“Here we are,” I say as I pull down a long driveway that leads to a little house by the beach. “Home sweet home.”
She huffs at me and is already wrenching the door open before I have the damned truck turned off. I watch her run toward the house. It was easy getting her here. All it took was telling her the one thing she so desperately needed to hear. Come with me if you want to see your dad.
She’ll be so disappointed.
I’d hated the look of regret she’d shot over at that freak when she crawled out from under his heavy arm. I’d nearly gone mad with blinding rage when she pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. And I’d wanted to punish her—punish my sweet, sweet Baylee—for willingly cheating on me with that motherfucker.
I deserve her apologies.
But instead, I’d put on a brave face and wheeled her right out of that hospital. Helped her into my truck and drove her straight here. My girl had gone without a fight because she wanted to see her precious daddy. The same daddy who didn’t give two shits whether or not she got raped by men more than twice her age. It was just one more deep cut she wounded me with.
I was the bad guy.
Even after all this. After I’d stood by for years as the perfect, patient boyfriend.
I deserve to be the good guy.
As I climb out of the truck, my mind flits back to the beginning. Back when nobody believed me that she’d been taken. A satisfied smile stretches over my face.
“Where the fuck is she, Tony?”
He has the sense to look fucking ashamed. Leaning back in his armchair, he tilts the bottle of Jim Beam back and swallows a healthy gulp before speaking. “I don’t know.”
Fury overwhelms me and I fist my hands at my sides. I want to bash his goddamned skull in.
“She’s dead, Brandon,” he says.
The room spins as I consider his words. “No-No-No!”
“Not Baylee,” he snaps and his violent bloodshot eyes meet mine. “My wife. Lynn passed away. It was all for nothing. Now I’ve lost my baby, too.”
With a snarl, I stomp over to him and grab onto his shirt. Yanking him to his unsteady feet, I spit in his face. “What was all for nothing?”
He shrugs his shoulders—fucking shrugs them—and has the audacity to look down at me as if I’m still that pesky kid he always thought me to be. I’m no longer that shy kid who wants to date his daughter. I’m his worst fucking nightmare and I won’t stop until I have the love of my life back in my arms.
“Baylee. The sale. Gabe tried but it wasn’t enough. The money will come too late… Lynn couldn’t cope with losing Baylee. I never anticipated she’d deteriorate so quickly. That losing Baylee would cause her to give up.” A choked sob rips from him.
I curl my lip in disgust at his words and shove him away from me. “I fucking knew you were involved. You had a hand in selling your own daughter on the black goddamned market!”
He roars at me and charges. The man is bigger than me, but I’m furious. My rage is that of a hundred men. When he reaches me, I greet him with a fist to his gut. Then, I crack my elbow across his face and send him hurtling to the floor. He lands on his ass with a grunt. I waste no time and launch myself at him. Over and over again, I smash my fists against his face. His teeth cut open my knuckles on one hand and they are now dripping with blood all over the pristine living room rug.
“You’re a disgusting piece of shit,” I snarl in between labored breaths. “She’s your child.” My entire body is quaking with rage.
“G-G-Gabe,” he stutters and spits out blood along with a tooth, “said she’ll only be gone for two weeks. He p-promised he’ll get her back before anyone hurts her. He vowed to keep her safe and get me the money to save my wife.”
Tears fall out of his eyes but I have no pity for the sorry-ass motherfucker. The man who used to intimidate me now sickens me. He’s nothing but a piece of fucking trash. A piece of trash who’d negotiate his teenage daughter’s body for money.
“Where did he take her?”
Heat reddens his face. “He said it was best if I didn’t know the details. That if he went to prison for her kidnapping, I’d still be here with Lynn.”
I gape at him. “And you believed that bullshit?”
He doesn’t have to nod or speak for me to know he did.
“Did you ever think about Baylee, Tony?” I demand. “Did it ever occur to you how fucking scared she would be? Did you even once consider that Gabe was lying to you—that he would fuck your daughter? The man looks at her like she’s a piece of meat he wants to sink his teeth into and you sent her away with him.”
His eyes widen and realization seems to wash over him. “No…”
“Yes. He probably fucked her the moment he got her to wherever the hell it is he took her. There probably never was any money. I bet he concocted the entire thing so he could fuck your daughter like the goddamned pervert he is!”