“So you’re going to let me go?”
He smiles. “Eventually, but first I need your help.”
“Of course, Devlin,” I whisper, trying to reason with him. Once, when I was younger, Mom made Theo and me watch documentaries about what to do if you’re abducted. At the time, I thought it was stupid but now it’s all coming back to me and I’m thankful for it. “What can I do to help?”
“I’ve always liked you, Tate,” he muses, shaking his finger at me. “From the first moment I started watching you, I liked your spunk and resourcefulness. Of course when I finally met you in person, you were just as sweet as can be. It’s really a shame that things between us have to end like this.”
My mind spins with everything he just told me and I don’t know which comment to address first. I meet his gaze as my lips part. “You… You’ve been watching me?”
“Oh, yes. For many years now. I first arrived in Baton Rouge during your freshman year of high school.”
I shake my head, disappointed in myself for being so damn oblivious. “Why?”
“Because I work for your father, dear.”
Gasping, I tug on the ropes, trying to put space between us as he laughs and clamps a hand down on my leg.
“Don’t do that, Darling. We wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”
My heart races in my ear as I try to connect the unhinged man in front of me with the one I’ve gotten to know these past few years and it just doesn’t make sense.
“Why did he send you?”
He shrugs. “To keep tabs on you. He wanted to know who his children were and that they were okay and he entrusted me with that.”
“So then why are you doing this, Devlin?”
He smiles. “Ah, now there’s the million dollar question. Do you remember when I told you about the love of my life?”
“Claire?” I whisper and he nods.
“Yes, my sweet Claire. She was my everything.”
I nod. “She died, right?”
“Yes,” he hisses, rage twisting his features as he stares down at me. “But that was only part of the story. Would you like to hear the rest?”
“If I listen to your story, will you let me go?” I ask, hoping against hope that I can reason with him somehow. He chuckles.
“I’m afraid not, sweet girl. People have to pay for the pain they caused me and that’s why you’re here.”
“How did you get me here?”
He shrugs. “It wasn’t all that hard. Mia is easily distracted and once her attention was on something else, I slipped something in your coffee.”
“And how did you get me out of the diner?”
“Ah, now that was a little more difficult but I managed to get you out of the window and into my car.”
I nod, meeting his gaze as my stomach flips. “Will you tell me about Claire?”
“I first met her when my family moved in next door. We were twelve years old and the second I saw her, I knew one day she’d be my wife.”
“What happened?”
He meets my gaze as rage fills his eyes and he leans forward, wrapping his hand around my throat. My mouth pops open and I wonder if he’s going to kill me here. “Your mother and father happened.”
“Please don’t hurt me, Devlin,” I whisper and his gaze instantly softens as he pulls his hand away from my throat. He tilts his head to the side as he brushes his fingers along my cheek, moisture building in his eyes.
“I wish I didn’t have to, Tate, but like I said people need to pay for what happened to my Claire.”
I swallow past the lump in my throat and remember the tips I learned in the documentary all those years ago.
Put your captor at ease.
Keep your dignity.
Be a good listener.
“What happened to her, Devlin?”
He closes his eyes as if the memories are too much to bear as he sucks in a breath. “After your mother left Dominic and he learned about you and your brother, he became despondent and many of the people close to him were worried about what he’d do.”
“Did you work for him back then?”
He nods. “I wasn’t in the inner circle like I am now but yes, I worked for him. I had just turned twenty-one and I was getting ready to ask Claire to marry me when Dominic decided that if he couldn’t have you and Theo, he would have another child. And the woman he chose to give him what he wanted most was my Claire.”
“Oh,” I whisper, tears filling my eyes as I imagine the worst. I know what kind of man my father is.
He nods. “Yes, it shocked and devastated us both but Dominic King is not a man you can say no to, not if you want to live, so even though she didn’t want to, she agreed to marry him.”
“I’m so sorry, Dev.” I don’t know what else to say to him and he may not believe me but I really do feel a great deal of empathy for him and Claire. I can’t imagine being ripped away from Lincoln like that.
“On their wedding night,” he continues, ignoring my apology. “Dominic was eager to start trying but Claire was still a virgin and she was understandably nervous. Dominic didn’t care. He forced her down on the bed and planted his seed in her five times before the sun came up the next morning.”
A tear streaks down my cheek and my hands tremble. “Devlin…”
He holds his hand up to stop me and I clamp my mouth shut as he stands and stares down at my semi-naked body.
“He did all this because your mother left and she stole you and your brother away from him so today, you will pay for her sins,” he snarls, anger filling his eyes as he inspects me and I tug on the ropes again, praying to a God I’m not sure I believe in.
“Please, no, Devlin.”
Without uttering a word, he pulls a knife out of his back pocket and climbs on top of me, straddling my waist. I buck my hips as much as I can with my arms and legs secured to the bed and he arches a brow as he presses the knife to my throat.
“Stop,” he orders and my body falls back to the bed, my heartbeat thrashing in my ears. “This is happening. You cannot stop it and if you fight me, I will make it worse. Do you understand?”
I feel numb as I nod my head, resigning myself to my fate. He climbs off me and disappears into the shadows only to reappear a few seconds later with a camera on a tripod.
“We’re going to make a little video for daddy. How does that sound?”
I turn away from him, another tear falling from my eyes. My soul is screaming in my ears, beating her fists against my rib cage to escape from the hell that I can feel approaching me with each passing second.
Devlin climbs back on top of me and grabs my bra, cutting it straight down the center as I suck in a stuttered breath. I’ve spent most of my life believing something like this couldn’t happen to me because of the training my mother forced upon me and now that it’s happening, it all feels like a waste. What was the point of it all if I can’t defend myself now when I need it most?
She would be so ashamed of me.
He moves down the bed and cuts both sides of my panties before pulling them away and groaning.
“I’ve been watching you since you were just a girl but I can’t deny that you’ve turned into a stunning woman, Tate.”