Chapter 32 #2
Duke sneered, a fitting expression for his face. “She’s still alive, if that’s what you’re worried about. My father had some elaborate plan for her, which is a shame. I would’ve rather just shot you both in bed last night while you snored.”
Blood wasn’t pumping through my veins anymore. There was only the need to keep Blaire safe. Rage. Vengeance. Love.
“I don’t understand. What was your game here? You worked next to her for years. Was it just some fucked up game of cat and mouse?”
“I think I can answer that for you.” Conrad stepped out of the door behind Duke, coming to rest a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Donovan. Or Winder, I guess I should say now. It’s been a long time. I see you’ve met my son.”
“Oh, we’ve met.” Now that I saw the two of them together, the resemblance was undeniable. Both had the same light brown hair, the broad shoulders, and the same black heart, pumping away beneath their expensive clothes.
Conrad leveled me with a sharp look. “You asked why I had Duke get a job next to Blaire. You’re a smart kid, Donovan. Don’t tell me you don’t know.”
“I’d rather hear it from you,” I gritted out between my clenched teeth.
Conrad sighed. “You disappoint me. When Blaire woke up with no memory of who she was, or where she had been, she wasn’t a threat to my business.
Despite what you may think about me, I’m not about to spill senseless blood.
Obviously, the precinct knew who she was.
A few well-greased hands, and it was like she never existed, which was much better for me, if we’re being honest. The turnover for cops is so high in the city anyway, it wouldn’t take long until she was nothing more than a name. No, Blaire wasn’t a threat.”
My jaw tightened, and I squeezed my hands to force myself to stay still. I didn’t know where Blaire was yet, or what kind of danger she was in, and knocking Duke out would get me nowhere. “She wasn’t a threat. A woman you took everything from.”
I would gut them all. Piece by piece. I would rip them to shreds for ever making Blaire feel like she was alone because of something she had done wrong.
Conrad showed no reaction to the emotion making my voice shake.
I wasn’t sure he even had emotions. “Not a threat. A risk. I had Duke watch her up close, so he could tell me if she slipped, if it was just an act, if she remembered, that sort of thing. They even went on a date, which, had it gone better, would’ve been an immense help in keeping an eye on her, and probably would’ve stopped all of this from ever happening.
” He shook his head, like he was talking about a child’s failing report card, not murder.
“So you let her think she was safe all this time. You let her believe a lie she told herself. And you just…you just watched her, playing God with a woman’s life.
” My voice trembled, despite how hard I worked to stay calm.
Disbelief bled into fury. “You were possibly the only person who could tell her who she really was. My God, I feel like even killing her might have been the more decent thing to do.”
Conrad looked nonplussed. “Without her memories, she wasn’t a problem to me.
Someone to keep tabs on, but not an issue.
Until the murders started happening. At first, I thought to myself, maybe it could be her.
But her routine never changed, and she remembered nothing.
So we explored different avenues. She was lucky, your woman.
Very lucky. But that last one was messy.
We caught her on a security camera. Seems she remembers something, after all. ”
“So, now what? You take her out and your secrets are safe?” I glared at Duke. “I don’t even have the right words for you. You saw how fucked up she was over her blackout. You saw first-fucking-hand, and instead you did whatever daddy told you to do.”
Guilt flashed across Duke’s face, however briefly.
“I’m sure you want to see her. Let’s not keep you waiting.” Conrad snapped his fingers at someone hidden behind the rows of crates.
Another lackey dragged Blaire out behind him, attached to a rope by her wrists, obviously drugged.
My heart sank into my stomach seeing her so out of it, a vacant look behind her eyes.
They would pay for hurting her. They didn’t even have her wrists bound tightly, because of how doped up she was. I would kill every last one of them.
She slumped to the floor, and I immediately made a move toward her, to pick her up, to keep her safe, anything.
My guard stopped me, and Conrad wagged his finger like a father admonishing his toddler.
