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"You've expanded your vocabulary too, I see."
I look away from him, only because the mix of anger and helplessness is eating me up inside. I'm absolutely powerless right now. I guess the only thing I'm grateful for is it doesn't seem like he's ready to kill me yet.
I still have time.
I have to use it wisely.
I need information.
"How did you even find me?" I press.
He laughs again, though this time it's a bit more subdued. Something flashes in his eyes. "You've been using the phone I gave you when I sent you to Saint Frederick. It wasn't hard." My body grows cold. How the fuck did I miss that? "That, along with the credit card I gave you. I always knew where you were, Alize."
I'm so fucking stupid.
How did none of that ever occur to me?
Swallowing back the guilt, I try not to let it show on my face. I don't have time for self-loathing or pity. I need to get as much information out of Laurent as I can. If he talks, I can probably find out more about where I am, what his plans are. Hopefully, I can use that to my advantage somehow.
The only tool I have at my disposal right now is my ability to communicate with him. I have to make it count for something.
"So, this was your plan all along, to kidnap me?"
The same thing flashes across his features again. But it's still too quick to catch. For a millisecond, it seems like he's about to say something deep, something honest, something that I can use against him.
But then that fucking saccharine smile is back.
"You're just a means to an end." He says it like that's somehow reassuring. "Right now, you're just a pawn in my game, Alize. Don't take it so personally."
I wish I could slap that smug smile off his face.
Don't take it personally? This is thesecondtime he's upended my life in less than a year. The second time he's hurt me. He's the one who killed Dolores. His use of the word game is so triggering. Is that what he thinks this is? Because it’s life and death to me.
I clench my teeth. "Itispersonal." I think it's safe to reveal what I know, since he wants to be an asshole about this. "I know you're the one who had the estate attacked. That you sent me to that school to die."
For what it's worth, his veneer doesn't crack.
He just has a wild look in his eye.
The chair scrapes the concrete floor as he rises to his feet. Laurent ashes the cigar on the desk, then walks over to me with his hands behind his back. The longer I look at him, the more I see him for the villain he truly is.
How did I ever trust him?
He looks down the bridge of his nose. "Even so, that was never about you, little girl." Laurent's smile finally dies. The corners of his lips tip into a frown. "You see, if your father had anyshredof decency, none of that would have ever happened."
I narrow my eyes. He's not really making any sense.
He must see my confusion, for the little bit of leeway I've made with him is swallowed up when his walls go up. "But that's really not the issue at hand, is it? I've already sent a picture of you—unconscious and bleeding—to your father. Let's see if he will come to his darling daughter's rescue."
THIRTY-TWO
ALEXANDER
Who would havea reason to take Alize?
I'm pacing the length of the hotel room, turning that single question over in my mind. After we pulled the CCTV footage, I decided to set up base in one of the rooms at the Castle.
For all intents and purposes, the hotel grounds is the crime scene, so it makes sense I stay here. I can’t set foot back on the estate until I get Alize back, either.
