“Old news,” I said, trying to sound bored, but my lips and cheeks were swollen enough to make it sound like I had a mouth stuffed with cotton. “If you’re trying to break me, that’s not going to do it.”
“Your father hated bringing you back to Lone Creek two months ago.”
I’d figured that out days ago, so that shouldn’t have hurt either.
A soft smile lifted her lips. “If you don’t give me the file, I’ll kill him too.”
“You really suck at motivational speeches,” I said. “You should have held back the part about him not wanting me to come home before you threatened to kill him.”
“But you’re so desperate for him to love you, you’ll save him anyway,” she said, “even though you know he wouldn’t do the same for you.”
“Do you know how to use YouTube, Nicole?” I prodded. “Because if you can figure it out, you need to binge some Brené Brown videos.”
“You think you’re so cute,” she said in a mock cheery tone. She set her gun on the chair and pulled a leather belt out of her purse. Then, as if remembering her son was behind her, she turned and said, “Don’t you have business to attend to?”
His body stiffened. “I’m doing it.”
“Hardly,” she scoffed, folding the belt in half and clutching it near the end by the buckle. “You failed here, and you’re in danger of the exchange being interrupted. What are you doing to prevent that from happening?”
“We’ve beefed up security,” Knox said defensively. “He’s one man and we’ve already captured her.” He flung his hand toward me. “We’re fine.”
Had he forgotten I’d told him James was turning over evidence on his illegal activities?
She glared at him for several seconds before she said in a chilly tone, “If this gets screwed up, it will be on your head, Gerry.”
Then it hit me. Gerald Knox wasn’t running the family business. Nicole was.
I started to laugh.
Nicole swung around to face me, her lips pursed in disapproval. “And what do you think is so funny?”
I slowly shook my head, ignoring the sharp stabs of pain in my neck and head. “You. Him.” I nodded toward Gerald. “The world thinks he’s in charge, yet it’s really you. But you’re a woman, and the big bad men won’t respect you, so you need to use your son like a puppet.”
Fury filled her eyes and she slapped my bare upper right arm with the belt.
Fire spread across my skin, but I grinned up at her. “Oh, the truth hurts.”
She took a step closer, leaning over me. “Not as much as this belt will hurt you.” Then, to prove her point, she hit me in multiple places on my body, her strikes becoming more forceful with each hit.
Stings screamed for attention all over my body—my arms, my upper back, my legs, even one on my cheek. Tears filled my eyes, but I refused to give this woman the satisfaction of seeing me cry.
“Okay, Harper,” she said in her mock polite tone. “Let’s try again, shall we?”
“You’re wasting your time,” I forced out, trying to ignore the pain. “I will never, ever tell you where the file is.”
“Oh, you underestimate me, my dear,” she said with a gentle laugh.
I suspected she was right, but I wasn’t about to admit it.
She swung back to the chair and set her purse and the gun on the floor, then scooted closer to me, so there were only inches between our knees when she sat facing me.
“I was gentle with your mother,” she said with a kind expression. “She refused to talk, but I knew the papers were in a safe deposit box. I merely had to access them. Your name was on the box, so if I couldn’t get them myself, I knew I could get them from you.”
She paused and gave me an encouraging nod while still smiling sweetly, the image of a stereotypical, cookie-baking grandma. Which only made her more terrifying.
“But you, my dear, are the end of the line for getting access,” she said primly. “And I will get those papers. If I have to keep you in this room for months and punish you multiple times a day, you will eventually tell me.” She lifted a hand and gently caressed the burning welt from the belt on my cheek, intensifying the pain. “I promise you,” she whispered tenderly. “It will become so much worse.”
Panic and terror stole my breath. I believed every word she said, and I knew she’d take great pleasure in every ounce of pain she doled out.
