Chapter 138
Chapter One Hundred-Thirty-Eight
Robin
Istare at the man who shares so many of my features. He smiles brightly as he looks back at me. It’s almost as if he didn’t ask for me to be brought here.
This man fooled me once, making me believe a sob story about his feelings for my mother.
Now I know he’s an evil piece of shit, just like the man who bought her.
If he wasn’t, I wouldn’t be standing on his doorstep, a loaded weapon pointed at my back.
“Come in out of the cold,” Steve Barrister insists, putting an arm around me and ushering me into his home. He glances back at the detective. “You, too, of course.”
“Of course,” I mutter, folding my arms as I step into the hallway.
My instinctive reaction is to push his arm away, but I ignore it while I take in what’s happening.
Warren Corvina just delivered me to the man who once got my mother pregnant.
So, now I know why he kidnapped me, and not one of the hundred Omegas in the academy.
He brings me into a lounge with big armchairs, and a tea set on the coffee table in the middle of the room. His arm drops from around me.
“Take a seat, Robin.”
I do what he asks, perching on the edge of one of the armchairs.
He turns to the detective, and I glare at his back.
I knew his story was too good to be true.
From the start, I knew.
The trouble is, I wanted to believe him.
It’s easy to see we’re related to each other.
The tests Dr. Clarke ran confirmed that biologically, Steve Barrister is my father.
I don’t doubt that. I have no reason to dispute it.
But I don’t have to like him, and I don’t need to believe a word he says.
“It’s good to see you again … detective.” Steve laughs. “This new look, it suits you.”
My skin crawls hearing him talk to Warren as if they’re old buddies.
A good friend of Warren Corvina’s is no friend to any woman.
“My disguise is none of your concern. I brought you the one thing you wanted.”
He nods. “True. You brought her to me. After that stupid pack had their way with her.”
Barrister looks back at me, his gaze zeroing in on my throat.
His eyes darken with disgust before he looks back at Corvina.
“If she’s already pregnant …”
“That’s on you,” Corvina interrupts. “I brought her. You owe me.”
Barrister sighs. “Oh, fine.”
He moves over to the corner of the room.
I can’t see what he’s doing, but it’s clear he’s opening something.
When he’s done, he has something small and black in his hand.
He passes it to the detective.
“A Barrister is always true to his word.”
Warren snatches the item and leaves.
I watch him go, wondering if my chance just arrived.
He slams the front door on his way out.
“That’s Dr. Corvina for you. Always so dramatic.”
Barrister sits down on the armchair that’s closest to mine.
He cocks his head as he looks at me.
“Well, I’m not too pleased about what you’ve been up to since we last saw each other, but I know a good plastic surgeon so I can have those ugly scars mended before I put you to work.”
I stare back at him, trying to decide what my move should be.
He’s arrogant. I doubt he’ll see it coming.
My heart is hammering as I sit there, thoughts racing.
“I made you tea. Drink up, and I’ll take you to your room.”
I glance at the tea set, before I turn my glare back to his face.
“I won’t eat or drink anything you give me.”
He laughs, leaning back in his seat.
“Really, Robin? Where was this fire when you were stuck in Ivan Hamilton’s kitchen? That man had you cleaning his house and making his food, and he kept you on the edge of starvation for your entire life. You never once talked back to him.”
That fucking bastard!
He knew about me this whole time! He knew, and he didn’t care.
Why would he? He’s the kind of guy who’s friends with Warren Corvina.
“He wasn’t my father, and he didn’t lie to my face.”
“No, he wasn’t. He could have been, but he was …
careful about what he did with his whores.
I paid extra to try your mother out, as a test run.
The wait was excruciating. Omegas don’t always present until they’re a little older.
Even blood tests can be inconclusive. When it became obvious you were a Beta, I’ll admit, I was disappointed. ”
I blink at him, the true horror of his words making my body fill with rage.
“You’re a piece of shit!” I spit at him, arm reaching for the teapot, ready to throw it at him and hope for the best.
He grabs my forearm, pulling my hand away from the coffee table and keeping it in a vice-like grip. His gaze is cold and vicious as he stares at me.
“You will not speak to me like that.”
I stare back. “I’ll speak to you however the fuck I want.”
Tension builds in the air between us, and all I can see is everything I want to do to unmake the evil thing that’s sitting in front of me. He looks ready to kill me, too.
Then his grip loosens slightly, and he lets out a sigh.
“Why do the girls always have to test me? Your sister became unruly. I had to end her life. It hurt me, but she no longer understood what she was put on this earth to do.”
I blink at him. I’d assumed he was lying about having another daughter.
I guess he still could be lying. Trying to make me obey by spinning another story.
“And what was she put here to do, exactly?”
He takes in a deep breath and stands up, yanking me to my feet at the same time.
“You’ll find out soon enough. That’s why you’re here, now, Robin. You’re going to replace her.”
I fight to get my arm out of his grasp, but he holds on tight and hauls me back out into the hallway.
“There’s no escape,” he tells me. “I don’t need a gun to make you do what I want you to do. I have people who will shoot to kill if you attempt to get out of the house. This neighborhood is very well protected.”
He drags me to the bottom of the staircase, and then he yanks on my arm, swinging me around and throwing me onto the stairs.
I crash down hard, hitting my side and my leg.
Wincing, I get up quickly, racing up a few stairs to move away from him.
He laughs. “That’s it, get up those stairs.”
He closes the gap between us quickly, making it clear he’s ready to hurt me again.
When he reaches out with his hand, I move back, going up the rest of the stairs.
“Good girl,” he sneers. “Now go to your room.”
His laughter makes bile rise in my throat.
I move backward slowly until he nods to a door on the right.
“Open it.”
I reach for the knob and turn it, letting go after I push it open.
The door creaks as it moves inward, revealing a pink carpet and not much else.
Barrister shoves me forward, hitting me in the middle of my back with one hand.
I stumble into the dark room, turning as I fall, and knocking against what feels like the edge of the bed before I hit the ground.
As I look up at my father, pushing myself up on my elbows, I can tell there’s nothing behind his eyes.
He has his hand on the doorknob as he looks back at me.
“Welcome home, Robin.”
His voice is completely devoid of emotion.
I don’t know how I could have believed for a single minute that this man had any love in his heart for me, or for my mother.
He closes the door on me, and I shoot to my feet in horror as the sound of key going into a lock makes me realize this isn’t a normal bedroom.
I know I’m too late, but I rattle the knob anyway, hoping against hope that the sound was my mind playing tricks on me.
The door won’t open.
My shoulders sag as I give up.
I lean back against the door as it hits me that I’m trapped.
This is worse than being in that back of that cop car.
It’s worse than being threatened with a gun.
Everything he said to me runs back through my thoughts.
I know what his intentions are, and I can’t let him use me like that.
I need to get the hell out of here.