Forever (Empire High Book 8)

Chapter 4

Friday

Brooklyn

My kidnapper untied my mask and put his hands on my shoulders.

I cringed at the bright light of the room.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

No, I’m not alright. You fucking kidnapped me. You told me Luigi Locatelli plans on killing my whole family. And I can’t breathe!

I blinked as his face came into focus. He actually looked…kind. If a kidnapper really could look that way. He seemed genuinely concerned about me gasping for air though.

“It’s just a panic attack,” I gasped and bent forward.

“Do you get these a lot?” He kept his hands on my shoulders and it was oddly comforting.

I took a shaky breath. “Only when I think about my world falling apart.”

He didn’t respond. He just stayed there with his hands on my shoulders.

I took another deep breath. It didn’t matter how kind my kidnapper was suddenly being. I still needed to get out of this room. My son needed me. Matt needed me. My friends needed me. I wasn’t as forgettable as I once thought. And I wasn’t going down without a fight.

I exhaled slowly as I looked around the office we were in. It was all white with modern furniture. Lots of sharp edges. I could use that to my advantage.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

I will be in a second.I lifted my knees as fast as possible so I could kick him in the groin.

But his hand fell from my shoulder and he grabbed my ankles before I made contact. “Nice try.” He stayed on eye level with me.

I hated how kind he looked.

“Was that whole thing an act or…”

“I wish.” Having panic attacks at the exact wrong moments weren’t exactly helpful.

“Would some water help?”

“Only if you want it to be spit in your face.”

He smiled. “I like the feisty side of you better.” He let go of my ankles and stood up. He folded his arms as he stared down at me.

I tried to twist my wrists again but it was no use. I couldn’t get out of these restraints. Even if I had incapacitated him for a few seconds, I only would have been able to hop around the room completely useless. The angles of the desk and other furniture were sharp, but not razor sharp. I needed him to feel comfortable enough to unclasp my wrists and ankles. I needed him to like me.

I stopped fidgeting and stared at him. “My husband worked for my father.”

“I know.”

“He was a bodyguard. Are you one too?”

“No.” He didn’t offer any more information.

“So do you just do the company’s annual kidnappings?”

“Annual?” He smiled. “No.” The way he said it made it seem like it was a lot more frequent than annually.

“Do you like your job?”

“It has its perks.” His eyes fell to my chest.

I looked down. The towel he’d put around my shoulders had fallen. “Can you please untie me so I can put something on?”

“So you can try to kick me in the nuts again? I don’t think so.” But he lifted the towel back around me, this time tucking it beneath my arms to keep it in place. It was also probably so that I wouldn’t be tempted to sucker punch him. If I did, my towel would fall.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“King. Magnus King.”

Right. He’d mentioned something about being a king but not my prom king. I’d had no idea what he was talking about. “Magnus King. Huh.”

“What?”

“It’s just…that’s the kind of name that belongs to a boss. Not a second-in-command.”

“Trust me, I know.”

I stared at him. “So you know you can do more than the semi-annual kidnappings?”

“Semi-annual?” he smiled. “Sure.”

How many kidnappings a year did he do?! I tried to shake away the thought. “So maybe you should be in charge. Locatelli no longer has an heir. He’s focused on revenge instead of running his business. You said my father lost focus. Locatelli has too. Maybe this is your chance to take over.”

“So when Locatelli walks in this room to kill you, I should kill him instead? That’s your plan?”

“Yes?”

“Hmm.”

I lifted my shoulders to try to look more confident. “It’s a good plan. You don’t want to be working for someone else. You can run this whole town.”

“There’s only one problem. As soon as he steps down, I’m taking over anyway. There doesn’t have to be any bloodshed.”

“Except for mine? And my family?”

He pressed his lips together. “Did you want something to eat? Anything you want. It’s on me.”

“A last meal? Really?”

“Or maybe you want something stronger than water? Maybe some banana juice?”

I just stared at him.

“Or we could play a game? There’s ping pong on the roof.”

What kind of kidnappee wanted to get drunk and play ping pong? Seriously, who was this guy? “The only thing I want is for you to let me go.”

“Brooklyn, I’m sorry, but there is no going forward from this. The Locatellis and Pruitts have been butting heads for years. It was always going to come to this.”

That would have been nice to know. My father had mentioned unrest in the families before. I’d had no idea what that entailed. “But there doesn’t have to be any animosity. If you let me go, I’ll forget this ever happened. I’ll tell my dad not to retaliate. And we’re cool, right?”

“You’re not in charge yet.”

And I never will be.“But my father will listen…” Shit. No.

“What?”

“My father said he stepped down.” Maybe.

“No he hasn’t.”

“He says he has. Which means my cousin Poppy is in charge.” And we didn’t exactly have a great relationship. I couldn’t negotiate anything on her behalf. She was crazy.

Magnus lowered his eyebrows. “I would have heard if that was true. And you’re the one taking over. Not your cousin.”

“I want nothing to do with any of this. And I told my father that if he wanted to be part of my life and my son’s life that he had to step down. And…he did.” But did I really believe that? Did I believe anything that man ever said?

“Locatelli would have told me.” He frowned and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

“Unless your boss was just using this feud between him and my father to get you to do what he wanted.”

