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I had never once doubted my love for Lilith since the day I’d declared it, but dear God with that reply she had just cemented it for eternity.
From the very second I’d met her back on that accursed island she’d never once behaved in the way expected of her just because someone was trying to strongarm her into conforming, and it appeared that Michael was only now learning that lesson. He’d clearly expected Lilith to have the good grace to be at least a little cowed even if she refused to show blind terror; he probably should have talked to Blaine a little more before he started on his little scheme. Even the great blaggard Ciaran O’Halloran had arrived at the workshop looking well spooked, and with far less swagger than he’d had the day before in the beer garden. I guessed Lili had been having one of her ‘special’ chats with him on the journey over.
Whilst I still didn’t hold out too much hope for my chances of getting home, watching Lili doggedly working at levelling our odds through her own unique brand of psychological warfare was a thing of beauty nonetheless. I reckoned that if tonight was going to be the last time I saw her, at least I would have some magnificent memories to sustain me.
Lilith
Michael poured me a glass of champagne anyway. “I really do insist,” he stated.
“Oh, whatever.” I decided not to fight this particular point, but I still summoned my inner Sinéad and gave him my finest adolescent eye-roll. Michael tapped his glass against mine. “Cheers,” he said, and then leaned back in his chair. “So, did you enjoy my little messages?”
He was definitely fishing for a shocked reaction at the revelation that he was behind the vile anonymous notes we’d received. Therefore there was no way he was getting it.
“My best guess is that you gave O’Halloran a weekend Saver Ticket and some pocket money for sweeties then sent him off to wherever with your latest beautifully-crafted missive in his back pocket,” I said. “I mean, it’s hardly Special Ops, is it? And even then it took you until the press revealed our city centre hotel before you figured out we were in Ireland; we’d been there for weeks by then.”
He was clearly disappointed by my response, but he still kept going. “Oh, believe me, using O’Halloran here was merely a matter of convenience,” Michael said. “This was merely the most economical way of conducting business. I actually have quite an extensive international network.”
I snorted. “Like hell you do. From what I can recall, most of Mummy’s remaining fortune is all knotted up with red tape and any spare change went on her lawyer. I really can’t imagine that your heady heights of – what was it again? Oh yeah – ‘Freelance Consultant, Speaker of Truths and Neo-Conservative Influencer’ is going to bring in enough to fund a personal militia in the current financial climate. Especially one with a convicted sex offender for a mother.”
Michael’s knuckles whitened as they tightened around the stem of his glass. He’d clearly had enough of trying to keep up his charming facade, especially as I was steadfastly refusing to play, and I watched his features morph and harden into a bitter, hate-filled sneer. We had to be approaching the tipping point now.
“My mother was certainly right about one thing; she said you had so much potential, and just threw it all away to be an acid-tongued little shrew,” he said, then drained his glass in one mouthful. “Anyway, enough of the small talk, as... pleasant as it’s been. We’re on a tight deadline and I still need you to know some of what I’ve got planned for you and my reclaimed whore over there. And as difficult as it’s going to be for you, you’re going to need to shut that foul little mouth of yours and listen very carefully, because I promise you that if you make one wrong move or decide to do something silly like you did at Albermarle, I’ll kill Finn and livestream it to you the minute we leave here. Are we clear?”
I tried to keep my voice steady as I replied. “Perfectly,” I managed, and Michael gave an approving smile at my brevity.
“Good girl. See? That’s a far more becoming attitude.” He glanced at his watch. “Right. In precisely fourteen minutes’ time – goodness, that’s flown – I’ll be leaving with the love of your life to rendezvous with a ship a couple of miles offshore whilst you stay nicely secured at this lock-up. And whilst you might have an uncomfortable wait, I’ve been told that this is quite a lively little area for small businesses during the day so if you shout loud enough in a few hours’ time someone will be sure to hear you.”
