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I lowered my hand to my belly.
He’ll get her back. He’ll get her back to me…and he’ll tear the world apart doing it.
61
Kat
Lazarus stepped into his office when his cell phone rang. Commands were barked. I winced at the bite of my husband’s tone, but no one else said anything. I waited for news from who was on the other end of the call…but by the dangerous glare on Laz’s face, I could tell there was none. Hercules and the others left the warehouse, leaving Freddie to pace the floor with his gun in his hand.
I wrung my hands, unable to do a damn thing as my mind was filled with the worst-case scenario. Her screams still rang inside my head, until they were all I could hear. My father wouldn’t hurt her, that I was sure of. He wanted to start over with a brand-new daughter. If my childhood was anything to go by, my father would his spend years grooming her to be exactly what he wanted.
But that was one thing I wouldn’t allow. I lifted my gaze as Lazarus hung up the call, then made his way to me. “Hale is currently in England and has been for five days.”
My pulse raced at the sound of his name. “So, what does that mean?”
“Nothing,” Lazarus answered. “But it tells me that whatever your father has done, it was without that bastard’s presence.”
Without his presence, but was it also without his permission? Fear and hate coiled inside me when I thought about Halestrom. I couldn’t think about him without remembering the nights he toyed with me, seduced me, took me into that room and didn’t let me leave until he was done.
There was nothing romantic about his advances, nor was it sweet. It was a business transaction, cold, uncaring and like everything else Halestrom touched, it was for his benefit only. He wanted the daughter of a VanHalen, and he didn’t care what he had to buy or manipulate to make it happen. The only thing he didn’t count on was Lazarus Rossi.
“If he doesn’t know, then maybe it’s without his consent. After all,” I whispered, but I couldn’t say the words.It is his daughter.
Laz’s jaw clenched, the muscles flaring before he turned away. I didn’t need to say the words that resounded in my head. Lazarus already knew. I didn’t like this any more than he did, but if there was a way to get my daughter back, then I didn’t care who I had to call and talk to. Even if it was the devil himself.
“No.” Laz shook his head. “We ask that bastard for nothing, you got that?” Those blue eyes were piercing when he turned to me. “I won’t let him have a hold over you, Kat. Never again.”
A tremor tore through me at the words, and as much as I hated it, I felt a sense of relief. To owe Halestrom anything was a sword hanging over your neck. In the event after the island, he became cold and distant. I was betting he knew the moment Lazarus and I were married, and he was already trying to work out a way to break us up. And something like this would be exactly how he’d go about it.
“I can’t stand here and wait any longer, Laz,” I whispered. “The wait is killing me.”
I could see he was killing him as well. I lifted the cell, looked at him once more and hit the button, calling my father.
“Katerina,” my father answered.
I hit the button to place him on speaker. But there were no shrill, familiar screams in the background. There was only silence. As much as I wanted to ask him where Sophie was, I didn’t. If my father felt the slightest bit annoyed, he’d hang up once more, and we could lose her.
His threat still weighed heavy in my chest. One wrong move. One wrong word and my father would make it so that we never see our daughter again.
“Father,” I murmured as I closed my eyes and tried to still the panic inside. This was his game now, and we had to play by his rules. Rules I was intimately familiar with. “I’m sorry about before.”
There was silence on the other end of the line. But at least this time he didn’t hang up. I didn’t dare hope for much, only that he would listen. “I’ve had some time to think about what you asked for, and I realise that I was being inconsiderate to your feelings, and unreasonable.” I look to Lazarus as he hangs onto that seething rage in his eyes. “If you’re willing to try again, I’d really like us to make amends.”
Lazarus glanced away and clenched his fists.
My father’s answer was careful. “I’d like that very much.”
It was the opening I was hoping for. One I intended to exploit at every opportunity. The deafening silence in the background was all I focused on. “I can come now if you like?”
“Hmmm… I mean, if you’re not busy, I’d love to see you.” His voice grew louder. “Contrary to what you believe, I actually miss you, Katerina.”
That sickening shudder rippled through me.
“Katerina…” he urged. I knew what he wanted. The word stuck in the back of my throat. I swallowed and answered. “I miss you too, daddy.”
“Then I’ll see you soon,” he answered carefully.
There was excitement in his voice, actual, vile, sickening excitement. I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking as I lowered the phone and ended the call. Laz said nothing, just stared at me, then turned away.
