“Of course there’s time. You make it sound like we have to go today.”
“We do.” When Remi seemed about to protest, I rushed on. “He was watching the apartment; he had to be. Anthony Clark wasn’t targeted until he went there. You think he doesn’t know Geneva had visitors today?” He would as soon as he reviewed the surveillance. I was simply betting I could beat him to the punch, so to speak.
“Today is Thursday. He goes to the Patriots Club every Thursday night. It’s a ritual he’s kept every single week he was in town since I was a baby—everyone who’s anyone meets there. It’s where his closest contacts have been made. The southern good-ol’-boy system.” I clenched my fists together. “If I go tonight, I can get what we need with no one the wiser.”
“I?” Remi snorted. “You are not going anywhere. A, what can I do? And B, Levi would kill me—”
“We both know that’s not the case. You mean more to him than I ever will.”
Remi stopped, mouth hanging open, eyes like saucers. Then he did his own leaning forward, his stare boring into me. “That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve known my brother far longer, understand him far better, than you ever will.” The truth of his words sent a sharp pain through my heart. “I’ve never seen him like this. Ever. You’ve done something to him, Abby, something good. He’d never risk you.”
“I’d risk me, damn it!” How could I get through to him? “I haven’t just done something to him. Don’t you get that, Remi? I love him.”
Remi’s eyes went wide, his choked-off gasp echoing my own. I hadn’t known until the words were already out, what I was going to say. Was it even true?
“He’s not relationship material.”
And I, with my screwed-up life, was? “You don’t see yourselves very clearly, do you? I think he’s had plenty of experience with relationships. Since you were little, in fact. Loyalty, protection, love—what more could a girl need?”
“Are you saying he loves you?”
Was I? He certainly hadn’t said it, might not feel more than lust, but there was something there, between us, that I’d never experienced before.
And really, did it matter if it was love? Whatever it was, I was willing to take a chance on it.
“There’s no risk to me going in there. Not with Derrick gone. There’s every risk to Levi. I can be in and out before he knows I’m even gone.” I hoped, anyway. “But I can’t get there without help. I need you to help me. You’re the reason I’m here, after all. You owe me.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
The pizza guy freaked when I jumped into his car, but the fifty dollars I handed him trumped company policy and got me closer into town. I used the rest of the money Remi had given me to catch a cab.
I hadn’t lied to Remi about Derrick being gone. Thursday was also an early night for staff. I had established that habit a long time ago, making that my one night alone—no staff to commiserate with me, no parties to tax my nerves, just me and comfort food and a long soak in a hot tub. I made sure my light was off and the door closed before Derrick came home. A night of peace in a lifetime of demands.
Tonight I’d buy a lifetime of peace with one demand.
The one obstacle I wasn’t sure I could overcome was the security system. Derrick might’ve changed the codes, which meant he would get an alert if I entered the old one. But it was the only choice I had. I chose the back gate, with plenty of trees and bushes to hide me from prying eyes, though not from the security cameras. Derrick would know I betrayed him when he reviewed the tapes. By then I hoped to be long gone.
I entered the six-digit code on the keypad. When a green light flashed and the lock clicked open, I nearly sagged with relief. Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the gate just wide enough to slip through, then closed it behind me. Thanks God we never had guards outside, or guard dogs. I’d known it was coming if Derrick won the governor’s race, but that would be at the governor’s mansion, not here. Here, Derrick preferred as much privacy as possible, so all the security was electronic.
Jogging through the garden felt…odd. I knew the place like the back of my hand—every flower bed, every hedge, every tree—but now it was the shadows that seemed unfamiliar. Sinister. Hiding Lord knew what. But they hid me too, so I stuck to them until they fell away at the back lawn. Knowing I couldn’t avoid the cameras, I walked then, trying to slow my breathing and appear casual for anyone monitoring the security remotely. There was every chance they would contact Derrick at the club. But that still gave me a good half hour to find what I was looking for and get out.