He didn’t respond. He was busy texting someone.

Fuck this.I looked around the room again. There was seriously nothing helpful. “Actually, about that last meal. I could eat.”

Magnus looked up from his phone. “Yeah? What would you like? Lobster? Or we have a great signature steak dish.”

A steak knife would be perfect. “I’d love to try the steak.”

He nodded and kept texting.

The door opened.

I half expected it to be the fastest room service order ever. But it was just a man with gray hair and a hardened face and no steak knife to help me escape. He gave me a quick glance and then sat down behind the white and black marble desk. He propped his feet up on top of it.

Magnus did not look particularly pleased. This seemed like it was his office.

“Brooklyn Pruitt,” the old man said without looking at me. But he said my last name with such disdain. “Do you know who I am?”

I certainly had a guess. “Luigi Locatelli.”

“Good. So you’re all caught up. How long do you think it’ll take for your father to come to your rescue? Half an hour? More?” He glanced at his watch. “I really want to get this over with as fast as possible.”

Magnus stepped in front of me. “Poppy Cannavaro took over,” he said. “Did you know?”

“Yes. And it doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it matters. Richard Pruitt has single-handedly kept the Cannavaros in line for decades. You know the Cannavaros are fucking nuts. Without him they’ll…”

“He killed my son, King.”

“Because you tried to kill his daughter.”

Locatelli slammed his hands on the desk and stood up. “We’re finishing this tonight. Understand?”

I started fidgeting with my restraints again as I looked around the room for anything helpful. I could pick up the lamp and hurl it at Locatelli’s head…

“The Cannavaros will wipe us off the map next if you go through with this,” Magnus said.

“No. They won’t.”

“Are you forgetting that Pruitt is married to one of them?”

“I have a deal set up with the Cannavaros,” Locatelli said. “We’re on the same page.”

That couldn’t be true. For all Poppy’s faults, she loved my father. Her parents had died when she was young. She’d relied a lot on my father growing up. She never would have agreed to hurt him.

But…she’d also relied a lot on Mrs. Pruitt. Oh, fuck.

“We get rid of the Pruitt line and we’re the head of the families,” Locatelli said. “The Cannavaros have agreed. Simple. Clean. And no retaliation. The plan is flawless.”

This wasn’t just about my dad. It was about Mrs. Pruitt and her hatred of me. And my mother. She’d wanted me out of this town just as badly as Isabella had. But why now? I’d passed on taking over for my dad. I didn’t want any part of her legacy. I just wanted to live my life. And my dad had stepped aside. Was his wife really that spiteful?

But I had a sinking feeling it went back farther than me reappearing in the city. Maybe Mrs. Pruitt had teamed up with the Locatellis a while ago. Maybe it was her that ordered the hit on me at the lake house. And she’d just gotten Locatelli to go along with it. She’d wanted me dead this whole time.

“So I’ll ask again,” Locatelli said and rounded the desk. He walked in front of me and pulled a gun out from his waistband. “How long do you think until your father arrives?”

My dad wasn’t coming. I’d cut him out. I wasn’t answering his texts or calls.

I stared at the gun and tried to keep my breath even. Tanner had told me to respond. He told me that if my dad was reaching out it was probably important. What if my father had been trying to warn me? I felt like I was going to be sick.

“Patricia was right about you,” Locatelli said, a sinister smile splitting across his face. “You’re much too weak to take over.”

Patricia Pruitt could go to hell. “Mrs. Pruitt is insane.” And I’m a lot stronger than I look, asshole.

“The divorce became final this morning,” he said. “And I really think she’d prefer it if you called her Ms. Cannavaro now. The Pruitt name isn’t going to be worth much in a few minutes. Really, where is your father? He truly is off his game.” He glanced at his watch again.

Wait, what?They were divorced? My father had mentioned that they lived separately. He never said they were divorcing. Had he done that for me? I swallowed hard. Did it even matter? Tears bit at the corners of my eyes.

It did matter.

It mattered to me.

I’d told my father I wanted nothing to do with him unless he stepped down. Cutting ties with the Cannavaros could have been seen as a part of that. And he’d once told me that there was no out. Had he known they’d come for him? And had he done it anyway? For me? For Jacob?

My heart felt funny in my chest. My father was a liar. A thief. A mobster. But I knew somewhere deep down he did love me.

I’d tried so hard to remember the bad things about him over the years. But…he’d done everything from a place of love. Even if he’d done it all wrong.

Even this. There was no way he’d know the Locatellis would take me. He probably just expected them to take him. And he probably had tried to warn me.

I just wanted the truth. All of it. “Did Mrs. Pruitt order the hit on me? At the lake house? Was it you or her?”

“We made an arrangement.”

“Was it your idea or hers?” Just tell me.

There was a knock on the door. “Room service!” called a deep voice from the other side.

Locatelli turned to Magnus. “Did you order something?”

“A last meal.”

“Was that really necessary?”

“She deserves a final meal. I don’t tell you how to do your job, so don’t tell me how to do mine.”

“Excuse me?”

Magnus ignored him and threw open the door. “Who the hell are you?”

Tanner was standing there in a chef’s hat.

Wait…Tanner?!