AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Daddy?” The pain in her voice is that of a little girl who lost the man she ran to when she needed to feel safe. I watch her grieving for a man she thought she knew, only to find out it was all a lie.
Tears are running down her face, and I knew she would be overwhelmed, because how could she not be? My gun is in my hand hanging by my side; I’m ready to end this pain for her.
“Leah.” What I wasn’t expecting is the emotion in his voice hearing him say her real name. As someone who did what he has done to his family and who is here to end his daughter’s life, he doesn’t get the right to feel anything.
Hearing him use her birth name is enough to pull it back for Cassie. That name brings her nothing but hurt now. Seeing her body language change, I know she is pushing her feelings aside and bringing out her inner warrior.
“I don’t understand. You were dead.” Her voice is flat, and her tears stop. Her father is still just standing in the one spot, trying to regain his own balance being so close to her when she is actually awake and seeing him for the first time.
“It was an accident,” he finally manages to get out.
“What was the accident, you not dying but mom being killed? Or an accident that you didn’t tell me for all these years that you were alive. What the fuck is going on, Dad?” There’s my girl. The spitfire’s back and she is after blood.
“Don’t you swear at your father,” he says sternly, starting to step toward her, but Cassie’s hand is up and stopping him.
“Don’t you dare touch me. You gave up that right the minute you disappeared and shattered my world. You don’t get to show up now and expect me to run into your arms.” Cassie’s voice is getting louder, yelling at him as her anger starts to build. Her fists are clenched, and the look on Frank’s face is also changing. His tenderness for the daughter he lost so many years ago is fading and the cold-hearted killer is coming back.
My finger is rubbing back and forth on the trigger of my gun. I can hear the small amount of chatter from my team in my ear. Ashton and Badger are outside the room, the key is already in the door, and with Cassie now yelling, it gave them a chance to unlock the door without Frank hearing the click. They are ready to move once I give them the signal.
“You don’t understand, Leah.” Frank’s words are stern, like I would expect from a father scolding a child.
“Then start explaining. Like about how you killed my mother like she meant nothing, while you slide into your filthy underworld of crime and espionage. Selling government secrets to the highest bidder, while selling your soul to the devil. Yes, please, feel free to tell me how I don’t understand.” She sits upright in her bed and stares him down. I hate that she is in a vulnerable position in that bed, but she is safer there. All the rushing adrenaline could make her brain overload and her body give out on her, and we can’t risk that.
“Oh, your little boyfriend has finally worked it out, has he. It took him long enough to discover all the things I have done in my life.” Instead of killing him, I want to go in there and punch the hell out of him right now. “You always were so gullible. Do you believe everything from the man who has kidnapped you and hid you away from the world for seven years? If he was any kind of agent, he would have worked it out in the beginning. But maybe he did and just hid it all from you, so he could have you as his slave. Maybe I should have given him more credit than I have been.” I see the moment of doubt on her face, but it’s gone in a split second.
“Don’t you dare speak about him. This is about you and me, Dad, and your world of lies. Are you even really my father or was that a lie too?”
I can see her strength getting to Frank. He wasn’t expecting the pushback, which tells me he never really knew his daughter at all, because she is all about the pushback when she wants.
“Of course I’m your father. It was one of the only good things I did in this life,” he growls at her insult of questioning him. “How do you think I found you? I have had a tracking computer program alert on your DNA showing up in any medical system since you disappeared. The same DNA as mine, because you belong to me! I knew eventually you would have to show up somewhere. Your man thought he was smart, but I had the secret weapon, my blood. No change of name or location was going to keep you from me.”
Everything that I’m thinking in my head, Cassie is answering for me.
“I don’t belong to anyone, unless I choose to. And I don’t choose you. There is one man in my life I give my heart to, and he doesn’t need to demand it. Just because your blood pumps through my veins, that doesn’t give you any hold over me.” Hearing her take a breath, she delivers the final blow.
“His love is all I need, but what about you? Something I question now, did I ever have that love from you, or was that a lie too?”
Having her anger directed at him is getting him agitated, and he can’t stand still now. Starting to pace the room is not a good sign. The more people get charged up, the greater the risk of them doing something irrational.
“You’re just like your mother—a drama queen. If she had just done as she was told, then she might still be alive, living in the suburbs like she wanted. Instead, she overheard something she shouldn’t have, and she just didn’t let it go. The story I told her should have been enough, but no, she had to start digging, and I couldn’t let that happen. I took her out on that boat to convince her that if she just shut her mouth, you both would be safe. Life could just go on as normal. She yelled and screamed and carried on like the world was going to end. Lashing out at me was her biggest mistake. When I pushed her away from me, she slipped and hit her head on the side of the boat. So, you see, I didn’t kill her, she did it to herself, and you might have lost your mother, but I lost my wife.” There’s a hitch in his voice, and the way he closes his eyes for a brief second tells me he did love his wife, but just not like I love mine. He might think that was love, but it’s not even close.
Cassie gulps, struggling to hear about her mother’s death, but she fights on.
“No, you killed her! You don’t get to have a clear conscience. If it weren’t for your criminal activity, she wouldn’t have been out on that boat! I’m sure she was worried about finding out her husband was selling secrets that was leading to the deaths of innocent people. Maybe putting American servicemen and women at risk. Who even are you? You may be here in the body of my dad, but the father I thought I grew up with, he will forever be dead to me. You are no longer my father, now get out!” She has had enough, but I know she is also trying to provoke him to say why he’s here.
“Not so fast, Leah. You think you have this all worked out, but I tried to keep your mother safe and to get her to come with me, taking you with us. Why do you think I’m here now? I can take you into another life with me, I can show you the world like all the stories I told you. You would work for me, but we would be happy, I can assure you.”
"You are delusional if you think I would willingly leave this room with you, like agooddaughter. All I see in front of me is pure evil. I can’t even imagine how you could think I would consider such a crazy idea.” There is a look of confusion on her face.
“You want to tell me what an evil man I am, Leah, well, let me reassure you how right you are. I didn’t just come here to have some long-lost sappy reunion. You will be leaving this room with me, either unconscious so I can take you away without a fuss… or sleeping so soundly you will never wake up. It’s your fault I’m here. Just like your mother, you couldn’t keep things to yourself. Why didn’t you just talk to Jason instead of running to the FBI, you stupid little bitch.”
I can see the shock of him admitting he is here to either abduct her or kill her has her rattled, but it is the use of the word bitch from her father in reference to her that is the last nail in his coffin. Cassie looks like she is about to get up and punch him herself.
“How do you know about Jason?” That’s it, baby, reel him in.
“Oh, I thought you were smarter than this, or at least your pathetic WITSEC agent would have been. I was the one who made sure you ended up as his girlfriend. The respectable Senator Jason Condell to look after my innocent little girl. I may have disappeared, but I always knew where you were. It was the perfect way to keep you close and Jason doing what I needed. He was getting all the information that I needed through his security access to the defense department, and it proved to be very lucrative for me. But you wrecked that, didn’t you. Why couldn’t you just be the little compliant future wife of a senator? I could have kept you safe.”
And that is the word that triggers my wife’s explosion.