“Not so fast, Winder. Everything I just told you was old news. Your girlfriend here spilled a lot of my blood, and in my books, that’s a pretty heavy debt to pay.
The other side of it is that you were the one hiding her from me. Which is unfortunate.”
Blaire’s eyes were drifting around the room, focusing on nothing. Come on, baby. Stay with me.
She snapped her gaze to me, and all at once I realized what was happening.
Fuck. She was good. She was so fucking good.
The amount of strength and willpower she had to be using right now was incredible, but we didn’t have time to linger on it.
I needed to figure out how to give her a signal, to run, to fight, to do something.
I barely listened to Conrad’s monologue, trying to take in everything around me.
We stood in front of Conrad’s office, in a square of empty space.
The door was behind me, with the rest of the warehouse stacked with rows of wooden crates, organized into what felt like a maze.
Conrad and Duke were in front of me, along with one guard.
The man who’d walked me in was behind me.
Either he wasn’t really expecting me to come for her, or he was cockier than I ever realized.
“See, Winder, this organization is my family. We are a family. I once considered you a son. Just like Duke.” He tipped his head toward Duke, who’d obviously recovered from his guilt, and gave me a nasty smile.
“You did what was right by me, so when you wanted to go off on your own, I allowed it. I knew you’d come back home eventually.
But instead, imagine my surprise when I hear you’re harboring a fugitive.
And not just any fugitive, no, but one who has brought so much destruction to my family. ”
Tearing my gaze away from Blaire, I sneered at Conrad.
“Spare me the speech. If you thought of me as your son, you would’ve never let me rot away in prison.
I was your scapegoat, young and na?ve. Don’t worry.
I know better now.” I pointed toward Blaire, acting spaced out once more.
“Give me Blaire, and I’ll pretend this never happened.
We’ll leave town, and you’ll never hear from us again. ”
I needed to distract them, to give Blaire enough time to get away.
First, I needed to get her attention again.
Then, maybe I could get Conrad monologuing enough for her to slip away.
Of course, all this depended on how much strength Blaire had left, and if she was mentally prepared to take someone down if it came to it.
Duke scoffed, and Conrad shut him up with a raised hand.
“I’d love to believe you, Winder, really, I would.
But your girlfriend is too much of a risk, and who would I be if I didn’t show my men there are consequences for actions.
We can’t let people like this walk free.
If she’d stayed in her lane, and never ventured back into my world, I would’ve let her live her little life. But she didn’t, did she?”
Blaire met my gaze with a quick look. I flashed my eyes to the side, hopefully trying to convey she needed to get away when the chance arose.
She barely tipped her chin down in the smallest acknowledgment.
Her mask back in place, she wiggled her wrists from the rope that bound them, her guard none the wiser.
I narrowed my eyes at Conrad once more. “I guess I just don’t understand the need for all this. She’s one woman, Conrad. Surely you aren’t afraid of her.”
He should be, but I didn’t add that to the mix. Blaire was almost free from the ropes, moving in tiny increments. I shifted my hip so my gun was in easy access, and kept watch on the lackey out of the corner of my eye.
“Look at it from her perspective,” I continued. “You killed Oliver. She’s been trying to subconsciously avenge his death. But that’s taken care of now. You shouldn’t have anything else to worry about.”
Conrad laughed, a hollow sound that made me sick to my stomach. Even Blaire stopped to look at him from beneath her lashes. “Well, that’s the funny thing, isn’t it? I couldn’t for the life of me understand why she was coming for us, when the blood that night was on her hands.”
I froze, my hand halfway to my gun. I knew if I looked at Blaire right now, I would crumble, and all this would be for nothing. “I’m sorry. What the fuck did you just say?”
I already knew what was coming.
I should’ve known it all along. The clues were all there, laid out in front of me.
He sighed. “I didn’t kill your brother. Never touched the kid. The honor of Oliver’s murder goes to your beloved girlfriend.”