into the staff only parking lot a sense of relief washes over me.
“They’re just doing their job like everyone else. Doesn’t make ours any easier though, that’s for damn sure.”
Martinez pulls into a parking spot. We climb out and head into a private entrance. My palms start sweating the farther into the hospital we go, and I rub them on my shorts several times, but by the time we reach the third floor, my nerves are gone and my anger kicks in.
Zack approaches the minute I approach the door, a smile of unholy glee spread across his face. An agent searches me, pulling everything out of my pockets. He even makes me take off my shoes, which I find strange, but what the fuck ever.
“What’s that look for, Zack? What the hell is going on?” asks Martinez.
“Tina called.”
He nods at someone over my shoulder. I angle my head to see two agents all dressed in black, their guns protruding through the material of their jackets.
“Fuck me! What the hell did she say?” I growl at him.
“She wants him to break out of here.”
“You have got to be shitting me! She shot him and left him for dead, and now she thinks he’s going to walk out of here willingly and go to her? I mean, seriously. It’s got to be a trap, man.”
I look between the two of them, debating and waiting for one of them to say something. I am so amped up, ready for a fight. The urge to grab one their guns and drill a hole clean through Trent’s skull has my fingers twitching to go ahead and do it before Tina does. Then I hear the sweet sound of my daughter’s laughter calling out to me, and the urge dissipates.
“We know it’s a trap. She’s not stupid; she doesn’t want to go down for this shit on her own, but Trent is determined to do it. I don’t think he really cares if he lives or dies.”
Zack appears to be moved or some shit by Trent’s willingness to sacrifice himself. Fuck that.
“Just get this shit done. Have him find that cunt so my family and I can fucking live.”
************
“I wondered how long it would be before you showed up here.”
His face is turned away from me. I stiffen slightly, my patience already gone. I don’t want to hear a fucking word come out of his mouth. I want him to listen and suffer for the rest of his pitiful life.
“My intentions were to choke the life out of you slowly just like you tried to do to my wife.”
He flinches and shifts his hardened gaze my way.
Fucking Christ. I’m looking at the spitting image of myself all over again.
I stand at the foot of his bed, clenching my hands around the frame. I force myself to keep them there, knowing what I have to say to him will bleed him dry more than anything else I could do to him.
“Is she all right?”
My head snaps up.
“She is not, and never was, any of your concern. She’s mine. She always has been.”
“You’re right, she is,” he says emotionlessly.
“She hates you and you love her. How does that make you feel, brother?” I prod.
“She should hate me. I can guarantee you she doesn’t hate me as much as I hate myself.”
My eyes widen at his confession. I don’t give a shit. I still dig on.
“Hell is too good for you, but wherever you end up, I hope you suffer eternally. There will be no penance for what you have done.”
I stare at him hard, frustrated at his lack of response.
“You could have had it all, man. All you would have had to do was knock on my door and you could have had it all, but instead you stalked my wife, me, and my entire family over money, money you will never have. Left me for dead and then helped drug and hold her hostage for a year. Do you know how fucked up that shit is? How deranged?”
His eyes constrict sharply at my callousness.
“Instead, you fucked my wife. Tried to make her fall in love with you. How did it feel every time you fucked her knowing it was me she was thinking about? Every time you were buried deep inside her it was my cock she was wishing for, dreaming about. Every orgasm was mine! Every kiss was mine. Her entire world is me, motherfucker!” I roar.
“Let me tell you what it must have felt like.