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He grinned, as if he’d won some unspoken battle between us. “I’ve been watching you a long time, Emmy. Even as a child, it was clear you had my superior genes. It’s almost a shame I won’t be able to develop you further in my image, but that’s neither here nor there. I knew where your greatest value could be found and I’m using you exactly for that purpose. Women are currency, used to manipulate others and gain access to more power. You are my most valued bargaining chip.”
He ended his statement as if I should be flattered.
“I would have brought you into my life sooner, but that just would have put a target on you. It was safer for you to stay in your low-rent life until I needed to utilize you. Of course, I couldn’t have you go to some wretched, substandard public high school, so I paid for you to attend Briar Ridge Academy.”
I already knew all this, but he looked so self-satisfied by sharing all this information, like he was some kind of strategic genius, I didn’t want to interrupt.
He was also the one with the gun and while I knew he wouldn’t shoot me for my aforementioned value, I was certain he would have no problem shooting my mother.
I spared her a quick look to see how she was doing and, honestly, she wasn’t doing great. Her complexion was gray with worry, and she clenched my hand so tightly I feared her fingernails would draw blood. She stared at Armstrong like he was some kind of demon come to life.
“You…you paid for her schooling?” my mother asked tremulously.
Oh. Ohhh. I knew about that, but I didn’t realize she didn’t. I’d assumed he’d told her, that perhaps he’d insisted on it because of his own pedigree.
“Of course.”
“I wondered, but didn’t want to think…” my mom drifted off.
Armstrong pursed his lips, his eyes narrowing in on my mom in hostility. “You didn’t think I knew about Emmy? You thought you’d kept her from me? You thought changing your job and hiding in some rundown diner would allow you to escape my notice. I made an uncharacteristic lapse with you, Jessica, not wearing a condom. Imagine my disappointment when I saw that you had indeed become pregnant, yet never bothered to share the happy news with the baby’s father.”
It was unbelievably cringy to be sitting here listening to the gritty details of their sexual encounter. I was a little surprised that my mom had never told him and had been trying to hide me from him all these years. Of course, considering that he was evil personified, maybe it wasn't that surprising.
Armstrong’s anger at being uninformed of an accidental pregnancy from a one-night stand was also unexpected. I mean, he couldn’t possibly be upset that a girl he had one night with didn’t look him up after, even if she was pregnant. But he was.
He looked at my mother with cold malevolence as she shrank back against the seat of the car, as if moving her body might protect her from his wrath. She was breathing heavily, as if fighting off a panic attack.
“Why would you care if some one night stand didn’t call you again, pregnant or not?”
His glare moved from my mom to me, and I could feel my mom’s body relax for a moment. “The baby was mine. I’m the one who makes decisions about my life, not some nobody I accidentally knocked up. I only allowed her to keep you because of the use I could get out of you if no one knew you existed. If not for that, I would have taken you the minute you were born and there would have been nothing anyone could do about it.”
My mom’s body went as tight as a bow string at that statement, and though we obviously avoided that outcome, the idea of never having had a life with my mom and sister made my gut twist. My mom’s little moan of pain signaled she was having the same reaction as me.
I petted her hand as a rush of empathy for her swept through me. My mom had been largely ignorant of so many things that had been going on—Armstrong’s awareness of her pregnancy, his interference in my schooling and now his decision to trade me to a Colombian drug dealer.
I imagine it was a lot to take in. And I hadn’t even told her anything about me being stalked and kidnapped by Orlov.
Armstrong’s features eased into a fake smile. “Of course, none of that matters now. You’ll be given to Martinez’s son, and I’ll have access to business in South and Central America for long enough to do what I need to do.”
“What do you need to do?”
“Take out Martinez, of course. I want his business and what better way to do that than to make him my ally.” He wore an unbearably self-satisfied expression, clearly unable to resist bragging about his plan. “And you’ll do as I say, or else your mother will suffer. Greatly.”
My heart jumped into my throat. “What will happen to me if you double cross him?”
Armstrong's empty eyes—my eyes—stared at me with no remorse. “I imagine he’ll torture you to try and control me, and when that doesn’t work, he’ll eventually kill you in a fit of vengeance. These South Americans are so hot-headed. Of course, he won’t know that what happens to you is of no concern to me.”
My stomach bottomed out as I heard his twisted plans. I prayed more than ever that Ivan saw my text and was amassing a fucking army to stop this exchange.
The interior of the car was silent for a long while as I pondered Armstrong’s plans, my emotions spiraling from horrified panic to blind optimism that Ivan would arrive and save me from the nightmare my father had just described.
All too soon the car was coming to a stop. My mom clung to me, as if I might save us somehow, but I had no idea how I was supposed to fight off even one guy, let alone the number that likely would greet us outside the car.
As we got out, it was as I feared. There had to be at least ten men milling around a mostly empty hangar. I frantically looked around for any indication that Ivan might be here, but I saw nothing.
My mind was spinning in all directions, casting about for a way to get me and my mother out of here without getting us killed. My mom stood like a statue beside me, her expression dazed as she struggled to absorb this next turn of events. I doubted she was going to be coming up with any helpful ideas.
A moment later, another black limousine showed up and my legs trembled. I knew this could only be Martinez. I wasn’t sure what I expected when he got out but was a little underwhelmed. I had practically built him up to be a frothing monster in my mind—a habit I’d developed since I’d been hanging around so many monsters lately.
