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“She’s a fucking thorn in my side, and she has been since I inherited her. You got her phone too, right?”
“Just as you asked.”
“Good. When people start a search, they will find what’s left of her there.”
What’s left of me there?
The fear continued to grow, and I tried my hardest to free myself from the binds, but the men made that impossible with the way they bound me. I never gave up because I had only quit something once and after finally getting Gabriel back, I realized how big of a mistake that had been back then. I wouldn’t quit now, even as the vehicle moved from smoother roads to bumpier ones. I knew we were leaving the city by the terrain itself.
The ride only got rougher and as I put part of my focus on bracing myself each time I went rolling, and the other part was on Dundee. From what I remembered, the place was a rural town south of Portland. No one in their right mind would ever think of looking for me there. That meant it would be too late by the time the authorities got involved and they traced my cell.
Surely, Gabriel would get concerned if he didn’t hear from me for a few days. Jackson might, too. Both knew of my issues with my uncle. They knew of my suspicions, and I hoped neither would let this asshole get away with this.
The drive continued and my entire body ached from being in this position so by the time the vehicle came to a stop and they cut the ignition off, I let out a deep breath. Did they plan to just kill me now? Or was it possible I could try some last ditch attempt to free myself? I was about to get my answer when I heard the door open and two sets of hands grabbed me.
A few minutes later, the cover over my head was ripped off and I noticed I was in some sort of shack, which resembled more of a shed. The henchman still had a ski mask over his face, but I could see his dark hair peeking out from around the edges. He didn’t say anything to me as he tore the duct tape from my mouth.
He tossed me onto an old rug. I groaned as my head hit the floor hard, and I was thankful not to have lost consciousness this time, even though I did see a few stars. I’d lived twenty-six years, and outside of the abuse suffered at my cousin’s hands, I’d never been in a life or death situation until recently. In the last month, this was the second time.
Would I survive to see a third?
“I look at you sometimes and you look just like her. My Rosie. You’re a spitting image of your mother, child,” George told me.
Hoping to play off of his obvious emotion for her, I swallowed back the bile in my throat. “You loved her,” I said, and he snarled.
“I did once until our father married your grandmother. He’d left me with my mother, then had a child with her. Rosie was the apple of his eye while I was the black sheep.”
I could see how deeply his father’s rejection hurt him. My mother wasn’t to blame for any of that, just as he wasn’t. “It wasn’t your fault, or hers. You were just—”
“Shut up,” he told me as he moved closer and placed one of his feet on my chest. “She grew up in a lap of luxury, like you, and did nothing to help her only brother. Even after she was older and received an inheritance from her mother’s side of the family, she still didn’t help me. She just married Chuck, and the rich became even richer while I became poorer.”
“She—”
He pressed down harder on my chest until I coughed, dislodging a small mouthful of blood. “She turned her back on me until she needed something.”
“W-what did she need?” I had a hard time believing she went to this maniac for anything.
“She wanted me to promise to look after you should anything ever happen to her. She bequeathed a small amount of money to me for it, but even then, everything else would go to you. Rosie betrayed me in life, and planned to do the same in death. That was until I came up with a plan.” I hated the way his voice sounded jovial when he said plan. I wanted to ask what he meant, but I didn’t have to because he continued. “I got in a bind, and I needed cash. Lots of it. Remembering how she’d betrayed me all of these years, I sought her out for money.”
I’m assuming by the way his voice turned back to disgust that she’d turned him away. I had to ask anyway. “What happened?”
“What the hell do you think happened?” he said, then kicked me in the side. I whimpered in pain, but otherwise needed to keep him talking.
“I’m sure if you’d explained the sit—”
“I told her that loan sharks were after me, threatening to kill my wife and boy. She told me she couldn’t help me. At least that’s what she’d thought.”
“W-what do you mean?” A scary thought crept into my head, and I couldn’t believe I was even thinking this. It was crazy.
“There was your inheritance. I’d seen the legal documents and knew at age seventeen, you’d be able to choose where to go and what to do if something happened to them. It’d dawned on me then that you weren’t getting any younger, child.”
I gasped, still unable to believe my ears. They had to still be ringing from the various jolts and bumps on the ride here.
“You were almost seventeen. I’d asked her a second time for money, and when she’d refused me yet again, I took matters into my own hands.”
“Noooo,” I cried out. This monster had killed my parents. I knew it now, and I also knew I’d be next. “How?”
“It was deemed a tragic accident, so I came to collect you as promised. After I brought you into my home, what did your ungrateful ass decide to do? You tried to get my only son in trouble.”
