“Let me ask you a question,” I lean forward, trying to look into her eyes. “Did you ever go down to his dungeon? The stone walls and the shackles, the creepy, pristine white hallway?”
“Only once,” she said with a reflective smile, “when he told me that he was in love with you. We were in the room, I wanted to speak to you, to see your lovely eyes, but you were sleeping so heavily that he didn’t want to disturb you. Always so thoughtful.”
I’m getting the level of crazy I’m dealing with here, and it’s high. Like mother, like son. “None of that seemed wrong to you?” I persisted, “You’re a woman, you have adaughter.How would you feel if someone kidnapped her and did those horrible things to her?”
She looks blank for a moment and I have a tiny surge of hope until she shakes her head. “If she got herself into such a situation, I would suppose that she deserves it.”
“Do you think I deserved it? That all those women your son did those things to deserved it?” If I can’t get through to Hilda by appealing to her as a woman, I’m screwed.
“You were different,” she said crisply, “youaredifferent. You were my sweet boy’s soulmate.” She smiles that horrible snake smile again. “Gerhard told me that the key to his fortune rested in your loving hands. When Lina spotted the tattoo, we had our answer.”
Frowning, I asked, “The tattoo? I don’t understand. What is it about the design that makes it a key to something?” I hated the ugly splotch of ink the second I got a glimpse of it. I wish I’d gotten it lasered off sooner and none of this would be happening.
“Yes, a series of banking codes, visible under black light only,” she explained.
Of course,I think bitterly,the black light hour at the club. Marietta - ‘not Marietta’ - was standing right there when Kelli told me the tattoo was showing.
“Okay, now you have the codes,” I said. “How about you let me go and we pretend none of this ever happened and you and… Lina, right? You and Lina enjoy your son’s ill-gotten gains.”
“It’s not quite that easy, I fear. Your retinal scan and one over your tattoo are necessary to release the funds.” She’s casually sipping tea from a paper cup, like the one she has for me. They really aren’t trusting me with anything. Unfortunately, this means they must have some knowledge that I was trained for self-defense.
Maybe they don’t know what a good aim I am with a gun. I hope I have some secrets left.
“Can I ask where we are?” I said, rubbing my eyes again. Whatever they gave me is still working its way out of my system.
“Of course, darling. We’re on Grand Cayman Island. We have three banks to visit,” she’s still smiling at me as if this is a tea party.
“Your vision is that we’ll stroll into these banks, I get scanned like a package from Amazon and you get your money, correct?”
“That’s right,” she agrees.
“And then you kill me.” Folding my arms, I lean back against the seat. “You can see this is where this plan breaks down for me.”
“I really did think you’d be more appreciative, given that I removed the eyesore that was Gabriel Santos from your life,” she fretted. “If you’re going to judge a man by his deeds, you should really start with him.”
“Oh, he was a completely evil piece of shit,” I agreed, “you did the world a favor there. But surely you can see why your plan doesn’t allow for a happy ending for me. Screaming my lungs out the minute we’re in public seems like my best option for survival.”
“I must tell you,Liebste,thatI have never planned to kill you,” Hilda said. “I still don’t. You were very dear to my son, so you are very dear to me.”
The nausea, the antiseptic smell of my dungeon room comes back, Schmidt’s oily tone telling me that I was his soulmate as he stroked my tattoo…Keep it together,I think,this is not the time to let the fear take over.I clench my hands together so tightly that my fingernails cut into my palms and it sharpens my focus again.
“However,” she said briskly, “I do understand that you might need additional motivation.” She pulls out her phone, taps a few buttons, and holds it up for me. The blurry images get sharper as whoever has the phone on the other end walks closer. It’s my parents. The Senator and Claire are both shackled to heavy bolts driven into the concrete wall.
A guttural voice orders, “Say hello to your daughter.”
Their frantic voices rise in a frenzy, screaming, begging, ordering me to get them out of there. Sighing disapprovingly, Hilda ends the call. “Given how dirty your father’s dealings are, one might think he would handle captivity with more dignity.”
“It’s their first kidnapping,” I said absently before bursting into laughter. I’m laughing so hard that I can’t stop as she watches me with a brow raised. MaybeIamthe crazy one here.
Dario…
“Here’s what we know.”
The team is sitting on the deck of the huge home we commandeered from our Consigliere, whose financial dealings for our family make keeping a home here in the Caymans a necessity. Though for a house that was intended to be used for boring financial purposes, it’s huge as fuck and looks more like he’s using it to party.
I’m surrounded by family, several of our best guards, and two of our Capos, bringing their soldiers as well.
“The people who kidnapped Cora are the mother and daughter of Gerhard Schmidt, the piece of shit Yuri and I demolished a few months ago,” I said. Carlo hides a grin and I know the bastard is dying to mention that my sweet bride was actually the one who killed Schmidt. Given that she did it withhisgun after knocking him out, he doesn’t have much to laugh about.
