“We wouldn’t be the one to do the catching, but yes. We’re profilers. We don’t run around chasing criminals. We help to create a profile that helps the police do it. We just wanted to talk to you first, because we’d already established contact earlier.” Ella shares this information before grabbing the bottle of water on the table, flicking it open, and taking a sip.
I address Noah, “What do you have in mind?”
“The unsub went above and beyond for Phoenix, even sent in Brady to catch her in time before the press arrived. Yet she comes to you and lives with you.”
I raise my hand to stop him, not in the mood to hear all that psychological crap again. Two fucking people in the span of twenty-four hours was enough, thank you very much. “We already figured all this shit out. There is no need—”
Noah, though, continues, “Toxic parents have such mentality.” I frown at this while Phoenix leans into me but doesn’t argue with Noah, so she must understand the term. “They think children should be grateful for what they have done for them and be forever in their debt.”
“To a point where a child doesn’t have his or her life but, instead, lives under the ruling thumb of the parents. In most cases, they don’t form their own families, because usually no one is good enough for the parent or they are too emotionally scarred to try it.” Phoenix mutters, removing hair from her face, and then glances at me. “In this case, the unsub considers me an ungrateful child who has to be punished.”
“So that’s it, then. Let’s have the biggest party and find the fucker,” I say while Phoenix tenses, sitting up quickly and half turning to face me fully. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s the only way.”
“It will be dangerous for everyone there.”
A humorless chuckle escapes me. “So is everything else right now. Do you have a better plan?” Her jaw clenches while her eyes flash in annoyance and fear, which she tries so hard to mask from me yet fails.
Palming her head so she won’t be able to avoid my gaze, I hold her stare and say with confidence in my voice that she needs to hear to calm down, “We’ll have an engagement party. We’ll have the police and private security covering our backs.”
“They will be undercover, of course. Although you have to speak with the detective about it.”
Both of us ignore Noah, only having eyes on each other, as I’m still not done washing away that fucking fear from her orbs.
“Emmaline will be at home, guarded with Patience and everyone else.” For my child, I’ll call in all the favors in the world in order to secure her well-being. Maybe even ask Lachlan to send one of his current students. “And I’ll be by your side. You know this unsub better than even me. He or fucking she doesn’t have the capacity to do something that will affect other people, only us. Okay? Sound good?” I see worry settling on her features and how her skin pales a little at the prospect of finally meeting the unsub. “It’s the only way.” At least in the current situation, since I pulled the trigger on the whole engagement thing.
Only I thought I had time to convince everyone of this romance before any official gatherings, but with the unsub escalating, we have no choice.
My mind starts to swirl with all the things needed for the upcoming preparations; however, one is more prominent than the others.
How to protect both my girls from a person who made it his or her life’s mission to destroy mine for sins I never committed.
Unsub
Stepping onto the balcony of my penthouse apartment, which opens onto this magnificent city panorama, I place my mug with steaming coffee on the small table. Two white chairs are on either side of it, facing the view.
I stretch my arms wide, welcoming the sunlight streaming on me from above and the breeze tickling my cheeks. A laugh echoes in the space while joy spreads through my every bone in anticipation of a new day.
Today, finally, everything will come back to normal and on track with Phoenix doing what she does best.
Run away from her executioner while hate travels through her veins, panic enveloping her mind, and once again she loses herself in this battle.
That’s the destiny of the victims, always losing and trying to get away from the abuser as fast as possible. Because they always catch you again, trapping you in hell with no way of escape while hurting you over and over again.
If Daddy dearest taught me one thing, it’s that.
Brady’s death was always inevitable; the fool has been in love with me so long he wouldn’t have survived without me. However, I always thought I’d keep him till the very end. It’s always good to have people around ready to sacrifice their life for you. Opens up a lot of possibilities for various grand schemes. But Phoenix’s little infatuation with Zachary ruined all my plans.
I never thought she’d be stupid enough to take a predator’s kindness as nothing else but a strategy he uses to catch his prey. Although maybe I should have never underestimated Zachary’s charms in the first place. Even if she is a woman scorned… Phoenix is still a woman who apparently cannot resist Zach.
Brady came in handy here. His death will be what breaks the camel’s back, so to speak. The guilt will eat her alive so she won’t be able to work with Zach, and in this, my original plan will be back to normal.
I’m the rescuer of all the victims, freeing them from the clutches of the monsters with whom they live and can’t escape. They might not say it anywhere, but this kind of desperation I can read in their eyes.
No wonder all these men remind me of Daddy, same hair and posture.
The most distinctive feature though?
Is the way they say this phrase, the phrase that I’ve caught at various functions, and it drove me so insane I could barely stand not to smash their heads with bottles or stab them with a knife, screaming for them to shut up.
Thankfully, each time, I’ve managed to rein in my emotions until I could rush to my apartment and plan the strategy to punish everyone involved.
I’ve done all this for those hopeless souls whose cries of pain die in the infinity’s echo that no one ever hears because they don’t even ask.
Through life, I’ve had so many trips to the hospitals, and not once, not one single time did they doubt Daddy’s words or call social services.
A bitter chuckle slips past my lips, when I think of how everyone preaches that justice helps cases like mine.
They fucking don’t, because the pain is always ignored if it serves all those people occupying comfy cushions, who don’t need one more case on their head.
Wrapping my hands around the mug, I sit on the chair and inhale the rich smell of coffee, calming down a bit and blocking away the thoughts of the past, as they have no place here right now.
My phone chooses this moment to ring, and I see a name flashing on the screen. My brows furrow, since she mostly never calls me—not that I cry myself to sleep because of that.
“Hello,” I answer, taking my first sip and groaning loudly, the taste hitting my tongue with such strength I regret not bringing my chocolate out here with me.
“Hey!” she shouts right back, and I hear loud music blasting through the phone before she turns it off, breathing heavily. “Oh my God, sorry about that.”
“It’s okay,” I reply, used to her idiotic music that surrounds her wherever she goes. Why no one told me she is a talentless idiot is fucking beyond me.