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“Lina,” I breathed. But she didn’t look like Lina. Not anymore. The soft glow of her face was hardened and narrowed. She stood taller, her shoulders back, head held high. A far cry from the meek but headstrong woman who’d mentored me through my career.
“You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?” she sneered at me, her lips curling up into an angry snarl. “Had to go poking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
I blinked up at her. The drug Tatem had given me was starting to hit me harder. “I’ve been trying to find you.” Disbelief was no doubt my current facial expression. At least I thought it was. I was having a hard time controlling my facial muscles. Whatever they’d given me was trippy. “I thought…”What had I thought?
Lina laughed heartlessly. “You really are naïve, little princess.” She shook her head. “I didn’t need saving. If anyone needed saving, it was you. You couldn’t leave well enough alone. Had to stir up a whole bunch of shit.”
What? I hadn’t stirred anything up…had I? Maybe I had.
Wait…what were we talking about?
“Looks like your drug is finally starting to work, Jones.” Lina cocked her head, studying me. Huh, why did I feel so warm and fuzzy inside? Medications had always been touch and go with me. My body usually took a while to absorb most sedatives and pain medication, meaning that it took longer for them to kick in, and when they did, it was never all that pleasant.
“Victor,” she barked, the sound floating in the air before my eyes. I snorted. You couldn’t see sound…could you? “Get her loaded up in the car and don’t let her escape.”
I wondered if it could be felt.
Maybe. Maybe not.
A sliver of laughter slipped through me, and then a hysterical giggle. The burly mountain man named Victor slung me over his shoulder and I giggled again, smiling at the lights that danced across my vision in rhythm with the music that vibrated through the floor.
My gaze caught Kiernan’s, and suddenly, the lights darkened and the tune grew sad. He looked sad. His brow was furrowed, and his hands were clenching and unclenching at his sides. It was one of his tells when he wanted to punch someone. Lina stood by his side, facing away from me, whispering in his ear.
If only I could shoot daggers into her back.
Fucking Judas.
Traitors.
Assholes.
Betrayers.
I let out a heart-wrenching sob as the bitter dagger of betrayal twisted deeper into my heart, and then I knew nothing at all.
33
The room was dark and small, holding nothing more than a thin, dirty mattress that reeked of sex and urine. I’d gagged when I’d woken up, facedown in the filth, barely managing not to wretch up the last vestiges of food that remained in my stomach.
I sat, my head buried in my hands, for what seemed like hours before the door finally opened to reveal the man who’d been nothing but a lie my entire life. He tilted his head, studying me, his cold eyes assessing in a way they never had before.
My body was still clothed in the sheer red dress I’d worn at the auction. A symbol of my non-virginity, apparently. The hairs on the back of my arms stood on end when the man I’d known as father stepped into the room with Drew on his heel, shutting the door firmly behind them.
“Hello,daughter.” He drew out the former familial title. Drew licked his lips, his eyes lighting up as they roamed my nearly naked form. I kept silent, not wanting to engage them further, my eyes locked on the far wall. “I’m sorry it had to come to this. Although this is where the path would have eventually led.” He shrugged nonchalantly. My life meant that little to him. “You just ended up here slightly sooner than either of us would have liked.”
My jaw tightened to the point of pain. It wouldn’t surprise me if I cracked some teeth with how hard it was clenched. There were so many things I could say. Sewage I could spill about his life, but I wouldn’t. Even if Kiernan and the rest of the Kavanaughs deserved to be put in their place. I could easily tell Crowe about the information they truly had. I’d seen flashes of what had been uploaded and none of it was good. Every corrupt judge, politician, and police captain would go down for what they’d taken part in.
That was my hope.
Kiernan may have sold me out, but I didn’t believe for one second the lie he’d told Crowe about their shared interests. The drive he’d handed over hadn’t been the one I’d given him, which meant they still had a plan to take him out.
It just didn’t involve me.
Crowe kneeled in front of me, his eyes burning a hole in my face, but still, I refused to acknowledge him.
“Let me tell you a little story.” From my periphery, I could see a slow smile spread across his face. “Once upon a time there was a man who was building himself an empire.”
Cue eye roll. My inner bitch was sitting in the corner, ready to pounce, but fear kept her contained.