The halls were darkened, as usual. The 5000-square-foot house was far too big for two people, and at night only the occupied rooms were lit. I navigated through the downstairs with the help of the tiny night-lights plugged in every few feet. Each squeak of my shoes and creak of the floor made my nerves jump, but I did my best to ignore them as I rushed through the house. The entry to the basement was through the kitchen—the regular basement, not the wine cellar. One was acceptable for staff use, and one for a man like Derrick, which was why his coming in and out of the staff area when they weren’t around had caught my eye.
I had one stop to make first: Derrick’s office.
I hated this room. Every reprimand, every punishment, every sigh of disappointment saturated the walls, turning my stomach before I even managed to open the door. I walked to the middle of the room and stood there, in front of my father’s desk, the same spot I’d stood while he informed me that I’d be marrying Kyle Pellen. “Finally, all the effort I put into you will become useful,” he’d said. Useful. I’d known he didn’t love me, that I was nothing more than a tool to further his social standing, but to marry me off to one of his staff like I had no right to an opinion on the man I’d spend my life with? Even now that betrayal gutted me.
It had also made me determined to escape. Which I’d done. Not the way I’d expected to, maybe, but…
The key to the safe was on Derrick’s ring, alongside the keys to the gates and garages and attic. I’d seen him carrying it each time he’d snuck in or out of the basement. The only problem? I’d never been allowed into Derrick’s office without him present, so I had no idea where he kept it. Each second that I searched ticked away to the drumbeat of my racing heart as I scrambled through papers and supplies and files. Finally, in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet, my fingers closed around them. I heaved a sigh of relief as I hurried out, trying hard not to trip over my own feet in the process.
The kitchen was dark, a single light above the stove lighting my way to the basement. I grasped the doorknob in a sweaty hand, turned, and pulled.
A pitch-black staircase waited for me to descend.
I gripped the rail hard as I felt for each step. “Careful, Abby, careful.” The last thing I needed was a sprained or broken ankle keeping me from getting back to Levi. I hadn’t realized I was at the bottom until I reached out a toe and hit concrete instead of another step. The shock sent a sickening jolt through me that I breathed away as I stood, trying to orient myself, trying to remember where the light switch was. With the upstairs door closed, a glow from down here would hopefully be faint through the crack underneath. Hopefully.
I felt along the wall, found the switch. Flicked it up.
“Looking for something?”
My heart kicked so hard I nearly fainted.
“Well?” Across the room, Derrick stood from a chair positioned in front of the wall I knew held the safe. “Answer me, Abigail. What were you looking for?”
“I-I—”
“Don’t. Stutter!”
The shout shook me. The look in Derrick’s eyes, at once full of rage and then, like a flipped coin, cool and emotionless again.
“I didn’t spend thousands on making you the perfect hostess for you to stutter.”
No, even when faced with his rage, with a gun in his hand, I’d be expected to act with perfect poise. The perfect society hostess. The perfect daughter.
To a killer.
“Fuck you, Dad.”
I saw him coming, barreling across the room, rage blazing in his eyes, but I couldn’t move. That same old fear, the same instinct that had always kept me statue still as a child, gripped me now, turning me to stone, keeping my hands at my side instead of coming up to protect my face as his fist blasted toward me.
The pain detonated through my cheek like I’d been hit by a truck, not a man. Derrick waited till I hit the ground to kick me in the ribs.
And walked away. As if I was more bother than I was worth.
A trickle of blood hit the corner of my mouth—I reached to wipe it away. The cut on my cheek where the heavy gold fraternity ring he wore had broken the skin was the least of my worries. “Fuck you,” I said again.
Derrick laughed. Hands in his pockets like he was wandering his club instead of beating his daughter, he laughed. “I believe you’re the one who was fucked, were you not?”
My mind blanked. How could he—
Right, the pictures. I ignored the jab and struggled to my feet.
