Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“Through me?”
“Yes.” He steps closer, circling me like a predator inspecting his prey. I watch him as much as I can, but he keeps entering the blind spot behind me as I can’t turn around. The only thing worse than watching him is not being able to see where he is. “I’m going to pretend you’ve been kidnapped. Actually, you have been kidnapped. But I’m not going to let on I know anything about it. I just need to make sure Axel Rhodes thinks you’re alive, and make sure he’s desperate enough to pay for your return. And then …” He gestures to the bat, casual and menacing. “Then I take care of the rest. End you, and the only witness is gone. No one will suspect a thing. I wouldn’t leave a trace.”
I feel a monstrous fear creep into me. I know he has spent a long time planning the details of how to extricate me from his life. If he kills me, no one will ever find a trace of me. There is one thing he might not have considered though, and I have to work with what I’ve got.
“What makes you think Axel cares about whether I live or die?” I ask. We had Paris, but Sheldon doesn’t know about that. As far as he knows, we hate each other.
“Oh, I see the heated looks, but I don’t expect him to care about you personally. For him to get his half of the estate, you have to fulfill your part of my dear stepfather’s requirements. And trust me, he fucking cares about his precious business. It’s everything to him. He’ll give up his life for it.”
I choke on a sharp breath. “You can’t … You won’t get away with this.”
He laughs, the sound hollow and cruel. “Oh, but I will,” he says confidently. “You see, Jo, no one has ever doubted me. Never. I have given no one reason to suspect me of anything other than being the good-for-nothing, harmless stepson. I play my part perfectly. Think about it. You’re pretty astute, but even you liked me and felt sorry for me.”
I see the cruel precision in his eyes, the calm logic behind his plan, the way he’s already thought everything through. My chest tightens, the icy cold fingers of fear squeezing my heart, unrelenting. Because again, he’s right. For the first time in my short life, I feel the stark reality of my own mortality pressing in on me.
“You’re … serious,” I whisper, trembling. “You really think you can get away with killing me?”
“Yes, but believe it or not, I am sorry about that. But it’s got to be done. The person you have to blame is your father. If he had not been such a tight bastard. If he had what is rightfully mine, half for me I would never have to resort to this low-level thuggery. But as he did not, I have had to take matters into my own hands. I have planned every last detail,” he says, pacing slowly now, his strides deliberately measured. He moves back and forth across the concrete floor, the shadows stretching with him, creating a dizzying, hypnotic rhythm. At least he stays in my line of vision now. “This has taken a lot of planning. Patience. Patience, Jo, that’s the key to this whole thing.”
I grip the arms of the wheelchair, my knuckles white, my heart hammering. I try to think of Axel, of my mum, my parents, of anything that gives me strength. But the chaffing restraints, the concrete beneath my boots, the sound of Sheldon’s footsteps … it’s suffocating me.
“You can relax a little for now. You have a few days,” he says finally, leaning casually against the wall, bat in hand. “Axel will want proof you’re alive before he pays your ransom. That’s a precaution. He won’t just send money without it. You’ll be here, safe, for now.”
“Safe?” I echo, my voice trembling with incredulousness. “I … I’m not safe. You’re holding a bat. You just hit me with it.”
“Correct,” he says smoothly, stepping closer. “And I intend to continue to do so until I get what I want. Every move you make, every thought you think, it’s all irrelevant. You’re a tool. And tools must be used precisely. But I will say this. If you behave yourself and do what I tell you to do, then I won’t need to hit you. And I might even let you have food and water.”
My pulse is racing, my chest tight, every nerve screaming. The room is cavernous, but Sheldon’s presence fills it completely, swallowing the light and the air. I am afraid that soon, he will swallow my resolve, my will to live.
“You … you’re sick,” I manage, my voice shaking. “This isn’t normal. You can’t do this to me.”