Evil is what he is. I make a little vow to the universe that if I have the chance, I will hurt this man in return.
We’re deep in the docks now, no people around at this time of day. He walks up to a big metal storage container, the kind that brings in cargo, and checks something on his phone. He types in a code and the door opens.
“Welcome to your new home, sweetheart,” he says, shoving me viciously inside it. It’s dark and damp, and it smells bad. He slaps me across the face, and my lip splits. The metallic tang of blood is on my tongue as I fall to the ground.
I’m bleeding on my hands and knees when he says, “Smile for the camera, say cheese.”
A flash goes off, blinding in this grim space. He’s taken a photo of me. A ransom demand? A proof of life? Or something for his own sick pleasure?
He inspects the screen and grunts in satisfaction. “All done. Now, daddy has a few errands to run. You be good while I’m gone, okay? And let’s hope I get what I want, otherwise Maddox is going to be spending the rest of his life in a room like this. And you? You’re rotting in this thing. Nobody knows you’re here. Like they say in the movies…nobody can hear you scream.”
He’s watching me intently, and I know he wants a reaction. He wants me to whimper and beg and cry. If I thought doing any of those things would help, I’d do them in a heartbeat. But I have cried for this man before. I have begged him to stop hurting me before. It had no effect other than making him laugh. I refuse to give him the satisfaction.
All he wanted was me, so he can make a ransom demand. Which means he doesn’t have anything else of note to blackmail Maddox with. I am such a fool.
“You don’t have anything on him at all, do you?”
He licks his lips, leering at me. “Just a name, sweetheart. And I knew he’d beaten him to death in a hotel room. That was all it took, wasn’t it? You always were a simpering little goody-two-shoes.”
I launch myself at him, propelled by rage and injustice. But he stops me easily, pushing me back until I stumble onto the floor again.
I sit back against the metal walls and wipe the blood from my face. Then I wrap my arms around my knees and close my eyes. I am desperate to pee, starving, and so dehydrated my lips are cracked and split. I’m terrified, shaking like I’m made of a million delicate fragments.
But I will not let him have that on top of everything else. No. I close my eyes, and I go to my happy place.
Maddox.
Chapter 39
Maddox
She’s been gone overnight, and I’m out of my mind with worry. I can’t concentrate on anything. I can’t focus, or think, or sleep. I can’t go to a meeting, I can’t leave the house, I can’t do a fucking thing. I’m useless. One hundred percent useless. It reminds me of how I felt after Yasmin died, and it tears me apart.
Is that what I’m fated to do, to fall in love only to let the woman I love down and lose her forever?
Jesus fuck, I hope not.
Nathan persuaded me to go for a run around the grounds this morning, which at least made me move my ass. I grabbed a shower. I ate and drank some freshly squeezed OJ. I also punched the wall of my childhood bedroom so hard there’s now a fist-shaped hole in it.
I feel so fucking impotent, waiting around like this.
“Lorenzo,” I hear Nathan say as I walk into what I now think of as the war room. “I’m going to put you on speaker.”
“I did a little digging of my own. Found out Fallon was on the same wing as Lyons a couple of years back.”
I screw my eyes closed. Joseph Lyons is Yasmin’s dad—the man I visit once a year, and the one man who knows the details of Milton Travers’s death. “I can’t believe he’d betray me,” I say.
“Maybe he didn’t,” Lorenzo says. “People reveal all kinds of shit they don’t mean to. But I also found out that Fallon has a buddy here in Chicago, Ray Carvel. He’s a forger, can do some pretty good passports and fake ID. He’s also another sick fuck with an unnatural interest in kids. Fallon saw Carvel after he was released. So we paid him a visit and, with a little persuasion, we got into his phone. Seems Carvel and Fallon had a plan to fuck off to Sao Paolo as soon as Fallon gets his hands on some money. Carvel was going to provide the ID and the transport, Fallon the cash to fund their new life. But now we have a direct line to Fallon.”
“And where is Carvel?” Nathan asks.
“Dealt with in the way all people who rape kids should be,” he replies, nonchalant as fuck, which I greatly admire. “Keres, Ace, and Romeo landed in New York approximately two hours ago. They’re sourcing supplies and will be waiting for further instructions. Do not, I repeat,do notfuck with Keres on this one. She’s wired to blow.”
I know exactly how she feels. The thought of my girl being held against her will is almost too much to bear. It’s only the knowledge that she still needs me that stops me from having a full meltdown.
Just as Lorenzo gets off the phone, Nathan shouts out. “It’s here. The ransom demand just came in.”
His eyes narrow as he reads.
