“So why now?” I persisted. “Why after all these years?”
“Because now I have leverage.” He chuckled into his drink. “His precious daughter. To get her back, he’ll sign the deeds of over half his empire to me or listen to her scream when I send him the tapes.”
“Of – youtorturingher?” I felt my stomach perform a slow roll and felt glad he hadn’t offered me a drink.
“And you.” His tiny eyes, buried in rolls of flesh, speared me through. “It’s time you took up your duties as my lieutenant, Magnus. My right hand. It’s what I raised you to be.”
Not a son. A lieutenant. What a fucking mess. I can’t torture that girl. If I do, he’ll kill me. I’ll be tortured in her place.
“Ah, right. Of course.”
“When can I expect the girl?”
“Uh, probably later in the week,” I answered, frantic to find any means possible to delay this shit. “She’s at the bar on Fridays. I don’t know the rest of her routine.”
“Learn it,” Arnaud snapped. “Bring her to me by next Friday night.”
I lowered my eyes, as he’d expect it. “Yes. Okay.”
Shit and hellfire, now what? Deliver an innocent victim to my dear old dad’s torments? Or face them myself?
Arnaud ruled his empire with not just an iron fist, but with a whip in it. He didn’t always kill, for that was wasteful. No.He offered obedience with one hand, the whip in the other. And yeah, I’ve tasted that whip. Not a fun experience at all.
Nor could I break free of him and find my own way in the world. His whip ensured that.
Arnaud waved his hand. “Go. Get out of here. And keep your deadline in mind.”
I caught the significance of his dark glance and nodded. “I will.”
***
“I can’t do this.”
Brody and I sat in the bleachers of a residential park, watching a Little League game in progress. The Little Leaguers ran around the bases as their parents cheered, the coaches yelled, the refs blew their whistles. My elbows on my knees, I wondered at the innocence of these kids, how they’d grow up to be doctors, lawyers, SEAL Team Six. And how I’d grown up to be a bad man’s lieutenant.
Brody grunted. “You can’t kidnap her, man. That’s just wrong.”
“I have to. He’ll kill me if I don’t.”
His fierce stare forced me to look at him. “If he kills you, at least you’d have your soul,” he said, his voice low. “You do this, then you’ve sold it to your old man.”
I gazed down at my hands. “I know.”
“There has to be a way you can get free of him. He’s not omnipotent.”
I barked a harsh laugh. “You think so? Actually, he is. If I ran, he’d have his henchmen on me before I got to the next state. I can’t fly far enough to get away from him.”
“I’ll help you.”
I gazed at my best friend, myonlyfriend, and the only one in this crazy world who understood me. We’d be partners in bedif we swung that way. We didn’t. So we settled for being best pals.
“I can’t let you,” I said at last. “I won’t risk your life, man. Arnaud will hang your hide on his wall and make me stare at it day in and day out.”
He snorted. “I’m no pushover, bro. You shouldn’t be either. There has to be a way to bring him down.”
“If there is, I don’t know of it.”
“Every king has a weakness.” Brody stared out over the field, watching the kids play. “We’ll find his. And exploit the hell out of it.”