“I had finally decided the fact that you were frigid would work in my favor. Southern families prefer virgins for their well-bred wives. Pellen was particularly excited at the thought of deflowering you.” Derrick turned, his smile smug. “If only I’d known how accommodating you could be, I might’ve received a higher price.”
“You sold me?” I mean, I knew he had, metaphorically. But he’d actually taken money to…
How did you explain that on your taxes?
The thought—and the laugh that followed—came out of nowhere. When Derrick’s face darkened, his anger returning, I embraced both. “Guess you lost out, huh?”
He took a step forward, and my gut clenched, but the grin stayed on my face. I’d learned a thing or two under dear old Dad’s thumb.
I took a step of my own, then another. “How did you know I’d be here?”
“When else would you arrive? It was only logical.” He jangled the change in his pants pocket, a sound I’d heard a million times in my life. A frown curved his lips downward. “If you were going to betray me, it would be now. And I couldn’t be certain it was beneath you. The man I hired seemed very…persuasive…on the security videos I saw.”
“You seem to have an abnormal interest in your daughter’s sex life,” I pointed out.
“In human nature, my dear. How do you think I got this far in life? By understanding how people think.”
“The man who kidnapped me must’ve been a surprise, then.” I didn’t want to give him Levi’s name if he didn’t already have it, but I did want to rub his failure in his face. “I don’t think it was the best insight into human nature that got you this far, though, was it, Dad? More like murder.”
He was mere feet away when my hand closed around the hammer lying on the shelf next to me. I swung, but not fast enough. Derrick blocked the blow with a forearm as his fingers closed around my neck.
“You really should be careful, Abigail,” he snarled. “You don’t want to end up like your mother.”
“Which one?”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Where did these brains come from? If I’d known you could actually think for yourself, I might’ve found you useful for more than just your cunt.”
The words registered but without effect. I was too busy trying to breathe, too busy clawing at the tight grip on my throat, on the fabric-covered arm that held me too far out of reach to get at his face. Twisting. Choking. Kicking. Derrick watched it all with a smile on his face.
“No smart-aleck remark?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Of course not.” Using his hold on my neck, he dragged me toward the chair he’d been sitting in when I turned on the light. Nothing I did stopped him. It was the story of my life in one short journey across the room—no matter how much, how hard I fought, Derrick always won.
Not this time. God, please not this time.
“You are definitely not smart enough to have figured out about Caroline. It was my ‘hired help’ who solved that puzzle, I presume. I’ll have to take care of him soon.”
Pain slammed through my butt and hips and spine as Derrick forced me into the chair. With a knee jammed hard between my legs and his hand forcing my head back, away from him, he pinned me down. I made a grab for the gun.
“No,” he snapped, shoving the gun into his belt at his back. My hands wouldn’t reach there, couldn’t seem to do anything that hurt him. The chair rocked as I tried to kick, to bring my knees up and force him off, but Derrick ignored it all as he strapped something around my middle.
My ribs throbbed at the pressure. When he stepped back, I looked down to see a thick leather strap around my body. For a moment, hope flared—I could defeat one belt, surely, if only by sliding down the chair—until Derrick circled behind me to add several more.
Shit.
Derrick observed his handiwork with satisfaction when he moved in front of me again. God, what I wouldn’t give to wipe that smug look off his face—preferably with a baseball bat.
“I really did love her, you know.”
I scoffed. He could slap me if he wanted to, but no way would I let that statement pass without a fight. “That’s the biggest lie I think I’ve ever heard you tell.” And he’d spent a lifetime lying to me.
Derrick stepped back, watching me struggle against my bonds with something disgustingly close to pleasure in his eyes. “Love is fickle, as they say.” He shook his head. “Not that you’ll ever know that.”
“You can’t love a woman and kill her.”