And in a few hours, everything would be lost. Just the thought of Michael taking Finn away made me feel sick. Ciaran might have unintentionally told me where they were going but that was no comfort.
I’d funded enough women’s charities in my late mother’s name to know that anti-corruption squads were doing all they could to dismantle decades of
criminal activity all over Europe, but none of this would benefit Finn or me right now; if he disappeared into the shadows of that underworld he’d be lost forever, and even if he managed to survive physically, his beautiful, gentle, fragile soul would be shattered forever.
Michael refilled his glass. “Okay, so the arrangement is this. I’m going to take Finn here to a nice, secure location, and keep him for exactly one year. He needs some intensive discipline and retraining – and perhaps a few of his old favourite substances to help with the process – and I’ve cleared my diary to make sure that that’s exactly what’s going to happen. You’ll receive frequent photographic updates that will prove he’s alive. Naturally he’ll incur some damage whilst I’m re-schooling him, but I can promise you that none of that will be fatal – he’s a significant family investment, after all.”
I decided to keep quiet about knowing where he intended to take Finn; that fact might have more use at a later point. I took a mouthful of Champagne to give myself time to steady my voice. “And what would you expect from me in return?”
“That part is beautifully simple,” Michael said. “You keep quiet, you make no attempt whatsoever to trace us, and if you’re particularly smart you use that time to finally learn to behave and find your proper place.” He drained another glass. “And if you can abide by those straightforward rules, a year from today I’ll arrange a meeting at a time and place of my choosing and you can have him back, if you still want him. So, what do you say?”
What the hell could I say? Every word of the proposal was horrific. Michael intended to return Finn to a world that had nearly killed him, and document every moment as it happened, in order to punish me for my transgressions.
And it was meant to be for a whole year. One hellish, unimaginable year. Almost a clever offer, if he was telling the truth. On the surface, it might actually seem bearable; it was clearly supposed to appear long enough to make our separation tortuous, but short enough to make it sound like waiting might actually be worthwhile.
Except that Michael was very much not telling the truth. Of course he wasn’t, because he was a sadistic coward from a long line of sadistic cowards, who was out to destroy us both. Once that year was up I knew that Finn would be lost to me. Still, I needed to sound like none of it bothered me. “If you promise you’ll let him live I’ll consider it,” I said.
Michael nodded. “Fair enough. But consider quickly – in... goodness, only eleven minutes now, we’ll need to be on our way.” He took a set of handcuff keys from his pocket and walked back over to where Finn was shackled. “You know, as soon as we get to our final destination, I’m planning to have him pinioned by his feet; apparently it’s possible to create a hole just behind the Achilles tendon, although I’ve heard it’s exquisitely painful. Once it’s healed, a simple carabiner will keep him completely immobile. Can you imagine how transfixingly erotic it will look?”
He reached down to caress Finn’s heels like a lover as he spoke, as if already taking delight in just imagining the assault. “I’ve already found an excellent piercing artist who’s willing to do it for the right price. Laius did it to Oedipus, you know? Pinned him through the heels when he was a baby so he couldn’t run when he abandoned him on a hillside...”
I watched as Finn flinched away from the contact. “Well, I suppose if anyone around here knows about motherfuckers, it’s you,” I said.
“I’m more than aware of how proud you are of your wit, Lilith,” Michael snapped. “But just remember that once the pair of you are separated I will personally take pains to ensure my slut here pays for every single disagreeable thing you’ve uttered this evening.” He softly ran his fingers down Finn’s jawline as he spoke.
“You will be found eventually, you know,” I said, with far more confidence than I felt. “You’re neither smart enough nor rich enough to disappear forever.”
“I think you’ll find Lord Lucan managed,” Michael retorted.
“True,” I replied, with a nod of agreement. “But there again, I think you’ll find Lord Lucan didn’t have a mother making fifty pence a week working next to Big Shazza in the prison laundry, and probably had someone of a slightly higher calibre than King Kong’s stunt double here as his skivvy.”
