I’m in a basement.
The plastic sheet on the floor isn’t a good omen. The black leather suitcase in the corner either.
The windows are too small for me to escape.
The knot they tied around my wrists is nothing I can’t get out of, but I still need an escape plan. Walking through the house doesn’t seem the best way out, especially without any weapons.
“Have you figured it all out?” She looks like a praying mantis. Her eyes are a little too big for her head, her nose pointing in the air and her eyebrows shooting up like antennas. She’s ready to devour me, giving zero fucks she could demolish her daughter in the process.
Knowing so, I’m not dumb enough to answer. If a shake of my head won’t guarantee me to live, a nod will ensure I die.
“Because I figured out a lot of things about you, Mr. Spencer.”
The arrogance of this woman shines through her indifference. I snort out loud and feel the gun pushing against my neck. Mrs. VanHorn turns around, and I take advantage of sliding my eyes around the room. There are indeed only two men here with her. But how many upstairs? And where the fuck am I?
She drags a chair from the wall to the middle of the room and sits, looking at me intensively with a smirk on her lips.
“Your son is cute. Extremely cute. And I’ve been sorry to hear you lost your nanny, again...”
I frown. The last one we hired was late that day when Jackson arrived at the bar, but last I heard, everything was fine, and she was perfect for Aito. Naomi didn’t tell me anything about her leaving or needing to find a new one.
“You didn’t know? It’s fairly new. She had an accident. But, we found her a replacement. Our common friend vetoed her. He used to be much better at not trusting people. But again, Andre and his dad go way back. Maybe that’s why he’s less suspicious than usual.”
I groan, hearing she fooled Dex. No one seems to be able to fool that guy. And there she is.
“Okay, I bite.” I tell her with a little amusement in my voice even if I don’t find the situation entertaining at all, “what do you have on me?”
“Everything,” she says with a triumph in her voice. “I always need to know who my opponents are so I can make them disappear. You’re disturbing the peace, Mr. Spencer. A peace it took me a long time to establish. And it’s too late now. Tessa is asking about Garrett. You’ve requested her birth certificate, dug for an adoption that doesn’t exist, came back to the source of all evil. You’re an inconvenience, Mr. Spencer. You couldn’t rest your search on Andre and let it be. You had to go deeper, because like my husband, you’re in love with a Richards’ girl. We’re quite exquisite, aren’t we?”
Impassive, I don’t react to her provocation. I work on the knot on my wrist, trying to make her speak more, to avert her attention. The two goons are drinking every one of her words in and barely looking at me.
I’ve learned a long time ago that conceited people love to hear themselves talk. The same way they like to send long emails. They can’t stop. A simple nod will make them go on. So I do.
“She had to look like him. I slept with him once. Since childhood, it was always Andre and I. Always. We were soulmates since the day we met. Do you know how rare it is to find your person, the one you’re meant to and have him by your side for so long?
“I will spare you the details. You certainly know how the story ends. You’ve figured it out by now. Accidents happen. Garrett had to die the moment he asked for Tessa’s guardianship. Thank God his friend Dereck told me his plan. Dear Dereck always had a crush on me, even when he was with my sister. May she rest in peace. Andre is a good man. When he figured out what I did, he covered it all up. It was an easy task with the resource he had. The adoption is a scam, yes, but Andre is the father of Tessa. It’s written on her birth certificate. That’s your missing piece, isn’t it? Her birth certificate.”
I slowly slip the rope from my wrists and wait for an opportunity. A noise. A change of atmosphere. A hesitation. Anything that could give me an advantage. When I realize she has stopped speaking, I nod.
“Killing you is going to be a pleasure, Mr. Spencer. Having my daughter distraught because you disappeared, much less. But a mother has to do what a mother has to do, I guess.”
She jerks her head slightly, and from the corner of my eye, I see one of the goons reaching for my arm with a syringe. Jumping on my feet, I swing my arms up, duck forward, and in a quick movement, take the gun from one of the guys while punching the other. My feet are still tied up, but in one jump, I get the syringe from the teetering man and plant it in the arm of the one who was holding the gun. Seconds have passed, but by the time I’m ready to point the gun on Emeline VanHorn, she has already fired her weapon. And with a last thought of my son, I fall.
Chapter Twenty-Five
TESSA
“Why are you laughing, Tessa?” Dr. Saman asks.
I can’t stop thinking of the Humvee erection story Oliver and I laughed about the first time we kissed. I ended up laughing hysterically when he told me the troubles it was for him to get inside the vehicle with a hard dick every time he was on a mission.
Stupid and easy laugh,
