Leaning on the wall, I dragged my fingernails against painted brick while trying to catch my breath from where I had searched for Archie. I was still waiting to go into my father’s office.
His office door was closed.
One of his men who guarded it told me, “It won’t be much longer.”
Because me coming home after a kidnapping and waiting outside to be greeted by a loving parent was perfectly normal.
They’d even given up pretending.
Maybe Archie was in there with Dad. Maybe that’s why I hadn’t found him in his room. Or the kitchen. Or even the garden.
I’d come back for Archie. For Cassius, too, and every breath I inhaled in this house felt wretched. Swallowing this dread, preparing not to show fear with what I knew about the man on the other side
The door flung open.
There he stood. My father. He filled the doorway with his intimidating presence. “Anya.” He held his arms out.
Feigning I was the good daughter, I stepped toward him and leaned in for a hug. I inhaled that scent of him, the rich cologne and stale cigar smoke causing bile to rise in the back of my throat.
“My poor, sweet child,” he tried to soothe me. “Thank goodness you’re home.”
“Dad.”
He held my shoulders and nudged me back to better look at me. “We have a doctor coming to examine you.”
“I don’t need that.”
“This is non-negotiable.” His lips thinned. “I’m afraid your mother isn’t able to be here to greet you. She’s dealing with another issue. She wanted to be here.”
Issue? What could be more important than this?
He waved it off and turned to his office. “Want to come in?”
Looking past his doorway and into the treacherous organization of his office, I shook my head. It felt like just yesterday when I’d witnessed Cassius’s men ripping up his carpet and digging a hole in the floor to get to a safe. Now, all evidence of that was gone. The carpet re-laid in a green pattern of something a psychotic brain might like. No sign of anything askew.
I fixed my focus back to my father. “Where’s Archie?”
“He went to stay with a friend.”
Wait.
“Who?”
“He’ll be back tomorrow.”
“How is he?”
Because the last I heard, he was close to breaking.
“He’ll be fine. Hungry? Shall I arrange for food? How about pasta? You love pasta.”
“I couldn’t eat anything right now.”
Dad shooed away the guard and waited until he was out of earshot. “Did he hurt you? Cassius? Did he . . .”
“No,” I responded quickly, suspecting he was insinuating I’d been taken by force.
“We have a lot of questions.”
“What kind?”
“I want you to write down everything you can remember about his house. The security system. Was there a code? Draw a map of the property.”
But he’d already been there once. The night he’d killed Cassius’s parents, so either he was faking interest, or he was checking to see if anything had changed on the estate.
My flesh crawled. “Why, Dad?”
“It’s good to have.”
“You’re not going there, are you?”
Stephen hesitated. “Would that be a problem for you?”
He knew. He had to know that Cassius and I had become lovers. Maybe Ridley had betrayed us. Maybe it had been because I’d stayed with him after he’d almost gotten shot after Mardi Gras. Whatever the reason, my father might know more about what we’d become.
Or maybe I was overthinking it.
“I’ll try to remember everything I saw.” I made it convincing.
“I heard you went to Café Du Monde with him?”
“Yes.”
“There was no chance to escape there?” He sounded suspicious. “No one to signal to?”
Again, I shook my head no.
“And tell me, Anya, back at the Hotel Monteleone, you saw me there? Trying to rescue you from him. But you ran?”
Cassius had strong-armed me then, but I didn’t want to say it and put Cassius in any more danger than he already was. “I didn’t see you.”
“Right, that’s what I thought. I just want you to know we were doing everything we could to get you out of there.”
“I know.”
He scratched the back of his neck. “Want to sit with me while I work?”
“No, I think I’m going to wash up.”
“Let the doctor see you first. I want him to . . .” He twirled his finger. “He may need to take evidence off your body. You understand?”
“Why?”
“It’s standard procedure.”
“But . . . you didn’t go to the police?” It came out before I could stop it.
“Cassius threatened that if we did, he’d kill you, Anya.”
“He told you that?”
“I don’t underestimate what you’ve been through. We’ve all been incredibly worried. Archie wasn’t doing well at all. We’ve tried to keep him busy. That’s why him being with friends is so important.”
“Who is he with?”
“Your mother knows the other boy.”
“I saw Mom at Mardi Gras.” I watched Dad’s reaction.
“She’s been incredibly worried, obviously.”
I’d pushed my father enough. If he suspected I knew what he did for a living, I might become a victim of his wrath. Just thinking that this man bought and sold weapons sent a shiver through me. The deaths he’d caused . . .
“Anya?” He tipped up my chin.
I had no choice but to play along. “Thank you for persuading Ridley to bring me home.”
“It was either that, or he’d suffer the consequences.”
Which made me feel guilty for being hard on him. Dad had threatened his life. Ridley had little choice in the matter but to bring me back.
“I’m going to my room for a bit.”
“My door is always open for you, sweetheart,” said Stephen. “Even if it’s closed.” He threw in a wink.
Heading off, I felt his stare on my back until I was out of sight.
Cassius
If you want to talk about recklessness, see me coming to the Garden District in daylight. See me standing on the doorstep of the man who wanted me dead. The man who’d murdered my parents. Decimated my life. Threatened to end my sister. The man who’d stolen Anya back.
Stephen answered the door like this was a regular home and him opening the door was a usual encounter.
He knew I’d come.
Stephen glowered. “You’ve got some nerve.”
My fists clenched, my fury simmering. “I know what you’re planning to do.”
“You kidnapped my fucking daughter.”
“Where is she?”
“My daughter will need years of therapy after what you did.”
“Only, she’s not your daughter, is she?”
His eyes glazed over. “It’s best you leave now.”
“You replaced your children. Now that’s some sick shit.”
His mouth twitched. “Proof?”