“I didn’t kill her. It was an accident.” Derrick paced in front of me, looking thoughtful. “I regretted it, of course, but in the end I got most of what I wanted.”
Most of what he wanted? How could I have come from this man’s gene pool? “And what was that?”
“An heir.” He eyed me with disgust. “Not the one I wanted, and at far too high a price, but I made it work.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
I waited for him to brush me off, to stick his nose in the air and assure us both that he didn’t have to explain to anyone. Instead his eyes went distant, his attention on something beyond me. When he crossed the room, I tensed, but Derrick only grasped a dusty chair and pulled it over to join me.
Then he took the handkerchief from his breast pocket and proceeded to wipe away the dust.
I rolled my eyes. Where were we, in a tea parlor, for Christ’s sake?
“Caro and Camilla were pregnant at the same time—haven’t you figured that out yet?” He tossed the hanky away and sat, one ankle crossed over the opposite knee, leaned back as if he hadn’t a care in the world. As if he wasn’t discussing murder. “Unfortunately my wife wasn’t made of the same stern stuff as my mistress. Her daughter was stillborn.” He spread his hands as if he was some helpless victim, not the mastermind of my mother’s—and almost my—death. “I had the perfect solution.”
“You mean perfect for a heartless, self-serving bastard.”
Derrick ground his teeth together. “Caro didn’t see things the same way. Her devotion should have been to me—me!—not a child, but she refused to let you go. We were supposed to be a family, she said. She was almost as naive as you.” Narrowed eyes seemed to blame me, as if I’d somehow convinced Caroline to choose me over him.
“You wanted to take away her child and give it to another woman, and you expected her to be okay with that?” I shook my head. “You must be insane.”
The slap came without warning, doubling the pain in my already bruised cheek. “I’m your father! You will speak to me with respect or live to regret it.”
“I don’t think so, Councilman.”
My heart leaped at the sound of Levi’s voice, washing the pain in my body away beneath a tide of relief and, yes, love. How I’d missed it before, I didn’t know, but I recognized it now, in this musty basement, my body covered in dirt and bruises and sweat. I searched eagerly but couldn’t pinpoint him in the gl
oom until he stepped closer, his gaze and gun both aimed straight at Derrick.
“Let her go.”
Derrick returned to his relaxed position on the chair, resting his hands on his knees as if he sat in the parlor at the club, his cronies around him, brandy and cigars at his elbow. If the sight of the gun fazed him, I couldn’t see it. “No.”
Levi’s free hand reached for his gun, sliding the top back with a sharp click. Didn’t that chamber a bullet? “Now.”
“You don’t want to try that on me.” One side of Derrick's mouth rose in a smug smile. “I have enough evidence here”—he nodded toward the safe—“to hang you out to dry.”
Levi didn’t even blink those steely eyes. “You can’t give it to anyone if you’re dead.”
Anxiety that had nothing to do with all the pointing guns in the room fluttered in my chest. “Levi—”
He flicked me a glance. I pleaded with my eyes, the only option I had, praying he would get the message. A slight nod settled some of the churning in my stomach.
His hard focus returned to Derrick. “What happened to Caroline?”
Thank God. He’d gotten it.
Derrick looked thoughtful. “I guess you don’t want my secrets to die with me.”
No flinching away from Levi’s intent, no fear in his eyes. Derrick had spent too many years winning; he didn’t believe he would die here tonight.
Levi stalked forward. “I am perfectly fine with you and your secrets going straight to hell.” He jerked his chin toward me. “But she deserves the answers. Where is Caroline?”
Derrick raised an eyebrow but stayed silent.
Levi pulled the trigger.
The sound of the shot was far worse than the ones in the warehouse; this was a much more enclosed space, and my ears rang with the echo. I reached to cover them, only to remember I was still tied.
Derrick glared at Levi, but a hint of fear finally showed. Just over his head, I noticed a chunk torn out of a wooden shelf.
“Tell her,” Levi said.
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