Chapter 38
June
I’m huddled in the corner of a dark, damp room, tied up with a filthy cloth stuffed in my mouth, suffering from a wave of panic that refuses to quit. My wrists ache where the rope cuts into them, but the ache in my heart about losing my bracelet is even worse. I must have lost it during the attack or when these men tied me up, and there’s no way for me to know where it ended up. No matter how this ends, I’m sure I will never see it again, and right now, it feels like I have lost my father all over again.
I keep replaying the moment I saw Ryker go down, the sickening thud when he hit the ground, his face blurring as the chaos erupted around us. My stomach twists every time I think of it. Is he still alive? The thought makes my chest feel hollow.
And what about the Reids? I have no clue if they made it out of that mess, either. I don’t know if there’s anyone out there who knows where to find me. All I know is that something went horribly wrong today, and the Cortesi are the only ones who got what they wanted.
How did I even end up in this shitty situation? Just days ago, I was trying my best to play Ryker, but now I really became a pawn, tied up, gagged, and at the mercy of these scary thugs. I’m a kidnapping victim with no plan, no control, nothing. My mind races, searching for options, but right now, all I can do is sit here and listen.
The room is filled with muffled footsteps and angry voices, the Cortesi men pacing back and forth. Two of them are injured pretty badly, judging by the groans and curses I hear. From what I can gather, they’re annoyed that things got so messy, because they never expected for Ryker and the Reids to show up armed. But they seem to be pleased enough that I—or rather, the girl they believe to be Grace Reid—ended up in their hands.
I glance up at the man who seems to be their boss. He’s leaning against the wall, arms crossed, a deep scowl set in his features as he listens to his men. This was not a plan gone right, but improvised chaos.
“We were blindsided,” one attacker says, jabbing a finger in my direction. “We didn’t know he would be armed and bring her with him. Matteo made the call on the spot.”
I recognize the man with the golden teeth, the one who grinned at us just before everything went dark. He laughs, shrugging off the criticism.
“It was the right call,” he insists, glancing at me with satisfaction. “We got her, didn’t we? A lot faster than waiting for Morris to lead us back to his house.”
So, that was the plan. They wanted to corner Ryker to see if he’d lead them to Grace. If I weren’t gagged, I’d laugh at the irony of it, but it quickly sinks into dread. If they knew I wasn’t Ryker’s prisoner, just some outsider tangled up in all this, then they wouldn’t have any use for me. They could just kill me on the spot to get rid of me. And they might not even believe me anyway.
“Where are my brothers?” I ask. “Did you kill them?”
The man named Matteo looks at me and shakes his head. “We’re not murderers. No one died today.”
Relief soars through me. That means Ryker is alive as well. I want to ask for him, but I don’t want them to know I worry about him. It would reveal too much—unless I decide to tell them the truth.
I shift uncomfortably, wincing at the ache in my wrists and the sting of hopelessness seeping into every thought. They have no reason to care who I am or what I want. And I don’t even want to think about what they plan to do with me.
“Bringing the girl here wasn’t the smartest idea,” one man grumbles, as he casts a dark look at me.
“What if she sees something?” he adds, clearly annoyed. “She could get into our shit.”
Matteo just laughs, casting a dismissive glance my way. “Look at her. How’s she gonna cause any trouble like that? Tied up like an animal.”
One of the henchmen chuckles, before he adds: “Maybe we should get her a doggy collar.”
My stomach twists at the words, revulsion surging through me. I have to get out of here. I realize I have to say something, anything, to protect myself. Maybe it would buy me some leeway, if they know that I’m not the real Grace. It’s a risk I’m willing to take.
Taking a breath, I speak through the cloth, struggling until one of them finally kneels down before me and pulls it out with one rough yank, giving me a chance to speak.
“My name’s not Grace,” I say, my voice rough and unsteady but gaining strength. “The Reids and I, we played Ryker. I made a deal with them and took her place to get my revenge on him. I hate him as much as you do. He killed my father.”
The words spill out of me before I can stop myself, but even as I speak, I can feel that they have lost their meaning. After everything that has happened and seeing how Ryker risked his own life when he was trying to defend me, I can no longer say I hate him, despite everything. Every fiber of my being is worried about him, but I know I can’t let them know about that worry.
The room falls silent, and Matteo’s eyes narrow, curious.
“Oh, is that so?” he says with a mocking lilt. “Why should we believe that bullshit?”
“It’s the truth,” I maintain. “The Reids don’t care about me. If you kidnapped me to blackmail them or whatever, it won’t work. They won’t come for me.”
“They would have told us,” Matteo insists.
I frown at him. “Why would they? They didn’t know you were after their sister, right? They thought they were helping you get Ryker. And did you not notice that they weren’t the ones to protect me? He was.”
Shit, I should not have said the latter. I can tell by the way Matteo’s eyes widen when he realizes what I just said.
“Why would Morris protect you if you’re trying to kill him?” he asks, slowly stepping closer. I shudder with every step that brings him closer to me.
“Because he doesn’t know,” I say. “And I don’t want to kill him, I want to… get him arrested.”
All the men erupt with such a loud, roaring laughter that I can’t help but flinch in fear for a moment.
“Adorable, isn’t she,” Matteo says. “Getting a man like Ryker Morris arrested. Good luck with that little girl.”
“Men like us don’t end up in prison,” one of his henchmen adds, raising an eyebrow at me.
“And you think he killed your father? Who was your father?” Matteo wants to know now. He’s towering right in front of me, his thick arms crossed before his chest as he glares down at me.
I hesitate, biting my lip, knowing I need to give them something to believe me.
“Peter Collins,” I say truthfully. “He was a very successful—”
“Real estate mogul,” Matteo finishes for me, his face unreadable.
The blood drains from my face.
“How do you know that?” I ask, caught off-guard. How could he possibly know my father?
“Guess Morris wasn’t smart enough to keep his name out, unlike us,” Matteo says with a cold smirk, casting a look at his men, who snicker in response.
“What do you mean?” I ask. “What did you have to do with my father? Did you help Ryker?”
His next words that stun me into silence.
“Help Ryker Morris? No, we had nothing to do with that man, even though we told the Reids otherwise,” Matteo says. “But I remember Collins Property Solutions. We worked with them, or well, we made him work with us.”
“He laundered quite a bunch for us,” one of the other men chimes in. “Before it all fell apart, that is. Man, that was a pity.”
A pity? My mouth falls open. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I knew my father got wrapped up with the wrong people, but my research led me to Ryker’s money laundering operation. It was his name I found on the documents during my research, and it was his company’s name that was tied to the project that killed my father’s business back then.
“Such an annoyance, so much money lost,” Matteo goes on, his tone casual, almost amused. “It sucked for us, too, you know.”
I look between their smug expressions, my heart hammering. “What are you saying?”
Matteo’s grin widens as he meets my gaze, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction.
“What I’m saying is, if you’re looking for the people who lead Peter Collins into ruin,” he leans in, his voice dropping to a whisper. “You’re looking at us.”
The words hit me like a punch to the gut. The room seems to spin, the pieces of my shattered assumptions scattering around me.
This can’t be true. How could I have been so wrong all this time?
But there’s a big part of me that wants this to be true. I don’t want Ryker to be the one who deserves my wrath. If the Cortesi are responsible for what happened to our family, they should be the ones to pay for it—I just have to find a way to make that happen.