CHAPTER 41
Kenzie
I’d had plenty of nightmares about my father finding me one day, but the reality was nothing like the scary dream.
It was worse.
“I told you, I don’t know what happened to the money,” I told him nervously.
I looked into the cold, hard face of my father, Victor Jordan, still unable to believe that he’d been my sperm donor.
He was emotionally vacant, and I couldn’t recognize a single hint of softness for his daughter.
He hated me.
He always had.
From my earliest memories, he’d been a monster, and it hadn’t changed as I’d grown up. My parents had tried to use me to smuggle their drugs into school, but I’d refused. Yeah, I’d taken a beating that had left me unconscious for an undetermined amount of time, but none of my classmates were going to overdose and die because of me.
“You expect me to believe that, you little bitch. Tell me where it is.”
So he could kill me immediately afterward? Oh, hell no. Even if I knew where his money was, I wouldn’t tell him.
I knew this game. I grew up on the streets. All I had to do was give him a location, and I’d get a bullet in the head. I wasn’t really hoping to convince him that I hadn’t stolen the money out of the car the day he’d killed a drug buyer. I was pretty much just stalling for time.
My cheek exploded as my father backhanded me so hard I hit the dirty floor of his hotel room. I saw stars for a moment before I opened my eyes.
We weren’t far from the resort, but at the moment, it felt like a million miles away.
Dane had to be looking for me. I wished I had told him all of my history instead of leaving out the part about having a homicidal father.
I thought it was over. I never stopped being afraid that one of my father’s mobsters would find me, but I thought they lost interest.
Had I known that my father had been paroled, I would have been more careful. I wouldn’t have left anything to chance.
I should have told Dane that I love him.
Because I did.
With all of my heart.
“You can hit me all you want,” I said stoically. “It won’t change the fact that I can’t lead you to the money.”
My suspicions were that it had been spent a long time ago. There had been other junkies and dealers on the street that day, people who wouldn’t have hesitated to swipe satchels full of money.
“Then I’ll find another way to get what I deserve,” he said maliciously.
I propped my upper body up, using the bedframe to support me. “How?” I asked, dreading his new idea.
“You were with Dane Walker, one of the billionaire Walkers. Does he want you back?”
I panicked, afraid to draw Dane anywhere near this crazy bastard. “No. I’m only an employee. He can find another assistant.”
My father hadn’t aged well in prison, and his expression was crazed. He looked the same, but older. Much older. And he still scared the shit out of me.
“I’m thinking you’re lying, girl,” he said as he held up the 9mm pistol, leveling it near my temple. “Look at you in your fancy dress, and where else would you get jewelry. Are those stones real?”
I cringed at the way he was eyeing my birthday present from Dane. “I’m not lying, and I bought this cheap costume jewelry at a thrift store,” I argued, knowing I’d die before I told him what Dane really meant to me.
He’d twist it and use it.
If he knew that Dane would be worried, he’d use me to get anything he could get.
The only thing I could think about at the moment was my need to protect Dane. My life had brought me here to finally confront the man I’d run from for so long. My father didn’t have to tell me he wanted to see me dead. I already knew. I wasn’t leaving this filthy room alive unless I could manage an escape, and my chances weren’t looking very promising.
“If he thinks I know where you are, I could snatch him. His brothers would pay for his safe return,” Victor mused.
“You wouldn’t return him. You’d kill him,” I said angrily.
No innocent victim who knew anything ever walked away from my father. He preferred not to leave witnesses. Luckily, I’d stayed alive, but I’d always feared this moment, the day that I’d have to face the father I’d betrayed.
Victor Jordan was ruthless, and I already knew this wasn’t going to end well.
“You know me well, daughter,” he said with an evil smirk.
Unfortunately, I knew way too much about him.
“I do,” I answered simply. “And you can’t kidnap a Walker. They’re too high profile. You’d have police on your tail before you ever forced him into a car.”
Victor hated the police, and I was hoping he’d back down.
No such luck.
“Fuck the police,” he ground out. “I’m smarter than they are, except for when my own family member rats me out.”
“You killed somebody,” I reminded him. “Do you think you deserved to go free?”
“Yes. I’m your father, but you never did have any respect for me.”
I could have respected him if he hadn’t loved hurting people so much, or if he’d wanted to get out of a criminal life. Maybe even if he’d had the capability to care about his daughter.
But this man didn’t know how to love.
My father was pure evil.
“You tried to kill me. Several times,” I said.
“You deserve to die,” he said maniacally. “And you will. Nobody betrays me and lives to tell about it.”
I swallowed the large lump in my throat. I knew I was going to die, but I wasn’t going to beg him for anything, even my life. He’d never spare it, and I didn’t want to bow down to him during the last moments I had on Earth.
“Do it,” I instructed. “Just kill me.”
“Not yet,” he said. “I’ll do it when I feel like it.”
I knew I’d be taking a risk by challenging him, but I did know him well, and if I wanted something, he’d do the opposite of what I wanted. He was just twisted that way.
He leaned down and hauled me up by one arm, his hold so brutal I felt like my limb was going to snap.
“What are you doing?” I asked, trying to keep the fear out of my voice. He’d get too much pleasure out of that.
“Taking your freedom, just like you took mine.”
He body slammed me to make me move, and I stumbled toward the bathroom.
I shielded my head as he forced me into the bathroom, knowing I was going to fall.
My protective measure didn’t help much. I could hear my head slamming against the bathtub.
I wasn’t fast enough to get to my feet. I laid there for a few moments, trying to get my brain to work.
I listened as he locked the door from the outside. Had he bought the lock and put it in place before I’d arrived? I had no idea, but it would be pretty strange to have an outside locking bathroom door.
A tremulous breath escaped my lungs as I heard a slam of the main door, signaling that my father had left the room.
Looking around frantically, I realized I was trapped.
The tiny window over the tub was miniscule. Probably small enough to fit my hand or part of my leg.
I got up from the floor and yanked on the doorknob, but the door was locked tight.
“Dammit!” I cursed in frustration and fear. “I have to get out of here.”
I was fairly certain that Victor had gone after Dane. He was desperate enough to go after anybody right now.
“Watch your back, Dane,” I whispered to myself as I continued to try to pull the door open.
But it wasn’t budging.
“Please, Dane, please. Don’t go anywhere with him,” I uttered as tears filled my eyes.
I was desperate and frantic, trying and failing at fighting off my fear of my father hurting Dane.
I had to focus.
I had to figure out an escape route fast.
My life and Dane’s depended on it.