother a daughter, the thing she wanted most in the world. What greater sign of love is there than that?”
“But you never wanted me.”
He shrugged. “I couldn’t care less. But it made her happy, so what’s a doting husband to do?”
“You’re a bastard.”
“Yes, actually, I am. My parents were never married, so technically, that’s true. But I’ve come a long way since then.” He held the pen out. “Sign. Think about what’s at stake for you. Sign, and you and your thug boyfriend can disappear and live happily ever after.”
“No,” she said slowly. “That will never happen. X will never let Knox go.”
“You’d be surprised what several million can convince people to do.”
She shook her head. “You don’t know X.”
“And you do?” he countered.
“I know enough not to trust him. Even if I sign this, he won’t leave us alone.”
She believed that X would take her father’s money and agree to the terms, but he had no integrity. X couldn’t be trusted to keep up his end of the deal.
And though she argued for her father to listen to reason, she knew he wouldn’t. His arrogance blinded him to the fact that X was only out for himself.
She was stalling, trying to give herself time to figure out what to do.
Her father was relatively fit for a man of his age, but with the new skills she’d learned from Knox, she bet she could get past him to get through the door. But then what? X’s men were probably still out there standing guard. She was no match for them. And who knows how many others were in the building? She’d be right back where she started. Probably worse off.
“Besides,” she continued. “X hasn’t found Knox yet.”
Her father chuckled, and the sound turned her blood to ice. “He doesn’t have to find him.” He leaned forward so that he was inches from her face. “You’re the perfect bait.”
Knox went straight for the first man’s jugular, literally. He wrapped his hand around the guy’s windpipe, using the force of his advance to slam him to the ground and onto his back.
The second guy wrapped his arm around Knox’s throat while Knox knelt over the downed man and dragged him away. Knox threw his elbows into the man’s ribs, then slammed the back of his head into the guy’s nose. He heard a crunch and the thick smell of coppery blood filled the narrow hallway. Knox spun quickly and followed with two more jabs.
The first man had recovered by then and advanced on Knox. Knox quickly swept out the legs of the second guy, who was nursing his nose, to lay him out on the ground and take him out of the equation.
The first guy approached cautiously, and Knox noticed the gun strapped to his side. Why hadn’t he pulled it out? Though Knox also had a gun, both opponents having guns gave them the upper hand. They could’ve ended the fight before it even started.
He didn’t have time to consider it deeply.
He faked a right hook, then ducked and delivered a fierce series of uppercuts with his left hand. The guy tried to push Knox away, but Knox gripped his shoulder with his right hand and continued to pummel his kidneys.
The man hunched over and twisted, but there was no avoiding Knox’s blows. Knox stepped back to deliver a few finishing hits with his dominant right hand. The guy slumped to the ground.
Then suddenly, Knox was kicked from behind and sent sprawling into the wall. He quickly rolled and hopped up to his feet.
Fuck. There were two new guys. Though the first guy was incapac
itated, the second guy was back on his feet. Knox didn’t like these odds.
Instead of taking the offensive, Knox hung back, wanting to size up the situation before striking. He had been hoping to take out the first two guys without alerting anyone else to his presence, but that objective had failed.
His new objective was not getting captured. These two new men were more formidable than the first two he’d encountered. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the narrow hallway, taking up the entire width.
Knox enjoyed a fair fight, but he was going to have to fight dirty to get past these two. He snaked his hand around to the gun in this waistband and held it by the barrel. Then he lunged to his right and swung the butt of the gun right at the man’s temple. He dropped to his knees, stunned. Damn. Knox had been sure that would put him out.
The other man grabbed his wrist, causing him to drop the gun. Knox swept his leg into the guy’s knees. He stumbled, letting go of Knox’s wrist. Knox slammed him up against the wall and pummeled his face. His fists were soon covered in blood.
That was the second nose he’d broken today.
Then someone pulled at his arms. No, two someones. Two more guys had arrived and they were pulling him back. Several possible scenarios quickly ran through Knox’s head, and he evaluated each one.
Things weren’t looking good for him now that he was completely outnumbered, but he wasn’t giving up. As long as Natalie was still in X’s possession, he would never give up.
He was about to head butt the guy to his right when he heard the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked. He turned his head slightly to find yet another man, who had the gun trained on his head.
“What the fuck is taking so long?” the man said in annoyance. “He’s just one man. It shouldn’t take six of you to take him down.”
“X said—”
“X said to bring him to the warehouse alive. There’s lots of different levels of being alive, gentlemen.”
Knox studied this man. He was dressed in black, like the others, but he also wore an air of authority. He wasn’t just another of X’s lackeys.
“Now, hurry the fuck up.”
Knox instinctively pulled against the men who held his arms. He got his right arm free, and he used the space it opened up between him and the guy to kick him in his side.
“For fuck’s sake.” The authoritative man stepped forward and swung the butt of his gun against Knox’s temple. Knox slumped, stunned. He could feel the trickle of blood running down the side of his face.
The last thing he saw was a fist coming at his face. Then everything went dark.
Chapter 26
“Bait?” Natalie’s heart seized in her chest.
“I was worried about this,” her father explained. “That promising your safety wouldn’t be enough. That perhaps we’d need another way to persuade you. Given his devotion to you, your beloved Knox should be showing up any minute now. X and I are counting on it.”
“No,” she whispered. This was the piece she hadn’t figured out. X’s taking her was part of a trap to lure Knox to him. She should have known.
For X this was never about the money. This had always been personal.
“Once he arrives, we’ll arrange a show for you. A preview of what can happen if you don’t cooperate with us. It’s really quite simple.”
