Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 68006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
She might be safer here in the apartment, with all the extra security that Reid Wolfe has put in place since the incident, but she’ll feel safer closer to me. I don’t want her feeling frightened. I don’t want her going through any more than she has to.
“I wish I already knew how to handle a gun,” she says. “Then I’d take one with me.”
“I’d feel a lot better if you knew how to use one too, but I have something for you.” I head back to my bedroom, open a black leather bag that I keep on the floor of my closet, and pull out a couple cans of pepper spray. I bring them back and hand them to Kelly. “One spray of this in the eyes, and you’ll stop any attacker.”
“Pepper spray? I have pepper spray, Leif. The Wolfes gave it to me on day one.” She shakes her head, trembling. “My purse was sitting right next to me on the counter when The Dark One came into the bathroom last night. But I couldn’t think, Leif. I couldn’t move. I could’ve easily grabbed it, sprayed him with it. If I had… If I had, this would be over. He’d be in custody. What was I thinking?”
I pull her to me. “Kelly, please. You didn’t expect him to show up in the women’s bathroom at The Glass House. No one expected that. Maybe we should have. Maybe I should have. But I didn’t. Don’t blame yourself for this. The most important thing is that he didn’t hurt you. And we will get him, Kelly. I swear to God we will get him.”
“Then why are you wasting time on my mother and my alleged father?”
“Because I have a theory, Kelly. I have a theory about why and how you were taken.”
“Can you share with me?”
“If you’d like me to. It’s only a theory, and I may be completely wrong.”
“You think my mother has something to do with this, don’t you?”
“That was my original thought, yes. But a few things didn’t make sense. First of all, her payments didn’t start until six months after you were taken captive. Second of all, a payment of two million in total is way more than any of the others received. Katelyn’s and Aspen’s abductors, for example.”
“So what are you thinking now?”
“I’m thinking…that whoever this man is, whether he’s your father or not, he may have had something to do with it. I think that money your mother got after you were taken somehow came from him.”
“Why would he want to do that? Why would my own father want to send me to that horrid place?”
“If I had that kind of answer, I’d be as psychopathic as he is. I can only tell you this. Derek Wolfe himself molested his only daughter for years.”
She drops her jaw. “But I don’t understand.”
“I don’t either. It’s just a hunch, Kelly. But I want to find out where your mother got that money. She’s not being completely honest with us, and she knows something. I can feel it in my bones.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
“If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. But we’ll still have come closer to figuring things out. Your mother is involved in this somehow. Why else would she show up now? She doesn’t need us. She doesn’t need you. She’s worth thirty million dollars.”
Kelly nods, hunching her shoulders. “You’re right. Racine Taylor doesn’t care about me. She never did.”
I kiss her forehead. “I know that’s hard for you.”
She shrugs. “I suppose it should be. Subconsciously, I’m sure I’m curling up into a fetal position crying right now. But honestly, Leif, I was glad to be rid of the woman. I’ve never had any desire to see her since she threw me out on my eighteenth birthday. At least she didn’t give me a deflated volleyball that year. Or anything else for that matter. Only my freedom.”
“By the time this is over, my love, I promise that you’ll have everything your heart ever desired.”
“Everything?”
“Everything I can get for you, anyway.” I smile and her cup her soft cheek. “Are you ready, baby?”
She straightens her shoulders. “Yes, Leif. I’m ready.”
After securing Kelly in the room I booked for her, I order some food from room service. We eat in silence, she barely choking down her spaghetti and meatballs. I’m the same way with my porterhouse steak. It’s cooked to perfection of course, and the mashed potatoes and green beans with almonds are delicious, but I find it hard to swallow as well.
Kelly finally pushes her plate away from her after she’s managed to choke down about half of her meal.
“Good. You ate well. Do you want any of your cake for dessert?”
She looks at the dense almond cake and frowns. “Maybe later.”
“I understand. There are a few hours before I have to meet your father. Want to watch a movie?”