“And what does matter to him?”
“Justice.” For a second I think Theo does know about what Kaitlin did all those years ago, but then he says something else that changes my mind. “Paddy screwed my cousin, Sara. The woman we passed on the way out of the restaurant? He fucked her to piss off my father. Roberto isn’t the kind of guy who would let that slide without sending a message.”
“So Roberto wants a seventeen-year-old girl to pay the price for her father’s mistakes.”
Theo just stares at me, a small frown creasing his forehead. He’s not going to argue with me about it, that much is clear. After a moment he pulls my smashed cell phone from his pocket again and holds it up for me to see. “What’s the code, Gracie?”
“Hand it over and I’ll put it in for you.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then I can’t remember the code.”
“You have three texts here from McLaughlin. Tell me the code and I’ll read them to you.”
I growl under my breath, pulling at the cuffs. I can’t believe the bastard is blackmailing me with text messages that I’m sure he wants to read just as badly as I do. I really do want to know what the old man is saying, though. He could be telling me he already has Kaitlin and that he’s coming to find me next. He could be worried about me.
“All right. Fine. It’s one zero nine one.”
Theo pulls a face as he types the numbers into the cracked glass. He looks pleasantly surprised when the phone opens for him, as though he expected me to be lying.
“Read them to me. What’s he saying?” I snap.
Theo flicks to the messages and reads, his face a mask of concentration and then mild amusement as he checks what Paddy sent to me. “Oh, dear. Looks like someone’s in trouble,” he says.
A lead weight sinks in my gut. “Show me, asshole.”
He ignores the aggression in my voice and stands in front of me, obliging me by turning the phone to face me. The first message isn’t so bad.
ETA? The boys say the flight came in on time.
The time stamp on the second text is an hour later, and the tone is a hell of a lot more pissed off.
Gracie, where the fuck is my daughter? If something’s happened, you’d better fucking tell me right now. My daughter better be fucking safe.
And then:
If you’re reading this and you have my daughter, return her safely to me and I’ll kill you quickly. If you’re reading this and you have the woman supposed to be protecting Kaitlin, do me a favor and put a bullet in between her fucking eyes.
“Doesn’t seem too happy with you, huh?” Theo says, smiling. “I wonder what happened to the whole he thinks of me as his blood bit. Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t he just green light your execution? Seems to be Old Man McLaughlin definitely prefers his daughter over you any day of the week.”
Bile burns in the back of my throat. Not ten seconds ago I was actually stupid enough to be thinking that maybe Paddy would be worried about me. I should have known better, though. I’m a means to an end. It’s all I’ve ever been. And now that I’ve failed him, now that I’ve lost his daughter, I’m utterly expendable. Fucking bastard.
“I’m going to uncuff you,” Theo says.
This is surprising, though not unwelcome. The blood flow to my hands feels like it was cut off about twenty minutes ago. “Why would you do that?”
“Because you’re going to make that phone call for me now, aren’t you?” He looks deadly serious, a dash of curiosity on his handsome face. “You can’t go back to McLaughlin. You have no reason to care about the girl now, right? And from the murderous expression on your face, I’m guessing you’re pretty pissed off at the Irish. The guy just ordered you dead. If you know a better way to get back at him than taking something he loves from him, then please … enlighten me.”
I swallow down the fury rising in my throat, fighting to keep myself from screaming. This is one messed-up situation. This morning I thought I was going to be babysitting Kaitlin for the next three weeks, bored out of my head but glad of the opportunity to prove myself to Paddy. And now it looks like I can’t even go home. Theo’s right. I am mad. I’m furious. I slide my hands underneath my butt, working them forward until I can bend my body and step through the loop my joined wrists make. Holding my wrists up for him to free me, I make my decision.
“Okay. I’ll make the call. I’ll help you. But you have to promise me one thing.”
“Which is?”
“You have to promise you’re going to kill her. You have to promise you’ll kill Kaitlin.”