Duke.
“You have to be fucking kidding me,” I muttered. “Do I even want to know what you’re doing here?”
Duke smirked, stuffing his hands into his expensive suit pants. “Depends. Do you want to see that precious bitch of yours again?”
“Don’t you dare speak about her like that.” Anger flamed hot behind my eyes, and I stepped toward the well-suited man with every intention of knocking him down where he stood, until the clueless lackey pulled me back. Glaring over my shoulder, I tugged out of his grip. Peace was over, and I was ready for violence, until Duke spoke again.
“Well, what would you call a woman who murders your father’s associates in cold blood?”
Father. Turning back around to face Duke must have taken a thousand years, until I met his icy gaze once more. “What did you say?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t you know? I assumed you knew everything with how arrogant you are.” His smile dripped poison, and I had never hated anyone as much as I loathed him at this moment. He knew. He knew all along. There was no way Blaire could’ve known, or he would’ve long been dead. Conrad had kept his son under wraps.
“I’d tell you how low you are, but you already know that.” My hands shook. I’d strangle him, and I’d enjoy watching the life leave his body. “Where’s Blaire?”
Duke sneered, a fitting expression for his face. “She’s still alive, if that’s what you’re worried about. My father had some elaborate plan for her, which is a shame. I would’ve rather just shot you both in bed last night while you snored.”
Blood wasn’t pumping through my veins anymore. There was only the need to keep Blaire safe. Rage. Vengeance.Love.
“I don’t understand. What was your game here? You worked next to her for years. Was it just some fucked up game of cat and mouse?”
“I think I can answer that for you.” Conrad stepped out of the door behind Duke, coming to rest a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Donovan. Or Winder, I guess I should say now. It’s been a long time. I see you’ve met my son.”
“Oh, we’ve met.” Now that I saw the two of them together, the resemblance was undeniable. Both had the same light brown hair, the broad shoulders, and the same black heart, pumping away beneath their expensive clothes.
Conrad leveled me with a sharp look. “You asked why I had Duke get a job next to Blaire. You’re a smart kid, Donovan. Don’t tell me you don’t know.”
“I’d rather hear it from you,” I gritted out between my clenched teeth.
Conrad sighed. “You disappoint me. When Blaire woke up with no memory of who she was, or where she had been, she wasn’t a threat to my business. Despite what you may think about me, I’m not about to spill senseless blood. Obviously, the precinct knew who she was. A few well-greased hands, and it was like she never existed, which was much better for me, if we’re being honest. The turnover for cops is so high in the city anyway, it wouldn’t take long until she was nothing more than a name. No, Blaire wasn’t a threat.”
My jaw tightened, and I squeezed my hands to force myself to stay still. I didn’t know where Blaire was yet, or what kindof danger she was in, and knocking Duke out would get me nowhere. “She wasn’t a threat. A woman you took everything from.”
I would gut them all. Piece by piece. I would rip them to shreds for ever making Blaire feel like she was alone because of something she had done wrong.
Conrad showed no reaction to the emotion making my voice shake. I wasn’t sure he even had emotions. “Not a threat. A risk. I had Duke watch her up close, so he could tell me if she slipped, if it was just an act, if she remembered, that sort of thing. They even went on a date, which,had it gone better, would’ve been an immense help in keeping an eye on her, and probably would’ve stopped all of this from ever happening.” He shook his head, like he was talking about a child’s failing report card, not murder.
“So you let her think she was safe all this time. You let her believe a lie she told herself. And you just…you just watched her, playing God with a woman’s life.” My voice trembled, despite how hard I worked to stay calm. Disbelief bled into fury. “You were possibly the only person who could tell her who she really was. My God, I feel like even killing her might have been the more decent thing to do.”
Conrad looked nonplussed. “Without her memories, she wasn’t a problem to me. Someone to keep tabs on, but not an issue. Until the murders started happening. At first, I thought to myself, maybe it could be her. But her routine never changed, and she remembered nothing. So we explored different avenues. She was lucky, your woman.Verylucky. But that last one was messy. We caught her on a security camera. Seems she remembers something, after all.”
“So, now what? You take her out and your secrets are safe?” I glared at Duke. “I don’t even have the right words foryou. You saw how fucked up she was over her blackout. You saw first-fucking-hand, and instead you did whatever daddy told you to do.”
Guilt flashed across Duke’s face, however briefly.
“I’m sure you want to see her. Let’s not keep you waiting.” Conrad snapped his fingers at someone hidden behind the rows of crates.
Another lackey dragged Blaire out behind him, attached to a rope by her wrists, obviously drugged. My heart sank into my stomach seeing her so out of it, a vacant look behind her eyes. They would pay for hurting her. They didn’t even have her wrists bound tightly, because of how doped up she was. I would kill every last one of them.
She slumped to the floor, and I immediately made a move toward her, to pick her up, to keep her safe,anything.
My guard stopped me, and Conrad wagged his finger like a father admonishing his toddler. “Not so fast, Winder. Everything I just told you was old news. Your girlfriend here spilled a lot of my blood, and in my books, that’s a pretty heavy debt to pay. The other side of it is that you were the one hiding her from me. Which is unfortunate.”
Blaire’s eyes were drifting around the room, focusing on nothing.Come on, baby. Stay with me.
She snapped her gaze to me, and all at once I realized what was happening.
Fuck. She was good. She was so fucking good. The amount of strength and willpower she had to be using right now was incredible, but we didn’t have time to linger on it. I needed to figure out how to give her a signal, to run, to fight, to do something. I barely listened to Conrad’s monologue, trying to take in everything around me.
