Chapter Twelve
Kane
“Sir…”
I held up a hand to stop the nurse from putting me back down on the bed. I hated hospitals, and I’d spent far too much time in them whilst being a cop.
“He’ll be fine,” I heard my captain’s voice say from behind the screen. “Leave us.”
He moved the curtain back and stood over me as I tried to get feeling back in my feet so I could walk.
“What happened?” he asked me.
“I talked her down from killing my ex-wife and Kemp, and she forced me upstairs, probably to kill me, but the sirens scared her. I tried to flee and she knocked me out.”
“But didn’t kill you,” he finished.
“Turns out, no,” I replied.
“There’s been quite a few instances where she didn’t kill you now,” O’Leary said. “If I weren’t mistaken, I’d think she liked you.”
“Funny way of showing it,” I replied. I knew it was true, and it wouldn’t just be O’Leary saying it. She was knocking me out and not killing me because she wanted me alive. “I’m not a big fan of being concussed, sir.”
“They’re going to release you, but I don’t want to see you at work for another week, understand?”
I nodded, the movement making me feel a little nauseous.
“I mean it, Garrick, I don’t want to see you, I don’t want to hear your name, I don’t want you to come up on my radar for seven full days.”
“Got it,” I replied.
“Now, let the good doctor do her work,” he said. “Get some rest, Garrick.”
“What about her?” I asked him.
“I put Tommy on it,” he said, fear shooting through me.
“Tommy?”
“Yes, he’s gone through your notes and he thinks he knows where to find her. Don’t worry, Garrick.”
He walked away, leaving me reeling. My mind raced as I tried to control my emotions. I didn’t leave notes anywhere, it was all in my head. What could he be referring to?
Stanley’s notes.
Shit.
I tried to get up, but when my feet hit the ground, my head turned to jello. I heard people in the distance call out for me but I couldn’t stop it until the darkness consumed me.
Days Later
Camille sat down opposite me in the dark booth at the back of the cafe. No one usually came here, but to be extra sure, I’d picked the one place in the cafe that no one would see from the outside. She put her sunglasses down on the table and looked over at me, her face etched with concern.
“What did she do?” she asked me.
“I must look really bad,” I chuckled, half seriously.
Camille looked over at me, sadness in her features. She’d lost her mom when she’d had to flee, probably without even a goodbye.
“Where is she, Camille?”
“She’s at the end of her rope,” she said. “The one person she’s always wanted…he’s here in the States and she’s found him.”
“Who?”
“Her endgame,” Camille said, a tear rolling down her cheek. “The one who started her misery. My birth father.”
“I thought she didn’t know who that was,” I replied, my panic rising once again.
“She always knew,” Camille said. “But she’s never told me who he is. She’s always wanted to protect me from him. He was a jealous guy, and didn’t like to share her. That’s how she knows it was him.”
“You can’t tell me who it is?” I asked her. “I might be able to track him and find him before she does it.”
“Kane, she already has him,” Camille admitted.
“She won’t stop until he feels pain, even just a morsel of what he did to her.
I’m scared for her. She’s not thinking rationally.
I want her to run…to go somewhere that they can’t get her back from.
She deserves freedom, to be free and away from danger and corruption. ”
“I know,” I said, putting my hand on hers and squeezing it. “I want that too, damn it. I want to protect her even knowing what she’s done.”
“You love her,” Camille stated.
“Camille, please tell me where she is. If my partner finds her, he won’t let her get away. She’ll get the death penalty.”
“If I knew, I would tell you,” she said. “Can’t you track his phone? Find out where he is?”
Damn…why hadn’t I thought of that? How would I get Petra to do this under the table though? If O’Leary found out, he’d have me committed or locked up. Maybe even both.
“I can’t find out…they’d know I was working it and I’d lose my badge.”
She shook her head. “Don’t do that. I’m sure she’ll get away from your partner just like she continually escapes from you.”
I hoped so.
“Where are you going?” I asked her, noticing the travel wallet sticking out of her bag.
“Business trip,” she replied. “Cuba is one of my go to places so when they decided to have their annual conference there, I couldn’t say no.”
