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I snatched the paper and skimmed the four names that seemed to interchange across the lines of information. I looked up at the man with glasses and demanded, “What’s your name?”
“W-Wallace, sir. Ethan Wallace.”
“Wallace, I want you to pick out three of the best in this room and each one of you will track a name. I want everything you can find. Starting with property in the name of any of them.” I pushed the paper back into his hands and gripped his shoulder tightly. “Find her.”
He nodded and cast a quick glance over to Scout. “Ms. Landow would be extremely helpful, sir.”
“Give me a name and I’m all yours, Ethan Wallace,” she called over her shoulder without breaking stride on whatever she was doing. He rushed over to her, pointed at a name on his list and then he was off, doing the same with two other men before he settled himself behind his computer and got to work.
“Mr. Mullins?” I turned to see a doctor hovering in the doorway. She gave her chin a small jerk toward the hall, and I gave the board one last glance before joining her where she stood just outside the door.
“What’s going on?”
“I’m Doctor Fraizer; I am overseeing the care of Jack Kasey.”
“Yeah, the surgeon told us he came out of surgery and was stable.” I felt my pulse quicken, she looked like she was about to deliver news she didn’t want to have to deliver. “What?” I snapped, my patience already paper thin.
“Please keep in mind he is stable now, but he did code about 20 minutes ago. I was told you wanted to be kept informed, so I was letting you know.”
“I thought he was going to be okay.” It felt like the floor had vanished from beneath me yet again, and I could see flashes of Remy, bleeding out from the chest and blinking at me. Fuck, I couldn’t do this right now.
“Stable doesn’t mean out of the woods, Mr. Mullins. We really have to wait and see how the next few days go for him. Hopefully we can move him from the ICU to a room after that time. He’s a strong man, but his body has been through major trauma and it affects people differently.”
I held up a hand to stop her, I didn’t need the placating words or the look in her eye that screamed pity. I needed Jack to wake the fuck up, I needed someone to find Lake, and I needed to put a bullet in Dominic Parker’s head. “Please let me know the second he’s awake.” I didn’t wait for an answer as I went back into the room where I could at least pretend I had some control.
CHAPTER 33
LAKE
Somehow through the pain and fear, I dreamt. Or maybe the stress of being chained half-naked to the bed by a fucking monster while he stabbed my father in the stomach had finally made my brain misfire. Either way, I welcomed the image of Decker storming into the room, Jack, Aiden, Fitz right behind him. He rushed to my side while the other men worked on my father, he whispered comforting words as he gently unchained me and pulled me into his arms.
But in his embrace I felt no safety. That’s what clued me in on the dream. His hold enveloped me in an electric current of passion that wasn’t present for this version. It felt hollow and empty and just as bad as my insides when I disconnected from reality. The fear of disconnecting while Dominic was holding me captive has startled me from unconsciousness. With a gasp, I attempted to sit up, held down by the chains and choking back a sob at the wires digging into my back.
Turning my head, I saw my father slumped forward in the chair, his skin waxy in the offensive glare from the single bulb illuminating our concrete prison.
“Dad?” I whispered, trying not to alert our sick captor, but desperate to know if Robert was alive.
He groaned slightly and lifted his head. My long empty stomach turned at the sight of his swollen and bloody face. If he could see me through his black eyes, it would have been a miracle; the fact that he could lift his head surprised me enough. I turned away from him and tilted my head back to study my chains. It was up to me to do something since I doubted very much he could move, much less rescue us.
The chains were more like shackles used on prisoners, and my stomach revolted at the thought of him using these restraints before. If he’d really taken and hurt all those girls who sort of resembled me, I highly doubted he wasn’t going all out to fulfill the fantasy with the real thing.I’m going to die here. The thought crept through my brain, leaving its poison everywhere it touched until I was shaking with the certain dread that I would never see daylight again.
A door behind me swung open and I heard the distinct click of Dominic’s fucking loafers as he sauntered in and came to stand in my line of sight.
“Welcome back to the party, little sis.” Now I wished I had food in my stomach just so I could have thrown it up all over him at his casual use of our unfortunate connection. He crouched down in front of me, his fingers ghosting over my cheek before he grabbed my chin causing me to whimper in pain. He continued to watch me with an evil spark in his eyes as he squeezed my cheeks hard until the whimper was an all consuming sob. I would have ripped my jaw from my head if it could have stopped the pain radiating into my skull.
Above the sob, I heard a gurgled grunt from the direction of my father and Dominic dropped his hand from my face to turn and inspect his handy work that used to be Robert’s face.
“What was that, sir?” The condescension dripping from his voice made me fear he was going to finish us off right then.
“She,” he wheezed before continuing through what seemed to be a broken jaw. “Told me… ‘bout… you.”
I was still trying to make out what he was saying when Dominic straightened and turned his full attention toward Robert. “Caroline told you about me?” He sounded surprised and slightly amused. Robert hissed in agreement, and when Dominic looked back at me, I was sure that whatever my father had been trying to do by distracting him with this, it wasn’t going to go the way he’d planned.
“Don’t bother helping him with a motive,” I growled to take the attention off of Robert. “He’s still a sick fuck.”
“I’m a sick fuck?” He held a hand up to his chest in mock outrage, clearly this was exactly how he’d planned this in his head. Getting us talking and bickering and watching the implosion. “Me? I’m not the one who flies around the world getting drunk and fucking anything that shows me the attention I couldn’t get from daddy.”
“No, you just kill women, stalk your sister, and generally act like a fucking psychopath because mommy didn’t want a bastard like you.” Well, his attention was now off of Robert. He crouched down in front of me again and grinned.
