“I want to talk to her parents.”
“It’s not going to make you feel better, and it certainly won’t them. They were told the circumstances of her death and that Slate facilitated her death. If you want to find another way to punish yourself, I can’t stop you, but don’t bring them into it. Leave them alone to their grief.”
“What am I supposed to do?” he asked raggedly.
“You don’t need twelve jurors to punish you when you’re doing it yourself. You’ve made this room your prison cell. The only time you go out is to work the security room or search for Slate. The police will find him. Knox said everyone else responsible for your captivity is dead.”
He turned sharply to look at Diamond.
She held up her hands. “I didn’t ask how Knox knows. And, as an officer of the courts, I don’t want to know. He wouldn’t tell me if I ask, anyway.”
“They’re not all dead.” He clenched his fists by his sides. “There’s one other than Slate. And the ones who paid to be in his videos are still walking around.”
Diamond blanched, her gaze switching to Calder for help. He had remained silent as Diamond spoke, giving his support without interrupting.
At Diamond’s glance, Reaper narrowed his eyes on them. Whatever they were about to tell him wasn’t going to be good.
“What isn’t Diamond wanting to tell me?” Tight-lipped, he nodded toward Calder.
“Slate made sure that no one could be tracked from his website. It didn’t help that Crash used his expertise to erase anyone who visited the site. Slate posted a different number each day for how to contact him, even instructing them on buying a burner phone. Knox and Jonas both said that it would be easier to find a needle in a haystack than finding the ones who paid to participate in the videos. They’re working on identifying them for you, but you need to be prepared for them never being found.”
Reaper stared at Calder unseeingly. Imaginary faces of the ones who fueled his need for revenge, one after another, inundated his mind. His hands went to his back pockets to keep from tearing his room apart in the rage he was bottling down.
Sorting through the imaginary faces, he forced the fury aside, harnessing cold reason. He needed to focus on accomplishing his wants—to kill everyone who had taken part in the videos. But he wasn’t going to achieve his wants. Instead, he had to focus on his needs. He needed to kill the black-hearted couple who had been there when he was first taken prisoner.
Vamp had only been there four times, then stopped coming. The four times she had been there burned into his memory. He needed her to die, to extinguish her from his memory and to draw a line through her name on the mental list of people he promised to exact retribution. There was one more. The Count, who had continued to come until he told Slate that Reaper was too ugly to fuck.
“Tell Knox and Jonas to concentrate on the woman during the first videos Slate took of me. If I find her, I can find him.” Reaper tamped down his harsh tone as he instructed Diamond the direction he wanted to head. He wasn’t ready to give up and let bygones be bygones. He wanted every lead checked out and then double-checked until the very last one on his list was found. Knowing every last one of the fuckers were dead would give him the revenge he was owed.
Hatred fueled his every breath. It was the only emotion he wanted to feel. Anything else just brought memories of what he was never going to have—love, marriage, children. He had built those dreams around another woman. He was now a man incapable of building a future with any woman. Gavin was deceived by Vincent Bedford, Memphis, Crash, and even Taylor, but Reaper would never trust his heart to make his decisions for him again.
He had to stay as far away from Ginny as he could. As enticingly as she called to him, he had nothing left to give her that was worth a damn. Her ass needed to go back to Nashville, while his planned to stay right where it was. Rider and Shade had to change their minds voluntarily … or he was fucking going to change it for them.
Reaper nodded at the folder. “Can I keep it?”
Diamond frowned. “Why?”
“I want to look it over. I won’t contact Cecile’s parents, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“You can have it.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’ve never been better,” he lied smoothly.
The more information he gathered about Cecile and how she contacted Slate, the easier it would be for Reaper to find his quarry.
Slate was counting on him to give up his fruitless search. The bastard couldn’t be more wrong. Reaper would search for him until his dying day.
Chapter Four
Inside her car Ginny took deep, even breaths to calm her erratic heartbeat. She was proud of herself for how collected she appeared in front of Gavin, despite being so anxious to make a good impression on him. All she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and feel him in her arms.
His unapproachable behavior had stopped that possibility in its tracks.
The fierce warrior’s body forewarned pain if anyone got too close. If Gavin’s sheer size and tattoos weren’t enough to put the fear of God in someone, then the caged animal lurking in his stark gaze would have them running for cover. The connection she felt with him yesterday was what fueled her courage today. It was the same connection he was pretending had never happened.
She knew from the moment she put her hand out to him this morning that he downplayed what happened at Trudy’s wedding. He had no intention of following up on the attraction. Ginny was willing to bet he couldn’t wait for her to leave. The only way Gavin would ask her out for coffee was if he were on fire and needed someone to put the flames out.
Starting the engine, she pulled out onto the road and drove down the mountain. She made her way back to the church, returning in a less chipper mood than when she left. The plans she made last night to get better acquainted with Gavin had failed to materialize in the bright light of day.
Wanting a few minutes alone before going inside, Ginny walked around the side of the church and sat down on one the swings.
Unlike Gavin, she wasn’t questioning what she felt when their eyes met across the swimming pool. She had been waiting all of her life for those feelings to strike her. She had fallen in love with Gavin at first sight, and dammit, deep down, she knew he had also.
Ginny wanted to call Trudy to ask for her advice but reminded herself that her sister was on her honeymoon, and Ginny didn’t want to spoil it with a fight about Gavin.
Trudy had managed to find a few minutes alone with her before she and Dalton left.
“He’s not the one you’ve been waiting for,” Trudy hissed at her as soon as the bathroom door closed behind them.
Ginny didn’t blink at her sister’s stricken expression. “Why not?”
“Because he can’t be.”
“He is.” Ginny resolutely crossed her arms over her chest.
“No, he’s not,” Trudy determinedly argued back. “If you’d picked any other man in the whole world, I’d tell you to go for it, but not Reaper. Sweetheart, he’s not for you.”
“Give me one good reason.”
“I can give you several, but the most important one is he’s still in love with his ex. You deserve someone in love with you, not a woman he’s waited years to be with.”