Chapter Forty-One
Blake
This was the last place I wanted to be.
It had been almost a year since I’d heard from him. Almost a year since he’d summoned me.
A foolish part of me had started to believe it was over. That I’d finally paid my debt. That I was free.
I should have known better.
Men like Tucker Callahan didn’t let people go.
They collected them.
Owned them.
And just when you started to forget who held the leash, they tightened it around your throat.
Which was why I found myself driving beneath the wrought-iron gates of his estate in the Hamptons, the tires crunching over white gravel as the Atlantic Ocean glittered in the distance.
The mansion rose from the shoreline like something out of a magazine. Three stories. White stone. Perfect hedges. Perfect gardens. A perfect façade.
But beneath all the beauty and wealth, I knew what this place really was.
A graveyard.
There may not have been any bodies buried anywhere on the grounds, but more than enough souls had been lost within these walls.
Including my own.
I parked by the entrance and jumped out, making my way up to the front door. It opened immediately, a woman in a black maid uniform greeting me.
The place hadn’t changed much since the last time I’d been here.
Same marble floors.
Same expensive artwork.
Same suffocating scent of flowers.
As if it could cover the truth of the crimes committed here.
“Mr. Callahan is expecting you,” the housekeeper stated sweetly.
“Thank you.”
My footsteps echoed in the cavernous space as I made my way down a long hallway, pausing outside a pair of large wooden doors before knocking.
“Come in,” a gruff voice called out.
I opened the door and stepped into the office. Tucker Callahan sat behind his mahogany desk, sunlight pouring through the windows, the ocean stretching endlessly beyond the glass. The peaceful view was completely at odds with the man sitting in front of it.
“Blake,” he greeted, not bothering to stand.
Closing the doors behind me, I faced him, widening my stance and crossing my arms over my chest.
“What do you want?” I asked, dispensing with any pleasantries.
