17.
MADDIE
Maddie had been expecting to appear in the room Damien had been in, confront him with her weapon drawn, and demand the answers she needed. When her surroundings changed, though, she was in a corridor in his ship rather than the room she’d seen on the cameras.
She swore under her breath as she looked around, trying to decide which direction to go in. Damien might be alone in that room, but she doubted he was alone on the ship. She should have gotten a blueprint of the layout before porting in.
She looked at the bracelet on her wrist and considered pushing the button. She could just nip back to the room and grab a blueprint, maybe even narrow down the coordinates, and then come back. Mind made up, she went to press the button.
A “Hey!” stopped her.
She froze. She could just press the button. But the second she disappeared Damien would be told of the breach and he’d be surrounded by all the security in the world. She’d never get a chance to speak to him.
So she pushed the bracelet up her sleeve where it wouldn’t be seen and hurried to hide the pistol. It went in the front of her pants, hidden by the oversized sweater she’d borrowed from Redek. Damien would probably demand she was searched, if she even got to him, but it was worth trying.
She turned around and came face to face with one of Damien’s guards from the compound. She definitely recognized his face, and his name was on the tip of her tongue. Flix, or something like that. “Hi,” she said.
He stared at her like she’d gone crazy. His gun was drawn and aimed at her head. She didn’t trust that she could even get to the bracelet before the bullet had hit her. “Arms up. Hands behind your head.”
She did as she was told and hoped she’d secured the gun well enough. “I want to see Damien,” she said, voice stronger than she’d thought. Her resolve was flawless, though. The second she’d seen him on the cameras she’d known she was going to follow this through to the end.
Flix hesitated. It was obviously that was what he’d been planning on doing with her anyway, but now he was doubting it. He didn’t want to give in to her demands, either. “Turn and walk,” he instructed. “Don’t even think about trying anything. I’ll fire without hesitation.”
“I just want to speak to him,” she assured, and followed his instructions as he told her which doors to walk through. It didn’t take them long to reach a set of double doors and they didn’t see anyone else on the way there.
“Sir!” Flix shouted.
“I’m busy,” Damien replied. His voice echoed everything she’d seen on the camera. It was angry and out of control.
She had no idea how speaking to him would go. It could be anything from demanding she be immediately executed to telling her everything. She’d never thought of him as unpredictable.
“The girl is on the ship,” Flix replied, voice wavering a little. He obviously wasn’t used to this Damien either. “Maddie is here. I have her.”
The door was ripped open, and Damien stood on the other side, hands clenched into fists at his side. He stared at her, and she stared right back, refusing to flinch. “Hi,” she said, sarcasm drenching her words.
Goading him might not be the best tactic, she decided, when he practically snarled at her. “Bring her inside.”
She walked forward until she was in the center of the room and then turned to face him. She came immediately face to face with the barrel of the gun Flix had been pointing at the back of her head while she walked, and almost jumped backward in surprise.
She wasn’t going to be weak here, though.
“You can leave,” Damien said to Flix.
Flix hesitated. “She might harm you.”
“Does she look capable of harming me?” he turned a glare on Flix, and Flix just bowed his head.
“Should I wait outside?”
“No. Search the ship with others, make sure no one else got on board.”
Damien shut the door as Flix left, and left them alone together. “So,” Damien said, coming to stand opposite and folding his arms. His face had gone back to a composed mask scarily quickly, and Maddie swallowed the lump in her throat. “What did you do to get your bodyguard to abandon you so quickly? Here running back to my safety, are you?”
She wanted to rage and shout, but she bit her tongue to think about what she wanted to say. “Redek would never abandon me.”
“Oh, that’s what you think. Everyone has a price.”
“Why didn’t you offer it to him, then? Instead of killing all these people?”
“I never intended to kill anyone. Well, except him. They’re the ones who fought back. I didn’t spill the first blood.”
“You invaded their home.”
“I searched their home.”
“You don’t need an army to search.”
“You do in a place like this. It’s feral.”
“How did you get the IU to help you with this?” All their plans to take their information to the IU and get Damien arrested had gone down the drain because of this.
“I asked.” His smugness was overwhelming. “So, your boyfriend hasn’t given up on you, yet you choose to come here. Why?”
“I want to ask you some questions.”
“About?”
“About my parents.”
“I see. Removing the tracking device restored your memory, then.”
“Some of it.”
“If you think I’m going to give you answers, you’re mistaken.”
“Why?”
“After you’ve caused me all this trouble? I’m going to give you nothing but pain,” he replied. His control was slipping, though. It was a mad glint in his eyes as he said it, and goosebumps littered Maddie’s skin.
This had been a mistake.
“What have you got to lose?” she asked, the pistol felt like it weighed a ton where it was resting in the front of her pants. So did the bracelet around her wrist. She had two options when this started going badly, and she hadn’t decided which one she was going to take. “So tell me and kill me afterward. I’ll be dead either way.”
“No one said anything about you dying.”
“So let me live with the pain of knowing my dad is alive and I’ll never get to meet him,” she baited instead.
“Why would you care even if he was?” There was an edge to his voice now, as though she’d hit a sore spot. “You’ve never known him. You don’t even remember him. Why would it matter?”
“What, you mean, why am I not content with what you gave me? A little house of my own in the garden where you came and saw me once in a blue moon to make sure I hadn’t done anything stupid and was still feeding you all the information you needed to stay rich?” she spat. She’d been the one to lose control in the end. She should have known she would. “Where you watched me through cameras and didn’t let me have a day to myself, ever? The last two days have been better than the rest of my life spent in that fucking prison.”
This was making Damien shut down further, not get mad like she’d been hoping, though. “I should have realized raising you like I did would make you ungrateful. I spoiled you.”
She’d pulled the gun on him before she could stop her arms from acting. They were shaking with rage, and she doubted she’d hit him even if she pulled the trigger. “How dare you?” She was close to tears. “How fucking dare you? You killed my mom in front of me, and say you spoiled me?” She laughed, gun moving with her. “You’re fucking crazy. You’ve lost it.”
Damien only smiled. “I’m the crazy one?”
She knew she looked hysterical—she was hysterical—but how else could she be? She’d been controlled and manipulated her entire life, and had finally gotten to face her captor knowing everything he’d done.
The fact she hadn’t just shot him right away was a miracle in itself.
“Tell me if he’s alive, or I’ll shoot.”
“No, you won’t.”
That was the final straw.
She pulled the trigger.