He stared at me for a moment as if considering my request then suddenly reached his hand out and viciously ripped the tape off my mouth. I gritted my teeth to stop myself from crying out
with the pain.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ both Rosalind and Bianca screamed.
‘Relax, what’s she going to do? Scream and alert the neighbors. There’s nobody for miles in this godforsaken part of the world. Let her have a few last words. Besides I like hearing her
talk. I like her lips.’ He leered as he said that.
‘I can give you money,’ I cried.
He sighed exaggeratedly in a pretend sad way, the way Mafia killers in movies do. He was really enjoying this. ‘I allow you to talk and this is what you say. Disappointing. Truly
disappointing.’
Tears burned the backs of my eyes. I knew my last hope was my secret. I had vowed never to tell, but there was no point in keeping it any more. In fact, I no longer knew why Robert had
put me through this whole charade. In the end I still ended up their prey. I wanted to live and I would do what it took to survive.
‘I’m not who you think I am,’ I cried out.
Dorian smiled, the sick twisted, smile of a nasty boy pulling the legs off insects just because he could. ‘Go on then. Who are you?’ he taunted. The others said nothing.
‘I’m not your stepmother. I’m your half-sister. I’m Robert’s daughter.’
Dorian’s eyes bulged with shock. ‘Bollocks’ he shouted.
‘No, it’s not. I can prove it. I have the results of the paternity test. It’s with my solicitor. We’re flesh and blood.’
Rosalind stalked towards me. ‘You’re telling me, you’re my sister?’
‘Yes,’ I said.
‘And why are you telling us this now? Do you think that we will take pity on you because one microscopic sperm from my father, one that should have been flushed down the toilet, instead
impregnated a whore’s egg and produced you?’
‘My mother was not a whore,’ I said through gritted teeth.
‘Yes, she was.’
‘She wasn’t. She was a dancer.’
‘Oh well, here’s something you didn’t know. Your mother sold her body to pay for her treatments.’
I felt angry tears flood my eyes and start dribbling down my face. ‘I don’t believe you,’ I shouted angrily. My mother was the one pure thing in my life.
‘Believe what you want. As if I care either way. You’re not my sister. I hate you and I’ve always hated you. If anything this makes me even happier to get rid of you. How could Robert
favor you over us? If we didn’t have to preserve your face, I would love to punch it in.’
‘Don’t even think about,’ Dr. Spencer interjected. ‘Keep the emotions out. Or we’ll all be rotting in prison.’
I concentrated all my attention on Rosalind. ‘The money was not for me. It is supposed to be used for the charity.’
She frowned. ‘That ridiculous turtle nonsense?’
‘Yes. It is not for me. I’m just supposed to administer it. Make sure the foundation carries on in the way Robert wanted.’ Then an idea occurred to me. ‘But I can sign it all over to
you.’
She stiffened suddenly. ‘Thank you, but that won’t be necessary. I’ll just do it the old fashioned way. Murder.’
‘That’s just stupid. Why take such a big risk? Don’t you think the police would find it very suspicious that I came here for no reason at all and drowned in a shallow lake?’
‘Maybe, but if there is no proof of foul play… ’
‘Are you sure you covered all your tracks Rosalind. In this day and age there are many way to trip up a murderer? How did you get here? How many CCTV cameras caught your face, or
Dorian’s, or Bianca’s?’
Then I saw a tiny glimpse of hope. A look crossed her face. Uncertainty.
I pressed home my point. ‘My marriage is not legal. You have the proof sitting in my solicitor’s safe. You can contest the will.’
‘You must think I was born yesterday. And while I’m doing all this, you’re not going to tell anyone that we kidnapped you and brought you here intending to kill you.’
‘Who would believe me?’
She shook her head. ‘Nope. I’ll take my chances with murder. It’s worked for millennia. It’s how all my ancestors got rid of their enemies.’
I could feel the adrenaline pumping in my blood. I could take her. Even bound up I could whoop her ass. She was not as clever as she thought. I stared at her fiercely. ‘You don’t get it.
I’ve already transferred all my money into the trust. None, of you can touch it without me.’
Dorian and Bianca froze.
‘You’re lying,’ Rosalind shouted, but I could see that I had unsettled her for the first time. For the first time I had the upper-hand. I could do this.