steady, a stark contrast to how I felt due to years of practice pretending.
He winced slightly at that. “I don’t want anything. David wants to speak with you. Leave your weapons out here, come inside, and have a chat.” He pulled Claire back another step, suggesting he would easily disappear with her if I didn’t follow.
I nodded, “I'm bringing Victor with me, and we'll leave our weapons. That's the best I can do.” I worked hard to keep the desperation off my face.
He smiled sadly, “Mason, you're not in a position to bargain here.Come inside quickly,” he whispered the last words so Dimitri wouldn't hear. I did as he asked, first removing all my weapons and then placing them on the ground. I tried to leave the gun on my ankle, considering it a low risk versus a high reward.
“The ankle, too, Mason,” Daniel said, ruining that plan. He pulled Claire back, and she made a frightened sound in her throat. I nearly burst out of my skin in my desperation to get to her. She was so fucking close. I needed her safe, in my arms, preferably somewhere far away. But I forced myself to stay calm for now. I stepped into the home that reminded me of so much pain. My eyes never left Claire for a moment.
“Your father has missed you. He wants to see you.” Daniel said loudly as he closed the door, almost performatively compared to how softly he'd urged me inside. “Right this way,”
As soon as the door closed, his persona changed entirely. Everything about his demeanor became warm, open, and friendly. “Mason, we don’t have a lot of time. He’ll be down soon, and I want to help you out of this.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? Let her go.” I stepped toward Claire again, and he stepped back.
“The entire place is under surveillance, Mason. They’ll see if I let her go. I won’t have a chance to tell you my plan then.”
“You're going to let her go!?” I asked, not daring to hope he was on my side.
“Yes,ifyou follow the plan. Now let's go.” He pulled Claire down the hall, the knife still pressed against her neck. She was utterly fucking terrified. My father and his men did awful things to her, or maybe she knew something about Daniel I didn't. I followed quickly behind them, keeping my gaze on the knife at her neck. He hadn't so much as nicked the skin, and that gave me pause enough to hear him out. I also didn’t have much choice.
“What fucking plan is that, Dan? Because from here, it looks like you’ve stabbed me in the back in every possible way.”
“Not ineveryway. Notyet.” I followed him into my mother's breakfast nook. My heart ached at the sight of it. It hurt even more when I saw Mila kneeling on the ground, bruised and beaten. I was wrong, so fucking wrong. How many fucking ways could one personbewrong?
He brought Claire to kneel beside the other women but kept his hand tightly around her arm. Rage coursed through me, I stepped toward him, and he jerked the knife toward her neck. She whimpered into the gag, her body shaking. I stood back, putting my hands up.Trust what you know, Sharp. He is not on your side. He has a knife to her throat.
His eyes moved to the doorway, “We only have a few minutes before he comes down, but ultimately, it's simple. You and Claire need to run,” he pulled the knife about an inch from her throat and looked at me with such beseeching eyes it rocked my confidence for a moment, “I don't want to see you dead, and he will never stop coming for you. I can help you. Iwantto help you.”
“I don't know about that, Dan.” And I didn't.
“You can have a family, Mason,” he looked into my eyes, reminding me that he had seen the roughest parts of me and still was my friend. “I know your mom won't be able to meet your kids, but you could have them. You could have a family and be a good dad, but not if you stay in this house and die. So I need you to make a decision.” He took an eager step forward, and I hated to admit to myself how tempted I was by the pretty picture he painted, even without knowing his cost.
“I'm not inclined to make such decisions with your fucking knife pointed at her throat.” He looked to the corner of the ceiling, turning his body so he wouldn't be directly on the camera. He lowered the knife.He lowered the fucking knife.
“Alright, Mason. Now hear me out before he comes down here and makes your pretty wife another one of his sex slaves.” Dan gestured toward the woman who lured Claire out of the library, “You know how he is with them. She’s been waiting here for him for hours.” And even after what she did, I couldn’t find it in me to hate the woman. She may be kneeling on a pillow, but she didn’t cut herself.
“Get to the fucking point, Dan.” I was scared shitless to face my father, even if I had resigned myself to dealing with it, and the urgency had my thoughts scattered.You know how he is with his sex slaves.Something about that felt off.
He smiled in a way that wasn't as kind as all his previous expressions. “It's simple, Mason. I need you to sign over the remaining balance of your trust fund to me. He leaned down and pulled a briefcase out from one of the cabinets. Turning the same way so he wasn't directly on camera. He opened it, revealing stacks of hundreds.
“It's only two hundred thousand, but it should get you pretty far. I'll wire you another ten million when you get somewhere comfortable. Then, I'll fake your death, and David will be none the wiser.”
“Then why do you need the money, Daniel?” Claire’s eyes were screaming as well as Mila’s.
He shrugged, “I need a pair of dead bodies, and it's a tremendous risk. I barely convinced your father I wasn't working with you, and I didn't know the pier was a setup. Still, I'm not going to pretend I'm a fucking saint, Mason. You want your freedom, and I want your money.”
I stared at Claire long and hard, trying to decide what to do. She shook her head slightly, pushing her skin into the blade to tell me no. I gave her the subtlest nod I could manage. I needed to trust her as I should have all along.
“Is it that much to ask?” Dan continued, “All the things you never wanted for the one thing you want more than anything else?”
Mila thrashed and screamed, trying to give me the same message Claire had.Don’t fucking do it.I didn't try to provide Mila with the same assurance I'd given Claire as she was distracting Dan from Claire.
Before I could figure out what to do next, how to finesse my way out of whatever this bullshit was, the woman from the library screamed.
“Your father is dead! He's going to kill us all!”
Chapter 26