“Whydid you bring me here?” I bite out. We’ve been going in circles and I’m already exhausted.
“There’s only one way to find out.” Dad bows slightly. “After you.”
My nostrils flare, but I storm in first. The cavernous hall still smells faintly of ash and molten sand. Shattered panes glitter across the floor like spilled starlight. The windows are gone, so dust slides through the steel ribs of the building. Birds that madetheir nests in the beams scatter like ghosts at the sound of our footsteps.
I slow down to let Jarod walk ahead of me. From behind, he looks like a moving shadow. His many tattoos are covered up beneath the long sleeves of the black suit. His hair is neatly trimmed now, instead of the long, edgy cut that defined most of his years as the legend of rock.
But what the makeover team could not slick down with gel or hide under a Rolex is the dark edge he carries with him. This man would throw his own children under the bus to get what he wants.
And he has.
We walk down a flight of rickety stairs, and we’re suddenly submerged in darkness.
Dad’s voice is the only light that guides me. “This underground level was used for annealing, a process where newly formed glass cooled slowly so it didn’t crack. Fascinating, isn’t it?”
I cough in disgust. In the level above, the cracked windows let in air, so the stench of the old building wasn’t as consuming. But down here, a putrid scent hangs low like a fog.
Suddenly, the room lights up.
The first thing I see is Dad, in his fancy suit and expensive watch, pulling on a string attached to a lightbulb.
The next… are the bodies.
Three people are heaped against the wall like sacks. They’re wearing bags over their heads and have their hands and feet tied. All of them are barefoot and some are bleeding.
My stomach roils.
“Is anyone there?” a male voice says. “Help! Please, help me!”
“What thehellis this?” I snap.
“Thisis Daniel. He has a very bad habit, and he bought the good stuff through one of our distributors. Sadly, Daniel could not afford the good stuff, and now he’s here, joining us today.”
I look away, my chest pumping violently. “This is insane. This iskidnapping.”
“No, no. Daniel and I are simply having a conversation.”
Bile rises in my throat.
I feel like I’m going to throw up.
“There are consequences for our actions,” Dad says conversationally. “If we don’t straighten Daniel out now, how will he raise his three young sons to know that debt should be paid?”
“Please. Please.” Daniel is squirming. “Don’t touch my sons. Please. I’ll do anything.”
“Enough.” Dad nods to someone I hadn’t noticed was in the room. It’s Ron, one of Dad’s henchmen. Ron takes a big stick and slams it into Daniel’s shoulder.
A pained cry spills from Daniel’s mouth. A chorus of whimpers join his. The other people wearing the brown sacks over their heads start begging for mercy.
Their desperation is as thick as the stench in the room.
I surge forward.
A hand clamps my shoulder and holds me in place. “We’re just shaking them up a bit,but”—Dad’s lips pop—“if they come back, we will be pulling a few teeth or toenails. Depending on how I feel.”
Daniel slumps against the wall, unconscious.
The other kidnapped people keep begging to be set free.
