“What happened to her?” Kalen echoes.
“She was shot in the head. I think it was Slate who found her. No one else was around so I’m not sure. I’m sorry, Dad.”
“Don’t be, it’s what she had coming given who she was working with, but it does hurt a little. I loved her, but I know I made a huge mistake with the whole thing. Several mistakes in fact.”
“Don’t say that, Dad.” Kalen leans forward between the front seats. “We never would have met Amelie if it wasn’t for you.”
“Does anyone know who took Amelie?”
“Wait, what?! Someone took her?! Why are we not going to find her then?!” Kalen cries. “Fuck Harold! Pull over and I’ll kill him myself so we can be done.”
“Calm down! Everyone else is out searching for her. Baxter has a team in the air looking for the car that took her. We’ll find her. We have to deal with Harold, and we should probably check on Amelie’s family at HQ as soon as we can.”
Kalen sits back in his seat, grumbling under his breath. Clearly, he’s not happy about this, but what he fails to understand is that I’m not exactly over the moon myself.
It sucks being the responsible one sometimes.
Fuck, it sucks all the time.
Chapter Forty-Five
Amelie
The kidnappers tie me to a chair. Bex has been struggling and cursing the entire time but I think they managed to do the same to her too. She definitely landed a few good kicks, while I decided I wouldn’t fight this. It’s smarter to conserve energy. Save it for the one and only attempt at escape that might materialise.
The itchy sack on my head is ripped off – thank fuck – and I have to blink a few times to adjust to the sudden, harsh light.
“What the fuck?!” Bex screams from beside me, causing me to flinch. Somehow, without the sack over my head she sounds a hundred times louder. I blink and look around the room while Bex rants. We appear to be in a small cottage that feels vaguely familiar. “Why are we here, you sick fucks?! You’re after Debbie aren’t you? I hate to break it to you but we’re probably the wrong people to snatch if you want to lure her out! You could have just come back here and waited.”
Ah, that’s it. This is where Camilla, Bex and Debbie have been staying. Why are we here? It’s the last place I’d take someone I kidnapped.
But then again, if we weren’t kidnapped, why were we grabbed, blindfolded and tied up?
What the fuck is going on?
“Tape her mouth shut, she’s giving me a damn headache!” The largest of the three men in the room demands.
The one with long hair tied back behind his head and glasses picks up a roll of duct tape and walks towards us. I’m grateful when they don’t tape my mouth together. Aadi did that enough times to me as a kid to know that shit burns like hell when it’s ripped off. I guess good behaviour – namely, keeping my mouth shut for once – does have its perks.
The front door opens and closes, and I turn my attention to the walkway. The three men in the room don’t look overly concerned that someone has joined us.
A moment later Camilla and Debbie walk into the room.
Camilla pulls out her gun and aims it at the largest of the men, clearly sizing him up as her biggest target.
“Put the gun away, Camilla,” Debbie snaps. “They are just doing their job.”
“Tying up my granddaughter was not part of their job.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? This is why I should listen to my guys!” I snap, finally breaking my silence. “They didn’t trust you, yet I wanted to give you a chance and you fucking have me kidnapped!”
“Are you done?” she asks. I stare at her wide eyed. “I didn’t kidnap you.”
“Could have fooled me, this feels very kidnappy.” I shake side to side in my seat a little to show that I’m definitely tied up and not just enjoying a little BDSM with three strangers for shits and giggles.
“This was for your own good,” Debbie replies. “Those men you claim to love have been lying to you and keeping secrets. They knew something was going to happen today and they used you as bait, deliberately keeping you in the dark. The second they let us have our guns despite the security check, we knew something dodgy was going on. Luckily, I’d already arranged for my friends to watch my back, not trusting anyone to have good enough security to go up against Harold. I’m not safe until he’s dead, so I always take extra precautions if I have to go out in public. My men had orders to extract my daughters if anything went down, and it did. I can’t and won’t be sorry for that. Where were your guys? You were left open and all I have ever wanted is for you to be safe.”
“Untie the girls,” Camilla demands.
