“Twelve it is, then,” I said. “We should make it in twenty-four hours, right?”
Faucett rolled his eyes. “More or less. Probably more.”
“Do your best. There’ll be a nice bonus in it for you,” Talon said.
“Fine. For Christ’s sake. Let me get dressed. I’ll be sleeping for thirty hours straight once I get you there.” He slammed the door in our faces.
“That wasn’t pleasant,” I said.
“At least he’s doing what he can,” Talon replied. “I’m going to give Joe a call and fill him in.”
“Sounds good. I guess I’m still on watch duty.” I headed back up to the deck.
Ruby never left my mind. I pulled my father’s ring out of my pocket and fingered it once more. He—or at least someone who had his ring—had been in her apartment. My best guess was Mathias. But Mathias wasn’t stupid. He never did anything without a reason, which meant he’d left the ring on purpose for someone to find.
For me to find.
He knew I’d go looking for Ruby, and when I did, I’d find my father’s ring.
Until I’d found the GPS coordinates, I wasn’t sure why he’d left the ring. I still wasn’t completely sure. For all I knew, we could be embarking on a wild-goose chase. It wouldn’t be the first wild-goose chase we’d been on since we’d been pursuing this phantom of my father’s doing.
My father. Somehow, in the end, it was all leading back to him. Ever since Joe had found his photo with the other future lawmakers in that yearbook from Tejon Prep School, we’d known he wasn’t the honorable man we remembered.
I thought back, shaking my head.
We’d always known, in a subconscious way. We’d always wondered why he wouldn’t let our family deal with the horror that Talon had been through. Why he’d swept it all under the rug. Why he hadn’t let us see our mother’s body.
Why?
I’d been over and over the facts and theories in my mind, and only one answer made sense.
He had something to hide. Something sinister. Something he probably hoped we’d never know. Never uncover.
My father was alive. I was sure of it.
He’d stayed until the last of us, Marjorie, had reached adulthood. I had to at least respect that.
Then he had died.
Except he hadn’t died. He’d faked his own death, with the help of my mother, according to her.
Still so many questions were unanswered, the biggest of which was how I’d come to be in the first place. What was the reason behind my parents’ coupling? Had my father truly loved Wendy, as she claimed? Or had he just slept with her, producing me? Had she seduced him when she knew she was fertile? I’d toyed with the idea of her inseminating herself with his sperm, but then I’d rejected that theory. My father wouldn’t have given her access to his sperm.
At least I didn’t think so.
I knew very little about my own father. That was becoming increasingly clear. I longed to know the whole story, but something else was far more important at the moment.
Ruby.
I had to find her. Failure was not an option. She had come to mean everything to me. Finally I understood what my brothers felt for their wives—that soul-wrenching love and need for another person.
My father’s ring was a clue. It had to be.
Mathias had planted it. He must have, because no one else could have.
Except my father himself.
For that to be true, my father would have had to have been in Ruby’s apartment, and that couldn’t have happened. Wendy had said he was being held captive somewhere.
But Wendy could have been lying. And if she was lying, she had a good—good in her twisted mind, anyway—reason for it.
I shook my head to clear it. The only thing that mattered right now was finding Ruby. That and bringing an end to this for Talon’s sake, so he could put it behind him and truly finish healing. I couldn’t let my emotions get the best of me. As much as I feared for Ruby, I had to keep my sanity and my logic.
But God…I missed her. I loved her so fucking much. Wherever she was, she had taken my heart with her.
I’d find her, and when I did, she and I would put an end to all of this once and for all.
Chapter Eight
Ruby
Juliet gasped. “You know this guy?”
I stood my ground. I’d called him Theo on purpose. I didn’t want to alert Juliet to the fact that he was my father. “We’ve met.”
“Then you should have put him away. He’s a rapist and a murderer!” Juliet then cowered in a corner, bracing herself to be hit.
“Don’t touch her,” I warned my father.
“I don’t have any intention to,” he said. “I came for you.”
“Are you crazy? I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He stalked forward.
“Don’t lay one slimy finger on me,” I said, resisting the urge to back away and hoping my still shaky legs would hold me. “I swear to God you’ll be sorry.”
“Stop the melodramatics.” He grabbed my shoulder. “I could have had you locked in chains, starved, and beaten. Or worse. You should be thanking me.”
“For drugging me? Bringing me here against my will? You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I couldn’t help the accommodations,” he said. “This was the best we had on short notice. I moved your friend in here as a gesture of good faith. This is a better room than she’s seen.”
“Was it also a gesture of good faith when two goons came in and raped her?”
Juliet gasped in the corner.
“Excuse me?” he said.
“You heard me. Two of your masked monsters raped her while I was forced to watch.”
My father’s strange blue eyes closed for a few seconds and then opened. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. They will be…dealt with.”
“Unless you’re going to chain them up, starve them, and then shove fat cucumbers up their asses, however you plan to deal with them won’t be sufficient.”
Another gasp from Juliet at my graphic words.
“Enough of your mouth, girl.” He forced me toward the door.
As much as I wanted to fight back, my body still wasn’t working quite right. I looked back at Juliet. “They didn’t use condoms. She could be pregnant!”
“Condoms aren’t necessary. We keep all women of childbearing age on birth control. We also test them all, and all our trainers are tested as well. Every month. We can’t deliver diseased goods to buyers.”
“Trainers? Is that another word for rapists? Goods? They’re people, Theo! People!”
He pushed me out the door.
“I’ll be back for you,” I said to Juliet. “I promise.”
Her eyes were sunken, and her countenance resolved to her fate. She didn’t believe me. I didn’t blame her.
But I would be back.
My father dragged me down a dimly lit hallway, past about five other doors identical to the one to the room where I had been. I kept my lips sealed, even though I wanted to scream for help. I knew better. No help would come here.
Finally, he pushed me up a flight of stairs and into a small office. It was sparsely decorated with a metal desk, a computer, a couple chairs, and an old sofa.
“Have a seat.” He indicated the sofa.
“I’ll stand.”
“Have it your own way. You won’t be standing for long.”
“You going to push me down?”
“No. But you’re still coming out of a drug-induced state. Your legs won’t hold you for long.”
I gave in and sat on the couch. It was worn green velour, and it smelled like fake banana flavoring. Yuck. “Fine.”
He sat behind the desk and began tapping on the keyboard. “Your Steel boyfriend will be here soon. Probably about a day, I’d say.”
“Don’t you dare drag him into this.”
“Why not? Don’t you want to be the damsel in distress? Don’t you want to be rescued? I’ve laid out the breadcrumbs so well that he won’t be able to resist them.”
My father didn’t know me at all. I’d spent the better part of my life rescuing myself. I didn’t need Ryan or anyone else to rescue me. In fact, I didn’t want him anywhere near this place, but he’d come. I knew he’d come for me. “If you hurt him, I sw—”