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The stubbed toe in hand, close to tears, I angrily brush my hair out of my eyes.
I’d hoped having sex with me would ease his anger and soften him towards me, but it now seems as if it has only fired up the force of his vendetta against me.
My mind goes back to the time I offered myself to him … when he took me to a place that I’d never been. It was as though I was possessed. Or a different person. I had expected that the intensity of our passion together would make a difference, but this evening showed me nothing had changed. He hated me.
With a sob, I bury my head between my knees. My nails dig into my fisted hands.
Oh Daddy, I’m so very, very sorry I didn’t keep my cool. I’m so sorry I told you about the stupid kiss.
Chapter Twenty
Jake
As soon as I get home I go to the kitchen. I find my baby staring out of the window. She turns to look at me. I walk up to her, my arms open and she walks into them. I bend my head to inhale the scent of her hair, and my entire body tenses with shock. She has been using Liliana’s shampoo.
“Oh, baby,” I whisper and crush her to me. I feel so fucking helpless. For a few seconds neither of us move. I let the feeling of her flesh pressed into mine wash away the tiredness from my bones.
Then she tilts her head up. “Shall I make some food for you?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m not hungry.”
She frowns. “When was the last time you ate?”
“I … er … lunch.”
“Today?”
“Yesterday.”
“Oh, darling. You have to eat. She needs both of us to be at our best.”
“Yeah,” I say softly. Where the fuck are you, Liliana?
“So Shane’s tip didn’t work out,” she says sadly.
“No, it was someone else’s daughter.”
“I bet her parents were very happy to get their daughter back.”
“I guess so. One of the guys took her back.”
She sighs heavily. “What do we do now, Jake?”
“We keep looking. I won’t stop until I find her.”
“Do you think she’ll call again?”
“If I know her, she’ll try her damndest. Just be patient. Everything is hooked up. All you have to do is keep her on the phone for as long as you can. Keep talking. Don’t ask her questions about where she is or anything that will cause her captors to cut off the call. Talk about her sisters, how her dog is doing, how sorry I am for messing up her job. Inane things. As if we truly believe that she has gone to Spain because she is angry with me. We have one chance.”
She nods vigorously. “I’ve already practiced everything I will say.” She reaches into her jeans pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper. “I’ve even got it all written down in note form so I don’t mess up and say the wrong thing.”
“Good girl,” I say with a smile.
She nods again. “We’ll find her, Jake. You’ll find her. No one can outsmart you for long.” Suddenly tears start filling her eyes. “They took my baby. I’ve already lost one. I just can’t lose another one.”
I pull her body against mine and hold her tightly. “We will find her.”
“I keep wondering why they have taken her. There has been no demand for money. What could it be? And they allowed her to call us. So it can’t even be human trafficking.”
I stroke her hair. “It’s me. This is about me.”
She presses her lips together. She is not stupid. She has already figured that out. She just didn’t want it to be true.
A bleep makes both of us freeze. Immediately, I pull my phone out of my jacket and look at the message.
Want her back? Come to Sturminster,
train station platform to London. 7.oopm today.
Don’t be late and come alone.
Lily’s eyes are huge. “You’re not going alone, are you?”
I nod decisively. “Yes, I am. If he knows this number, then he knows a lot about us. I can’t afford to take the chance he will not follow me to that address.”
She frowns. “That’s really strange. He knows all about you. Right down to this ex-directory phone number. Why didn’t he tell you not to come armed?”
She has a point. Something is not right, but I’m going anyway. If it is my life he wants in exchange for Liliana’s then so be it.
Chapter Twenty-One
Brand
Mark is by my side as I hunker down on the pedal of my BMW, our speed moving dangerously past a hundred and thirty miles an hour. I can see him sneaking concerned looks at me.
“Are you certain he is still on M3?” I ask, my gaze razor-sharp and focused on the road.
He looks down to his phone to catch the tracker on it. “He is, but he is heading towards Junction Eight now. I think he’s going to take the A303 exit to Salisbury.”
Good, he is on his way to Sturminster. This is good. This is very good. The worry over his daughter has made him careless. He would never have made this trip on his own otherwise. I head down the exit and increase my speed on the dark road. The moment I spot the Lamborghini Urus ahead of me I know it is him even before Mark makes the connection. Not that I need the confirmation as the name EDEN is written boldly across his plate. The arrogant bastard.
“That’s him right there,” Mark says, a note of reverence in his voice. After all these years he is still an awe-inspiring figure in the underworld.
There are only a few cars on the road, and I step on the gas, the engine revving to its limit as we fly into the night towards catastrophe, the trees on both sides zooming past like ghosts.
“Boss …” Mark shouts out in fear.
“Put on your bloody seat belt and shut the fuck up,” I snarl.
He sits upright and buckles in for a crash. It happens in a flash, and despite Jake Eden’s desperate attempt to divert his vehicle from the impending collision, my SUV smashes right into the side of his car. It makes his vehicle somersault into the air, as mine spins continuously and endlessly on the highway. Moments away from claiming both of our lives, it comes to a stop just before we crash into an articulated truck.
My car is not badly damaged, but Jake Eden’s car on the other hand has been flung into the woods. Mark is moaning quietly. I unbuckle my belt quickly and get out. As I hear the hiss and poof of the dented bonnet, I feel something trickling down the side of my face.
I know it is blood, but I couldn’t care less. Swiping my hand across the wound and wiping the blood on my coat, I head into the woods in search of him.
I find the Urus upside down and damaged even more than my car.
I look through the window and see Jake Eden unconscious inside. A strange thrill of excitement flows through my body. This is it. This is the moment I take my revenge. It’s either him or me.
When I try the door, it is either jammed or locked. Breaking the window, I put my hand inside and start to jerk the door open. It is a feat, but eventually it budges and swings open. For a moment and with the light from the streetlamps, I stop to watch him. It has been almost a decade since I was last so close to the swine who drove my father to his death. I pull him out of the driver’s seat and drop him on the ground.
Mark is holding his head and hurrying over to me. “Is he alive?”
“Yeah,” I say, staring down at my greatest enemy, the man I hate with every cell in my body.
“The police will be here soon,” Mark said worriedly behind me.
“Pass me your knife,” I say without turning to look at Mark.
Without a word he produces the glistening steel and hands it over.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Brand
9 years ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9hcJgtnm6Q
-nothing, nothing, nothing gonna save us now-
My father yelled so loudly the entire caravan shook. I’d never seen him that way and even more than her death—which shock had not allowed my brain to properly register yet—his reaction terrified me. His ey
es were blood shot and the pain so etched into the lines in his face that I almost could not recognize him. But more than sorrow he was furious. Inconsolably furious because she had gone so suddenly.
