I sat in the back of the car trying to keep from panicking. After telling me I'd never see Forrest again, my father added some clarification.
"You have two choices," he'd said. "You can do as I tell you, or I'll have Forrest Cross killed, and Leif Larsen." When I thought he was done, he added, "And Woody Taylor-Francis."
He cocked his head at me. "You think I don't keep tabs on you? I know exactly what you were doing and who you were doing it with. If you care about them, you'll do as I tell you."
"You wouldn't," I whispered.
Except that he would. I knew him well enough to know when he was bluffing. He wasn't bluffing now. He'd have them killed without blinking. Without regret.
"I see you understand what I'm saying," he said, smug, self-assured. He'd known all along he'd win. He held the cards. "I'm doing this for your own good."
"My own good?" I echoed. "You approved selling me to a monster. How is that for my own good?"
He clicked his tongue. "For my own good, then. You're a commodity, Sable. I thought you understood that by now." His tone was colder than a polar icecap.
"Yeah, I'd figured that one out a long time ago," I said bitterly. "That's all you see me as. Not as a person. Not even as your daughter." I shook my head. "I'm not yours to do whatever you want with." My voice got higher as I spoke, squeaking on the last word.
He picked the phone up from his desk. "Last chance. You can go with Conrad, now, or I'll make the call. They'll be dead before morning." He sounded like he was asking what toppings I wanted on my pizza before he placed the order. Not even pizza sounded good right now. Not unless I could hit him in the face with it. Better yet, choke him with it. I should have strangled him with his tie before we stepped into the office.
I glanced back at Conrad, who stood silently beside the door, another man with him. They were physically very different, one dark, the other blonde, but their expressions were identical. Listen without hearing. Obey without question. Take your pay home at the end of the day, and don't lie awake at night thinking about the things you were asked to do.
I wouldn't get any help from them. I was more alone than I'd ever been in my entire life.
That thought was followed by a peal of laughter from the party, the timing mocking me and my misery. Faint strains of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" played in the background.
Merry fucking Christmas, I thought. Christmas was weeks away, but it might as well never come, for all I cared. It wasn't going to be merry, not without my guys.
"You promise you won't touch them?" I asked.
"As long as you behave yourself, there's no reason for me to harm a hair on their heads," he said. He didn't need to say more.The minute I stepped a toenail out of line, he'd end them. For now, though, he got what he wanted.
He put his phone back down.
Tears prickled my eyes. I forced down the urge to scream. To call for my guys to come and get me. If I did, they'd be dead or I would. If I touched the gun, same thing.
He was wrong. I didn't have two choices, I had one. Go along with him. For now.
"You know where to take her." He nodded to Conrad, who opened the door and stepped outside.
The other goon jerked his head, indicating for me to walk between them. He glanced down at my legs, turned his face so my father couldn't see that he licked his lips.
My stomach turned.
I decided to try one more time.
"Daddy," I said softly.
If he ever cared about me, maybe he could think twice about what he was doing. There must be some small amount of compassion still left in him? Some hint of love from the man who raised me?
Something.
Benjamin Kohl looked back at me like I was nothing more than a prized bitch ready to be sold for breeding or fuck knows what else. I could have been taken to a puppy farm and locked in a run for all he cared. Whatever he was getting out of this was all that interested him. Whoever he was sending me to.
I hoped it was fucking worth it. I'd never hated anyone the way I hated him right now, not even Wolfgang, not even the senator. Neither of them pretended to give a shit about me. He had, but he didn't now.
"Goodbye, Sable."
I dropped my gaze to the floor and followed Conrad out into the darkness.
