The irony of my existence… Don’t I know it? Isn’t Elaine the sole reason I’m in a basement bound to a chair right now?
I nod.
“And then one day…” He stops talking when the door opens, and the sound of heels against the stairs comes to us. We both turn our heads to see Mrs. VanHorn coming toward us.
“Dereck… I’m pretty certain he knows what it is to fall in love again.” She says before coming toward him and languorously kissing him. “Love knows no bounds, right Mr. Spencer?” If being underestimated is perfect to create an element of surprise, being overestimated helps you kill your prey without effort. You don’t need to do anything but pretend you know what the people in front of you are hiding for them to feed you more than what you’ve actually discovered.
So I swallow the surprise of seeing her kiss this guy after she told me she used him and nod.
“We have a problem, Mr. Spencer. We haven’t found your computer yet. Your research is quite sensitive, and destroying any evidence is the key to my happiness. Would you mind kindly telling me where I could find it, so I wouldn’t have to hurt your son?”
“Not that you would do that yourself...” I smirk while my heart drops at the idea of her touching Aito.
“I never did anything myself. I’m a poor brainless housewife Mr. Spencer, who only thrives through social status and charity events. Isn’t it how my dear daughter has pictured me?”
She jerks her head toward her nephew, who instantly obeys and comes toward me. His hand wraps around my injured arm and presses into my injury. I clench my jaw not to scream and breathe in deeply.
“Where is your computer, Mr. Spencer?” His thumb pushes in, and I fist my hands to release the jolt of pain I feel in my arm.
“There is nothing on my computer. Do you think I would be stupid enough to keep files in there knowing the risks I was taking uncovering the death of a beloved NASCAR driver?” I have nothing on my computer except, by now, Tessa’s birth certificate, which would trace back to Andre being her father even if he’s not.
“So you know?” Dereck narrows his eyes on me. I didn’t yesterday, but he just admitted that he has something to do with it.
Still not giving them shit, I shrug.
My SEAL buddies and I played poker a lot in between missions and being good at reading people, I won a lot. I could tell who was bluffing and when, but they could rarely tell when I was. If in poker you bluff for your opponents to fold, bluffing in life becomes a subconscious defense against a threat, and you need to be sure of your opponent’s reaction not to end up dead. If I’m not entirely sure of the extent of the power of Mrs. VanHorn, then I know Dereck is quite in love with a manipulative bitch, and I can turn this to my advantage.
“I know what Mrs. VanHorn told me, blaming you for Fitzpatrick’s death and Andre VanHorn being her soulmate.”
Dereck snaps his gaze toward her, and his son releases my arm. Blood rushes to my open flesh, and it takes everything in me not to let the ball of bile in my throat end up on my knees. I gulp the queasiness back down my pipes and focus on the task at hand.
Playing them against one another might be my only chance to come out of this alive.
“She was adamant about living with the love of her life. You didn’t think this was you Dereck, did you? She even said something about you being a poor bloke crushing on her.” Mrs. VanHorn sends me the equivalent of a death stare for me to shut up, but seeing the distress on Dereck’s face and even more on his son, I know I’m on the right path.
“Yes. She even said she would get rid of you once all this is done so there will be no witnesses…”
“I thought we were getting rid of Andre? Making it look like a suicide after he retracted from the race for being unmasked as a liar on his military service?”
“Dad, shut up.” The son finally speaks, “you don’t know what he knows or not and what Emeline told him. He’s just playing the game.”
“Am I? Do you trust your aunt so much that you will bet your father’s life on it?”
“Shut up!” The guys scream, “VanHorn has to die!”
I can’t ignore the adrenaline rushing through my veins being in the fucked up situation I’m in. That guy is unstable and has an issue with Andre VanHorn. Dereck is ready to lose his shit because he loves a woman who is using him.
Mrs. VanHorn is set to kill me so that I will shut up, and I idiotically love every second of it. Even if I know, she has eyes on Aito. I have no control whatsoever on what is happening in front of me, but I’m elated and high on danger.
Fuck, I’ve missed this.
I’ve missed myself.
“I get it, man. I hated the navy SEALs for a while after I found out they failed me. So what did the CIA do to you?” He doesn’t answer, and I decide not to push him so I won’t risk perishing at his hands. Even if I am now playing with my safety, I’m not entirely ready to die.
“So if you don’t have any information on your computer,” Mrs. VanHorn tries to redirect the train wreck that conversation became, “where do you keep the drive with the files?”
I roll my eyes. “The Cloud, Mrs. VanHorn. Everything is in the Cloud. Password protected Cloud that only one person has access to in case I disappear more than twenty-four hours. We’re almost there, right?” I see the slight panic in her and Dereck’s eyes, and I know I have them in the midst
