I want to sucker punch that disgusting grin right off his hideous face.
“Why am I not surprised.” He casts a glance at my husbands over his shoulder. “Think I might have pussy for dessert tonight.”
“Why do the Homeland files matter to you?” I ask before my guys lose it. “What do they have on you?”
The doors to the ballroom ease open, and Sinner’s irritating grin expands. “Always so eager for answers.” He yanks me from Baldy, but there’s no relief in being traded from one perverted psycho to another. “And I’ll give them to you, but first we have a little surprise. A couple of additional guests.” Keeping his gun at the back of my head, and his arm tight around my waist, he walks me back to his table in time to see his “guests” being hauled into the room.
“Mom!” I scream, bucking in Sinner’s arms as my mother is led into the room by two of Sinner’s men.
Oh my God.
How the fuck did this happen? Diesel said she was in Europe, secure in one of his safe houses, so how the hell did Sinner find her?
An unsettling thought lodges in my brain.
Did he do this? Has Diesel been working for Sinner this entire time?
CHAPTER 45
PAIN STABS ME through the heart and my lungs, working its way through every vital organ until I can barely breathe. If Diesel has betrayed us, then that means there is no rescue in sight.
No!
I don’t believe it.
Diesel hates Sinner, and he’s proven his loyalty to me time and time again. He last checked in with Mom a couple of days ago, and she was fine.
Someone must have betrayed him.
That’s the only explanation that makes sense.
My heart rate steadies, and my panic dials down, because I know, deep down inside, that Diesel hasn’t lied. That he’s on our side.
A strangled sob rips through the air, pulling me out of my head. Tears pour down Mom’s face as she’s flung into a chair, sobbing.
Dressed in a low-cut red and black ballgown that trails the ground with her hair and makeup professionally done, she looks beautiful on the surface—until you see the anguish in her eyes, the tears coating her face, and the fresh bruises mushrooming under the skin of her arms and around her neck.
One of Sinner’s goons secures her to the chair, and we stare at one another, silently conveying so much.
“Get your hands off me.” My head whips up in time to see Alisha slap one of the men manhandling her into the room. Unlike Mom, she’s not party ready. They have stripped her to her underwear, and her small boobs and skeletal frame are on display, making her seem even more vulnerable. Matted hair frames her makeup-free face, but there’s no disguising her sunken cheekbones and gaunt eyes. My gaze darts to Galen’s, and my heart breaks at the devastated look on his face.
Sinner sits down beside Mom, hauling me onto his lap. Lifting her head, Mom pierces me with a look loaded with regret and guilt.
“Shut your face, whore.” The man holding Alisha’s skinny frame grabs her by the hair, pushing her toward the table. She screams, arms and legs flailing as the man throws her forward, slamming her head down on the table with force.
Galen shouts and curses, screaming at the asshole to leave his mom alone. His body contorts when he tries to move his chair, pain spreading across his face. One of Sinner’s men punches him in the face, and it’s killing me to stand idly by while this happens. Rage flows through my veins, and I’m seconds away from saying fuck the mission.
Alisha is dumped unceremoniously in the chair on the other side of Sinner, and she’s not looking so hot. Her eyes are rolling back in her head as she curls into a ball, bending her knees against her chest. Blood trickles from her nostrils, dripping down over her chin, and a nasty lump is already swelling on her forehead.
I purposely ignore looking at the guys, focusing on doing what needs to be done.
“Now that everyone’s here,” Sinner says. “We can move things along.” When he shifts underneath me, his disgusting erection digs into my ass, and I almost lose it. Acid licks a path up my throat, but I keep it together, forcing a full-body shudder to retreat.
“As I was saying, I know you and your mother are working with the FBI in an attempt to take me down.” Sinner clucks his tongue. “Such stupid, stupid girls.” Reaching out, he grabs the armrest of Mom’s chair, pulling her in close. “You were my everything, princess,” he says to Mom, gripping her chin.
His gun is still pressed to my head, but the arm around my waist is gone now, and I could make a move, but my gut tells me to hold firm.
“Why’d you have to ruin everything by leaving me for that prick Trey? Everything would be different if you’d just stayed.”
Dry tear tracks streak Mom’s cheeks, and her eyes are clear and targeted. Her chin juts up as she eyeballs her ex-fiancé. “You’re a thug, Neo. A criminal. A serial murderer. A rapist.”
He slaps her cheek, and her head whips back.
My fingers inch up my stomach.
Mom smiles at him, her cheek bearing the imprint of his hand. “Falling in love with Trey Westbrook was as easy as breathing, proving what we shared was nothing.” She points between her and Sinner. “You mean nothing to me.”
Sinner slaps her again, yanking her head back, and I warn Mom to tone it down with my eyes. If she continues pushing him, he’ll kill her.
I’ve already lost one parent. I am not losing another on my watch.
“Your love was a death sentence!” Sinner roars. “He’d still be alive if you hadn’t left me. That’s on your conscience.”
“No,” I speak up, needing to deflect him from Mom. “It’s on yours. You murdered my father so you could clear a path to my mom, because you knew there was no way she’d ever look at you as long as Trey Westbrook was alive.”
“You think you know everything, little girl, but you know nothing.” He jabs the gun into my crotch. “I didn’t kill your father.”
“Liar,” I hiss. “You’ve already admitted it.”
He flashes me that stupid-ass grin. “Because I wanted you to believe it.”
“Now you’re saying you didn’t kill Trey? You expect us to believe it?” Mom asks, lifting a brow.
“I was getting ready to kill him, and my plan was way more fun than a staged car accident, but Homeland beat me to it.”
Genuine shock splays across my face. “Why the fuck would Homeland want to kill my dad?” I ask although my brain has already started connecting the dots. Sinner grips my chin tighter, grinning as he waits for me to work it out. “They were looking for the files.”
“Ding, ding, ding.” Sinner swipes a beer, knocking it back, while Mom and I trade concerned looks.
“What was on those files?” Theo asks, speaking louder so his voice carries from his table.
“You mean your little FBI contact didn’t tell you?” Sinner gloats. I’m glad he doesn’t seem to know about Diesel, or the fact the commissioner isn’t dead, but he could be bluffing to draw me into telling him the truth. Mom’s face is immobile as she goes along with it too.
I shake my head. “No. Care to enlighten me?”
“You know, Harlow, this would’ve turned out differently if you’d just trusted me.” He caresses my face, keeping his gun pressed against my pussy, ensuring I can’t make any move.