Daddy's Here(38)

I tried, my arm swinging upwards. He caught it easily, twisting it back towards me until I screamed in pain. I slid backwards out onto the landing and he followed, still swaying. “You’re just like your mother,” he said, leaning down over me. “Weak.”

“Fuck you,” I said, watching as his face contorted with rage. He pulled his arm back as I scrambled away from him.

“Come here,” he screamed, running at me. His expression changed as he caught his foot on a hole in the carpet, flying forwards, his head thudding into the banister that separated the stairwell from the landing. He slumped straight down and blood began trickling out from where he’d struck his skull. It soaked into the carpet, a dark pool slowly spreading towards me.

I thought about calling an ambulance but only for the briefest of seconds. Then I sat cross legged and watched my father die. I didn’t feel a thing as I watched him. All emotions left me and I was just an observer, silently watching as his life ebbed away.

That was exactly how I felt as I drove. I was cold and empty, focussed on nothing but the job at hand. It made thinking easier. Back when my father had died, I was able to plan my lies, how I’d found him like that, how I’d tried to help him. All of that bullshit. It meant that when they interviewed me about it, I had the story sorted.

I ran through things as I drove, able to plan without being troubled by fear. She’d be taken to Tony’s house. He wouldn’t have it any other way. She’d be taken to his house and kept there until the wedding. He’d work on her to make sure she walked down the aisle without any fuss. His house.

My mind moved onto his house, the layout, where the guards were, where the cameras were. I could get in there easily enough. It would be a challenge, dealing with the guards and then him. But there was no question of not going through with it. I needed to make one stop on the way and then it would be on. He better be ready, because I sure as hell would be.





TWENTY-NINE



ISABEL





When the bag was pulled off my head, I found myself looking up at a white haired man who seemed utterly indifferent to my plight. He was picking something from under his fingernail, only giving me the slightest of glances before continuing with what he was doing. I tried to scream but the gag was still in my mouth and only muffled noises came out.

“You’ve given me a lot of trouble,” he said. “I hope you’re not going to give me any more.”

The entire journey, I expected Jake to save me. Even as I was dragged out of the car and manhandled into this room, I thought he’d save me. My hopes only started to fade when I looked around me. Besides the white haired man who was dragging over a chair to sit opposite me, there were two other men in suits, both with guns at hand as if they’d walked straight off the set of an action movie.

“I’m going to take that off you,” the man said, pointing at my gag. “And you’re not going to scream. Understood?”

I nodded slowly as he clicked his fingers. Someone behind me undid the gag and the cloth fell out of my mouth, leaving me to work my jaw up and down where it had rubbed so violently against me. “Who are you?” I asked, my voice hoarse, my throat dry.

“I’m going to be your father in law,” he replied. “Don’t you recognise me?”

“Tony Matteo?”

“The very same.”

“I’m not marrying Kingsley.”

“Oh, that is a shame. I suppose I’ll just have to have Jake killed then.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“It’s perfectly simple. Either you put on the dress I’ve bought for you and accompany me to the church where I have a very friendly vicar happy to marry you and Kingsley or I have Jake Murdoch killed. You’ve got a thing for him, haven’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit. You don’t get to my age without learning a bit about people. If he’s gone rogue, it’s because of you. What did you do, let him take you up the arse?”

“Fuck you.”

“No, thanks. It’s not me you’re marrying.”

“I won’t marry Kingsley!”

“You will or Jake goes bye-bye.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

I thought frantically. Was he bluffing? It didn’t look like he was bluffing. I could attack him and run for it but could I get past his guards? How far would I get before they caught me?

“You promise you won’t hurt Jake?”

“I am an honourable man, Isabel. I will not lay a finger on him if you marry my son.”

“Why me? Why does it have to be me? Why not pick someone else?”