“Well, safe travels,” I told her. “Don’t worry, Camille, I’ll do whatever I can to help her.”
“I know you will,” she replied, putting her sunglasses back on and standing up. She slung her bag over her shoulder and leant down to place a kiss on my forehead. “Thank you.”
I watched as she left the cafe, and headed out of sight. Slinking down in my booth seat, I sighed heavily as I finished my coffee. This was going to be harder than I thought.
Maurelle
The familiar curl of his dark hair was what caught me off guard.
I’d remembered it because that was the one thing I focused on when he would walk away from me after he’d brutalized my body.
His smile irked me as he talked with his friends at the bar, probably discussing new victims they were targeting here.
The fact that he was here, in my country, felt a little too convenient but my anger took over and I followed him.
Here.
The small town just outside of Anchorage was quiet, the perfect place to start his empire over here.
No.
I’d never allow it.
He said his goodbyes to his friends and headed back to his car. It was in the parking lot, away from the bar’s entrance.
I picked up my tranquilizer gun and aimed it at his neck. Even from the distance I was at, I would be able to get him. I waited until his car was unlocked and pulled the trigger.
He stopped moving, grabbing at his neck and pulling the dart from his neck, looking down at it before dropping it and looking around. I put my gun away and walked over to him, standing there, looking down at the man who was once a beast to me.
My tormentor.
Recognition sparked in his eyes before he passed out. I pulled him up, throwing him in the back seat of his car before I grabbed the keys from his pocket and jumped behind the wheel. I took off, driving toward the cabin I had rented under yet another alias that I hadn’t used yet.
No one was going to stop me from doing this.
Not even Kane.
I pulled up outside the cabin, which was secluded, in the woods area, overlooking nothing but icy fields and trees. I dragged him out of the car and up the three stairs to the door, hearing and feeling every clunk as he was dragged over the wooden and splintered stairs.
I opened the door and dragged him through the small area to the bedroom where I’d removed the bed and all furniture and had constructed a web, just like the one I’d kept Kane on.
I had to say, I loved the spider web design.
It was handy, especially this one…this one had holes where the web was intersected so I could poke at him as much as I wanted.
I’d laid out my weapons on the side table, and even had the poker heating in the fireplace.
Strapping him to the web was harder than I thought but once I’d hefted his bulk up onto it, I quickly tied his hands as tightly as possible before doing the same to his legs, making sure each ankle was spread out so he was spread eagle.
I pulled a chair over to sit in front of him as I waited for him to wake up. Finally…after years, and years, I had him in my possession and I was going to take my damn time to make sure he never did this again.
Slowly, I saw his fingers twitch as the tranquilizer wore off.
His eyes opened, and he blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting to the pure white iciness of the outside window.
His eyes rolled around a few times as the drugs wore off and he realized he couldn't move. He pulled his hands a few times, making a fist, to try and shift the leather straps but they wouldn’t budge.
His head rolled forward and that’s when he saw me.
His expression was blank, confused and then recognition sparked, a slow smile made its way onto his face.
“My little cherub,” he spoke in French. “It has been too long. I knew you would find me again.”
I stood up. “It seems, Vicomte, it is I who has found you.”
His smile stilled. He didn’t realize I knew who he was. His title was one that had carried him for decades, hiding his true self and making strong allies with political leaders.
“Don’t worry,” I told him. “You won’t have to explain yourself to anyone. In fact, you won’t be able to speak after I’m done with you.” I pulled a knife from the table and cut open his shirt, revealing the heavily tattooed skin I remembered.
“You don’t have it in you, cherub,” he said again, this time in broken English.
“I have always hated that little nickname you gave me,” I said, as I traced the knife down his body and slid the point of it into his side. “You destroyed me, even when I was a child. Now, I’m going to destroy you.”
“I didn’t destroy you,” he replied, hissing in pain as I pushed the blade in further. “Your mother gave you to me for whatever I wanted. You were always mine.”
The memory of my mother always pushing me toward him flooded through my mind and I felt sick. I couldn’t imagine doing that to Camille, to have someone touch her, knowing what he was capable of.
It made me sad that even my own flesh and blood, my own mother, would use me to keep him away from her.