The controlled tone of Blayze’s voice reminded Sophia of just how strong Blayze really was. Inwardly, she knew part of him wanted to rip this kid apart.
“If you came in from the back of the shed, where you are, you’d see shelving units holding hundreds of stage props, backdrops, and wardrobes. But if you walked toward the front, where the garage door is, you’d see a staged room that looks a lot like the roach-infested motel room thatIwound up in a few years ago. Right after my life went to pot.”
Sophia’s eyes widened at the news.Motel room?
“Would that be the Maraddo Motel, Frank?”
“Bingo. I wonder how Ms. Vasco would’ve liked ending up in a place like that on her eighteenth birthday. I wonder how her family would’ve liked getting all of their things taken from them. Their houses, cars, money, even their respect.”
Sophia tried sifting through the suspects Blayze had told her about; his story sounded familiar.
“Are you starting to see the picture?” Frank barked, his voice and footsteps getting closer still. He darted from behind one of the shelving units and scurried toward Sophia, the soles of his loafers sliding on the floor.
Through heavy breaths, he grasped the armchair and slid to a stop. Heat radiated off his rigid form as he looked at her, stun-faced and wide-eyed, the phone still firm in his grip.
Frank’s pale complexion did nothing to hide his distress. Red blotches seeping through his skin like angry welts on his cheeks, neck, and forehead. The sour stench of body odor wafted from his sweat-ridden shirt.
“And right here…” he breathed, “resting on a crushed velvet chair like a little princess, we have District Attorney, Nicolas Vasco’s daughter.” His green eyes squinted as he studied her. Beads of sweat cased his upper lip, gathering also around the red hair at his temples.
“Sophia, are you all right?” Blayze blurted from the line, his voice shifting from laid back to grasping in a blink.
“Yes,” she blurted, glad she could find her voice. Frank’s comment had shoved Sophia intowide-awake-and-angrymode. Resting on a velvet chair like a princess… She wouldn’t be doing that for long. She might still be groggy from whatever Frank had used to sedate her, but Sophia wasn’t about to play the role of a damsel in distress. And she knew Blayze wouldn’t expect her to either.
“Ofcourse,she’s all right. Itoldyou she was. I’m not a monster.” The edge was back in Frank’s voice. He clenched his fist tight, loose, tight. “Wanting what I want doesn’t make me a monster. And if things go my way then no one has to get hurt.”
“I know you’re not a monster, Frank,” Blayze said, resuming that low, even tone. “Now, you didn’t finish telling me what I’d see in there.”
“That’s right. I didn’t get to the best part. Because if you looked beyond all the fake world settings —the replica of my lowest hour—you’d see me wearing a backpack filled with explosives powerful enough to take out a quarter of a block. If I decide to go that route.”
It felt as if Sophia’s heart stopped at the news, and then clanked back up in double rhythm.
“We don’t want you to go that route, Frank. Or is it Victor? Which one would you like to go by?”
Frank had been pacing again, but he stopped in his tracks and shot a look at Sophia. “What do you guys know?” His lips gnarled up at the center. But as he paused to consider, his face relaxed, and a smile pulled at one corner of his mouth. “Did you figure out who my dad is?”
“Yes,” Blayze said. “Is that all right? It gave me a lot of insight as to why you might be upset at Mr. Vasco.”
Sophia shifted in the seat, panic building now. She worked to catch up on what Blayze said—that he’d figured out who Frank was. Other than the intern who called himself Frankenstein, Sophia had no idea.
“Did you say you understood why Imightbe upset with Mr. Vasco?” Frank’s face scrunched up like he’d been socked in the nose. His head shook wildly back and forth as he stared at the phone. “My dad raised a butt-load of money for Nicolas Vasco so he could get into office. And how did he repay him? By letting some false charge go to trial where he lost everything.”
Frank reached up and loosened his tie with frantic, blotchy hands. “I hadeverything. I had a mom and a dad who took me on vacations and bought me everything I wanted. I had a better house than all my friends. I had the biggest pool. The fastest cars. People liked me because everything we had was the best.”
Sophia recalled the guy from Blayze’s list —the friends-with-everyone guy who mingled with the rich. The one convicted of stock fraud. The one who…
“My dad was so humiliated he hung himself in jail.”
Her heart sunk —hisdad. She searched Frank’s face as he stared across the room. Those tormented, green eyes.
The guy who hung himself had sons.The recollection was a sledgehammer. “Frank, I’m so sorry,” Sophia whispered as their eyes met.
“You guys don’t know what I’m capable of,” Frank growled. “You don’t know what I can do.”
“I know you can do anything you put your mind to,” Blayze assured, voice thick with compassion. “You’re a resilient guy.”
Sophia clenched her eyes shut as it caught up to her.Frankwas the one who killed her mom… It was a tragedy of its own, the fact that someone so young had done such a thing. And now he was holding her hostage. Bombs rigged at the door and on Frank’s back.
“That’s right,” Frank snapped. “Iamresilient.” He was pacing again, a guard before a castle, his backpack right where he promised. “I don’t know what kind of connections the District Attorney has, but he better get greasing some wheels because I want to be compensated, or his daughter’s going to die.”
