Monster A Dark Arranged Marriage Romance - Vanessa Waltz Page 0,90
wouldn’t kill him, so I compromised. I pistol-whipped his jaw.
His bearded face twisted with agony, and he fell out of the chair. As he flailed on the floor and cried, I stared through the blinds in the parking lot. Six Harleys rolled up. Six leather- and denim- clad figures jumped off their bikes, running toward the entrance.
I was numb to the danger, emotionally depleted. I had nothing left. I was tired. So fucking tired. I just wanted it to end.
“Guess they figured out that you’re going to jail. I wonder how long it’ll take for someone to shank you in the chow line? Oh well, not my problem.”
Jett gaped at me, his neck flushing. “You snitched on me?”
I was well aware of the code of honor against talking to the police, but I’d stopped caring about that bullshit years ago.
I shrugged. “What can I say? Dad raised me to be an upstanding citizen.”
His lip curled. “You won’t outlive the weekend!”
“Well, you gave it your best effort, and I’m still here.”
“Evie will never forgive you!”
Would she?
I wasn’t sure. I had a hard time thinking at the moment.
“Cops will be here any minute, but first I have to clarify a few things.” I backed away from the window and faced him. “Where is Evie’s mother?”
Jett paled. “What?”
“I know you trafficked her.”
I’d suspected it since Evie told me that story about her mother. Then I found out a week ago. One of Knox’s genius innovations had been an algorithm used by law enforcement to match women’s faces to images and videos online. I hadn’t told Evie what I’d found. Evie didn’t need the guilt of her mother’s disappearance on top of everything else.
I knelt beside him, searching for regret in those fathomless black eyes that reminded me so much of my wife. My stomach turned. “Who did you sell her to? Please, God, tell me it wasn’t K.”
“I never sold her. I gave her to him.”
Rage rippled through me, and I swung my arm.
My gun caught Jett’s nose, shattering it. He spasmed, clutching his face as it streamed with blood. He rocked on the floor and moaned.
“Why?” I bellowed, my voice breaking. “Is nothing sacred to you? How the fuck do you do that to your child?”
“I love my daughter,” he groaned. “Vicky—she wanted to take off with my kid!”
“You made her a slave.”
“I had to get rid of her. He promised me he wouldn’t kill her, and that I’d never see her again.” He raised his palm as I aimed the gun at him. “Don’t. Please.”
He’d condemned her to slavery because she dared to dream of a better life. These fucking people. How long before Evie would’ve pissed him off and he’d done the same to her?
“Did you arrange to have Evie trafficked?”
“Are you crazy? She’s my daughter!”
“Since when has that meant anything to you?”
Kill him.
I really wanted to, but it wouldn’t do Evie any justice. Or her poor mother. Thinking of them shattered my rage. I holstered my gun as red and blue lights flashed into the office.
Numb, I left, descending into the club still pulsing with rock music. Cops swarmed the interior, tearing the place apart. Detective Cobane, a man in his late forties with a wide jaw, nodded at me. I stood by my car as cops rounded up everyone in a leather cut.
Evie would’ve been grateful for the lack of violence. She always brought joy to every moment. A sick yearning assaulted me. I missed her already. Why the hell had I sent her away? I should’ve felt good about doing the right thing, but it made me physically ill. I couldn’t breathe without my lungs aching.
This was a mistake.
I needed her more than ever.
“Tony.”
Cainan clasped my shoulder, peering at me. His blatant otherness stalled me. He wore a polo and khakis, his auburn hair sparking under the dying sun. All the cars had vanished. The cops had disappeared, and I hadn’t even noticed.
“What are you doing here?”
“You wouldn’t answer your phone. I got worried.”
I shook my head. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look well, T.”
I must’ve looked like shit. “I’m all right.”
“You’re not. Let me give you a lift home.”
Cainan guided me to his BMW. He opened the passenger-side door, which struck me as strangely courteous until I slid into the seat.
And stared into a loaded barrel.
Thirty-One
Evie
I’m grateful that he underestimates how stubborn I can be.
I would not leave my husband.
Tony might’ve convinced himself he was monstrous, but he had yet to prove it to me. He didn’t even