She closed her eyes. Knox, Knox, Knox, where are you? God, she hoped he was nowhere near here. But her father was right about one thing—Knox would come for her, even if he figured out it was a trap. He’d once again risk his life for her without hesitation.
And she’d never told him she loved him.
But it was the love she shared with him that made her strong. They didn’t need to say the words for her to know it was there.
It gave her the strength she needed. She’d never give in to X and her father.
Her hands shook, but this time it was from rage. She opened her eyes and snatched the documents off the desk. Then she held them up and tore them in half.
“This is what I think of your papers. You can rot in hell.” She threw the pieces at him, and they bounced off his chest to land on the floor.
He let out a breath and worked his jaw. “You’re going to regret that.”
Out in the hall, several sets of footsteps could be heard running by.
“He’s here!” someone yelled, and there were more scuffling sounds and doors slamming, then silence.
The blood drained from Natalie’s face, and she swayed, clutching the desk for support.
Her father grinned. “Oh, look. Your boyfriend’s right on time.”
Oh God, oh God, oh God. What were they going to do to him? This place was crawling with X’s men. Knox could hold his own, but even he couldn’t fight off everyone. He was sorely outnumbered. Even when he realized that, she knew he wouldn’t run. He wouldn’t leave without her.
She took several deep breaths. Knox needed her. So she swallowed her fear, and channeled all of her anger.
Then she opened her eyes and sprang into action.
She rushed at her father, catching him by surprise. She shoved the heel of her hand up into the bottom of his chin, snapping his head back. While he was reeling from the shock, she brought her knee up to his groin with all the force she could muster.
First rule: fight dirty.
He keeled over and she shoved him from behind, slamming his head into the metal desk. He fell to the ground.
She opened the door, which hadn’t even been locked, and quickly evaluated her surroundings.
Damn! Why hadn’t she paid more attention when the two men brought her to this room?
She went left, in the opposite direction of the other room they’d kept her in. Dead end. She turned and ran in the other direction, and as she passed the room she’d just left, she saw her father pulling himself up off the floor.
Fuck! He didn’t stay down long.
She ran to the end of the hall and threw open a doorway that had stairs leading up. But where were the ones going down? That’s what she wanted—down. She’d bet anything Knox was on the ground floor.
The sound of her father’s footsteps in the hallway left her little choice, so she followed Knox’s real first rule. Run away.
She took the stairs two at a time, going up two flights before pausing to check the door handle leading out of the enclosed stairwell. Locked.
The next two doors were locked as well, so she went up another flight. Locked.
Goddammit! She’d gotten herself trapped. She could hear her father’s footsteps several flights below her.
Think! Think!
The paper clips. She pulled one out of her pocket and straightened it, then jammed it into the lock.
“Come on,” she muttered, forcing herself to calm down enough to concentrate on what she was doing. As soon as she heard the telltale click of the lock giving, she twisted the doorknob and bolted through the door.
Her father was only steps behind her. She slammed the door, but he stuck his arm through to stop it from closing. He yelled obscenities as it smashed against his arm.
She leaned against the door with all her weight, but her father outweighed her by at least sixty pounds. She couldn’t hold it, so she jumped back and darted away as fast as she could. It was only then that she looked around and realized where she was—the freaking roof.
The door flung open, and her father burst through. His eyes were murderous. He staggered toward her, favoring his arm that had gotten caught in the door.
It gave her a small piece of satisfaction to know she’d hurt him.
“Is that how you treat dear old Dad?” he taunted. “I have to admit that I’m impressed with your moves. I never would have thought you had it in you. Your boyfriend must be rubbing off on you. Pity. You were always such a nice, obedient daughter.”
How ironic that the first real compliment he’d given her in years made her want to spit in his face.
She backed up until she was dangerously close to the edge.
There was nowhere she could go. She bit down on her lip to keep from screaming and wrapped her arms around herself. In doing so, she felt a small bulge in her pocket.
The recorder. She’d forgotten all about it. She slipped her hand into her pocket to turn it on.
“What did you mean when you said you and X were business partners?” she asked.
Her father grinned sadistically. “What’s this? Finally taking interest in the family business? Let’s just say X and I go way back. I’m sure you didn’t realize this, but we grew up on the same street.”
She shook her head and tried to act afraid, which wasn’t hard. Her father loved to talk about himself. She just needed to keep him talking.
“When X was getting his start, who do you think loaned him the money? He was the first recipient of Anna Farrington Foundation funds. And it’s so ironic how everything has come full circle, don’t you think?”
She forced herself to laugh despite the rage that was rising within her. “It is ironic. I think . . .” She paused and took a shaky breath, making a point to look over her shoulder at the fall to the ground below. “Maybe I should reconsider signing those papers.”
“That would be very wise.”
“But you have to promise you won’t send any more guards after me. Especially like the one who was killed that first night I left.”
Her father cocked his head. “Did you kill him? Or was it your boyfriend?”
So he’d caught on to her evasive language.
She took a deep breath. “It was me. He was hurting me. He would have raped me.”
He frowned. “That wasn’t part of the deal. But that doesn’t surprise me about Craig. He had an unfortunate history, but his size and willingness to do whatever I asked of him made him an excellent employee. And I did say your condition didn’t matter as long as you were breathing. So perhaps that little misunderstanding was my fault.” He smiled, and she noticed some blood on his lip. That must have happened when she rammed her hand into his chin.
She’d hurt him. More than once now. Knowing that gave her the confidence she needed.
“And my mother? What about her?”
Fight for Me Page 22
