“Once I break out, they’re going to be all-hands,” her father said. “And there might be someone you overlooked. A witness. A camera you missed. Fingerprints. We need to be cautious, and I’m not going to lose you like I lost Tobias and Nicole.”
Her daddy loved her, and that’s why he’d forgive her for playing with the DEA agent who killed her sister.
“You’re impossible,” Bitch Clara said. “You’d better be ready to bolt because I don’t like this. I don’t like that you sent Donny to kill that gangbanger. He was almost caught. You had no right to do that.”
“I have every right. Who’s paying you?”
“Your father.”
“Which means me. So fuck off.”
Finally, the bitch walked out.
Elise went down to the garage and opened the door to Agent Donnelly’s makeshift prison. She liked having her own prison. She would have to make sure she had one in Mexico so she could punish Daddy’s enemies. It would be fun.
She flipped on the lights. He groaned, tried to move. He was hurting bad. He might just die without a bullet, but she’d put one in his head anyway just on general principles.
Elise walked over to him. She had stripped him to his boxers because it was humiliating, and humiliating a prick like Brad Donnelly was fun. Her big brother had taught her that.
“Alas,” she said as if she were on stage, “you only have hours to live.” She giggled. “You should thank me, Big Bad Brad, because I was supposed to kill you and dump you already. So be grateful you had an extra day on the planet. Say ‘thank you, Elise!’”
He mumbled something she didn’t understand.
“Aw, shucks, I know, it’s been fun for me, too!”
She brought over a folding chair and sat across from him.
Everything she had planned was working Perfectly. Perfectly with a capital fucking P!
She couldn’t discount Jimmy’s advice. Her daddy was both smart and ruthless. Not as smart as Nicole and not as ruthless as Tobias. But Nicole and Tobias were dead, so being smart and ruthless didn’t really matter when you were six feet under.
She kind of missed them. Tobias because he was fun and didn’t treat her like a baby. Nicole because she could see ten steps ahead and always knew exactly what the cops were going to do. And she was always right.
Well, except for the day this stupid cop killed her.
“You know, Nicole should have figured out that Rogan was delaying, that he’d found a way to communicate with the outside. He tricked her. Her and Joseph, and they thought they were so damn smart. But now we have our own computer expert and he’ll make sure Rogan doesn’t trick us.”
Well, he wasn’t her computer expert. He belonged to the man her daddy had partnered with. But if they were partners, that made everything hers too, right? What’s mine is yours and all that bullshit.
“I’m not allowed to kill Lucy—which I think is stupid, but it was part of Daddy’s agreement—but she’s going to suffer anyway. You’ll be dead—I even got a ribbon to tie around your neck when I deliver you. Like, a really fucking big ribbon. And her poor husband will be dead. And the asshole who killed Toby will be dead and she’ll never know when I’m going to get her, too.”
Elise knelt in front of Brad. “You know, Nicole thought you wanted to get inside Lucy’s pants. You had the hots for her. Did you? Did you, huh?”
He lifted his head. His face was bruised and blood had dried on his head and nose. He looked pathetic. “Fuck. You.”
She laughed. “Oh, you can’t think of anything else to say? So boring.”
Her cell phone rang. It wasn’t a familiar number, but that didn’t mean anything. “Hello?” she answered.
“I’m free.”
“Daddy! Are you here? Are you coming?”
“We’re still in Texas, heading to my partner’s compound.”
“Where? Here?”
“No, we’re heading to—” She thought she lost the call then he said, “You don’t need to know, just in case, but I’m okay. Everything is perfect.”
“Can I come? Please? I’m so bored here, and tired of listening to Clara complain and bitch all the time.”
“Elise, do exactly what you’re supposed to. Go to the safe house tomorrow morning as we agreed. I’ll be there sometime tomorrow afternoon; I have to collect my final payment first. You did what we agreed, right?”
“Of course.”
Mostly.
“I have to go. Not much longer, Elise. Then we’ll be back to business.”