Her stepfather sighed and stepped farther into her peripheral vision. “Insisting you use family titles at this moment would be useless. You should not be here at all.”
She knew that tone. Her stepfather was in a cold, quiet rage. The kind that snuck up on the cause and exploded in ways a person never forgot. What made it scarier was not knowing when he’d actually snap and lash out.
Had he thought she wouldn’t get tangled up in this mess? “You backed me. Made sure I got on this project.”
“You were to do what you do best: rehabilitate the dog. Get close. Report back to me.” Her stepfather clasped his hands behind his back and shook his head. “If you stumbled across the video, I took steps to ensure you didn’t have time to understand what it was you had. I could assure my business partner that you didn’t know enough to be a danger to our business interests. If you’d have followed your instructions you’d have moved forward in your career none the wiser of this situation and the better for it.”
“Well, good to know your reasoning was logical.” Lyn let the derision creep up in her voice, not caring about antagonizing the person currently keeping her safe. She was tired of letting him hold her well-being over her head. “And here I was worried I might owe you when really, I was doing you a favor. I was spying for you.”
“Yes.” He didn’t even have the grace to express guilt over it.
But for her, it washed over her and drowned her. She provided her clients with status reports as a standard practice. Fine. And providing them to her stepfather had been an irritation because he’d turned them from a professional courtesy into a way for him to control her. But somewhere in there, she should have recognized when they hadn’t felt right anymore. When she’d started avoiding telling David about them. That was when she’d stopped being na?ve and started betraying him.
“What are you going to do with me now?” She wiggled in the chair and raised an eyebrow at him. There was a certain level of ridiculous to her current position but she also wasn’t delusional. He wasn’t going to let her go. Not now.
Silence.
“Sergeant Zuccolin.”
The sergeant snapped to attention. “Yes, sir.”
“Where is the animal?”
Well, at least she wasn’t in the current spotlight. She listened as Zuccolin gave a halting report of what had transpired from his arrival at Hope’s Crossing Kennels to the warehouse. And she was going to hell in a hand basket because she took some pleasure out of listening to the bitterness in Zuccolin’s words as he had to describe how an itty bitty lady civilian let loose their target.
“I see.” If anything, her stepfather’s tone became more monotone. He was not pleased.
“Sir, Evans set out to intercept. He’ll bring back the dog.” Zuccolin definitely had lost his confidence.
“Evans is as likely to kill the animal as anything else.” Her stepfather began pacing. “This has escalated into a complete clusterfuck and I’m holding you directly responsible.”
Apparently, Zuccolin had some experience with her stepfather’s arctic anger, too, because the man had gone pale.
It took a minute for Lyn to realize she was the one laughing. Okay, maybe she was going into shock or sliding into hysteria. Neither was good because she needed to use her brain. She focused on her stepfather. “Whatever this is, did you actually expect it to stay all neat and tidy the way you planned it?”
His jaw tightened as he studied her. “If it had been my plan in the first place, it would have been executed efficiently and without complications. Unfortunately, I joined this particular project in later stages, once the dog was already back on domestic soil.”
Well, it was good to know her stepfather hadn’t been a part of David’s friend’s death. A tiny relief in the midst of this insanity. She wasn’t even sure why, but she was glad.
“But you’re not on the right side of lawful, either, are you?” Maybe she was hoping.
Her stepfather only held her gaze, a sadness in his eyes she’d never seen before.
Nope. He wasn’t going to suddenly neutralize these two men and rescue her. He really was a part of all this.
“I don’t even want to know why.” And her voice sounded empty in her own ears.
“I’d have been disappointed if you approved.” Her stepfather walked toward her. When he moved to touch her face, she turned away but he grabbed her chin. “Even if we get ice on this, it’s going to be bad.”
“Why bother?” She was tempted to ask if he was going to kill her but she really didn’t want to die, and why tempt fate. She’d learned a long time ago not to ask her stepfather questions if she didn’t want to know the answers. And she was pretty sure she didn’t want to know yet.
He huffed this time. “You are never going to grow out of this pig-headed stubbornness. It’s not a phase. It’s a character trait.”
“I prefer to consider it perseverance. Maybe tenacity.” Talking seemed to be a good idea. Keep everyone talking.
Give David as much time as possible to come find her.
Chapter Twenty-Two