25. Authority
25
Authority
Ever
As promised, there was a private jet waiting for us at a small airport in New Hampshire, ready to take me away from my life and from Theron. I couldn’t fly commercial without my ID, and Dr. Hawthorne wanted me out of the city as soon as possible.
“There’ll be a car waiting for you when you get off the plane. Don’t ask them any questions and try to be quiet. I have associates in Seattle who will provide you with a hotel and the account information for the money.”
It felt dirty accepting his money, but what was I to do without an identity and with no way of accessing my banking? It had to appear as if I fell off the face of the earth. Still, the idea of taking the half a million dollars made bile rise in my throat. Was there a price for Theron’s happiness? No. But I did attach value to my life, so there was a price on this chance for survival.
“Where’s the heart coming from?” I asked quietly from the passenger seat of his SUV. We were parked on the tarmac, the jet being fueled for take off.
From the corner of my eye I saw his stare swivel to me, and could practically hear his eyes roll. “Where do you think, Miss Knight?”
“Please kill me! Please!” The man’s pleas echoed in my head and I winced. My new heart would be taken from someone they deemed unworthy to live, and another drop of blood would stain my soul forever.
He grunted, turning back towards the plane. The ride here had been silent — no radio, not a word spoken. . The elder Hawthorne was like a statue behind the wheel as he carried me away from Boston, a vexed raven with a purpose.
“I must warn you, Miss Knight, if you contact my son —”
“I won’t risk your ire, Dr. Hawthorne. Why put myself through the trouble to gain a new heart if I’m going to hand it back to you?” I snapped my head in his direction. “I still think you’re a fool if you believe Theron will give up the chase so easily. How did you manage to get me out of Boston without him knowing?”
He huffed something that could have been mistaken for a laugh, though it was low and dangerous. “I’m sure he knows by now.”
I bristled. “Theron was probably watching my apartment for the better part of a week. How did you get to me unnoticed?”
His shoulders relaxed, and he glanced sideways at me. “I did something I’d never done to my son before, Miss Knight. I lied.”
“Lied?”
“Yes,” he said, something akin to regret on his face. “I told him there was a heart for you in New York, and he left just hours before I arrived at your apartment. I presume he’s on his way back from the city now that your ring has been taken off, but it’s too late.”
My jaw tightened, and I angrily swiped away a tear with the sleeve of my jacket. Theron wouldn’t have left his vigil for anything less than a heart, and his father dangled it in his face. He’d left Boston for me, and I’d be gone when he returned.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, thoroughly beaten down. “Why are you wreaking this anguish on your own son?”
Hawthorne’s head tilted back, hitting the seat as he exhaled. He finally appeared human in this moment — as we all do when exhausted and wrung out. “Because I don’t think he could survive killing you himself.”
“What?” I stuttered, flinching back as if he’d physically hit me.
He looked at me now, dark eyes almost empathetic. “There are only two ways you and my son would have ended, Miss Knight. The most likely being that you try to leave him and he strangles you, but if by some small chance that doesn’t happen, then I’m sure you’d wind up slitting his throat as he slept. You must see how either option would be incredibly upsetting.”
I wanted to scream that Theron would never hurt me, but that probably wasn’t true, was it? If I decided to leave him, and said it to his face, his rage and pain would be so extreme that it would likely consume both of us. And me? Kill him? I hated that I could imagine that too.
“So this is your solution,” I said with cold rage. “Making the choice for us, to avoid further bloodshed that could disrupt your sick business.”
His gaze hardened, and he leaned across the armrest until I could feel his breath on my nose. He smelled like expensive cigars and whiskey, and it made me sick to think of Theron being raised by this man who only saw blood stains and lived for the imaginary power he felt when he took a life.
“The only sick thing about the mantle we carry, Miss Knight, is that there aren’t more men like me who are willing to do the dirty work in order to keep the peace.” He raised a brow, looming over me. “I’ve trained nearly a dozen doctors how to hunt and harvest from the lowest scum of the earth, but it could never make a dent in the cesspool of depravity that preys on the innocent people of the world. Would you rather we leave those men out there? Allow them to kill, rape and batter unchecked?”
My shoulders shook, face flaming as I held the man’s gaze. He had a certain authority that Theron lacked, breaking knees into submission whereas Theron’s power was more subtle, able to lure you into a sedated sense of belonging. Oh I could see this man’s teachings in his son, but nature would always trump nurture and I knew that Theron had it in him, however deep, to be more than the killer that raised him.
“You’re not God,” I said through a clenched jaw. “And you’re certainly not building an empire of angels to conduct your will. With what authority do you —”
“Authority?” He laughed. “No one bestowed me with such authority, be assured. No, I’m pre-ordained. A necessity. ” His eyes were flashing. “Just as my son will be when I’m long gone. You will be nothing more than a bad taste in his mouth, a faded reminder of weakness.”
I leaned into him, almost nose to nose with the brute as I forced my lips to curl into a feline smile. “When the day comes that you’ve run out of strings to pull, your son will dismember you for the role you’ve played in this.”
He blinked, face slack. “But that won’t be today, Miss Knight. Now, get out of my fucking car.”