ing mouth shut. I don’t want to hear jackshit out of you.” He glared at me. “Father told me not to harm you, but I’m sure he would forgive a few slaps to the face.”
We drove for what felt like forever, up I-95, then along some back country roads until we were lost in the woods and farm fields of what looked like the countryside. I saw that because new developments encroached on them at every turn, the cookie cutter mansions leaving tell-tale signs of the city. We weren't so far away that no one would find us.
It was a matter of time. I didn't know what David was hoping for, but it seemed like he wanted a confrontation. I wanted to ask him, but the look on his face told me that I was better off keeping my damn mouth shut.
We pulled into a long drive and up to an old farmhouse. Was this where he was keeping me?
I was really getting sick and tired of being f*ck
ing shuffled around without a goddamn say.
"Get out of the damn car," he said as he opened the door.
"You first," I said, my mouth clenched shut.
"Oh no, not in this place. Ladies first."
"I thought you said I wasn't a lady."
He pulled me up and kicked me out. "I said get the f*ck
up and go."
It wasn't polite, but it didn't hurt. I tumbled out into the driveway, then stood up, determined not to let this ass*ole
get to me. He might have been a biological half-brother, but he was no family of mine.
This was too f*ck
ing far. And at my father's own request.
I was vibrating with irritation. I didn't know how I was going to get out of this, but I promised myself I would.
"Why did you bring me here?" I asked.
"That's an easy question. Because it's far enough out of the way and during hunting season, that if I shoot your rescuers, no one will hear me."
"Father wants them dead?"
"Not them, but Greyson. Doesn't want him to be the heir. Not tough enough. Can't say I blame him."
"But the baby."
"Will be raised the proper way. With Joanna and me. Just like I always wanted. He might not be my blood, but I'll raise him that way."
"She," I corrected.
"What?" he asked.
"It's a girl. Don't you know anything?"
"No one told me, I just assumed," he started, but trailed off. "A girl. Even better. Then the legacy can still be mine. I'll fight for her. My Joanna."
I rolled my eyes. "Why in the f*ck
are you so obsessed with her? It isn't like she wants anything to do with you."
"Maybe not yet, but she will. I've wanted her from the first time I saw her. She was kind to me when she had no idea who I was. I just never got the chance, and then I saw her again, and I knew that I had to try."
"By being a psycho?"
That earned me a smack in the mouth. f*ck
. It hurt like hell, but I just looked up at him and smiled. "You think you are going to hold me here? You think this is going to be easy, that I'll just bow down to you?" I asked. "You are an idiot, David. You'll never run this f*ck
ing family because you have no idea what it would even take to do it."
He grabbed me by the arm and shoved me into the house. "Shut the f*ck
up. Tie her up boys. At least for now."
Men that I thought I'd known my entire life grabbed me and tied me to a heavy steel chair, their eyes on me as I struggled. I wasn't going to make it easy for him.
"If she doesn't knock that shit off, I'll f*ck
ing knock her upside the head to keep her quiet," one of them said.
"No, we cannot leave any marks or bruises. Nothing permanent," David barked. "Those are our orders."
"Fine," another man said. I swore I knew him, but I just could not remember his name. They called him something. It was on the tip of my damn tongue.
The Butcher.
They brought the f*ck
ing Butcher to handle me. How would I make it out of this alive?
"Why is he here?" I asked, my voice shaking.
"Because he is good at killing and your father wants a very tricky man dead. It's pretty simple, really," the first man, the one who threatened to smack me, said. He grinned at me now, leering at me. "She's a pretty one. You sure I can't just have a go?"
"You want Fitzgerald to lop your f*ck
ing dick off?" the Butcher said to him. He was serious as he said it, too. f*ck
. This was too real.
"You're f*ck
ing dicks," I said as I sat there, the binds finally on me. "I f*ck
ing hate you all."
"I don't care. It'll work," David said as he grabbed my phone out of his pocket and hit dial. He turned on the speaker.
"Hello?" Janson was on the other line.
"It's a trap!" I screamed, but a hand covered my mouth right away.
"Get your master, dog," David said. His voice was nasty and terrible.
"I'm here," Greyson growled. "What the f*ck
do you want, David?"
"I'm sure by now you've gathered that I have our sister?" he asked.
"Yes. What do you want?" Greyson barked.
"You and your little minion. Bring no one else. We'll settle our shit once and for all."
They'd be outnumbered. Greyson's two against at least five that I could count of David's men. It would be a f*ck
ing slaughter.
I tried to call out, but no one would uncover my mouth.