My baby sister was nineteen and still acted so young.
Naïve and innocent and completely violated.
Locked in that time. Forever a prisoner to the age when she’d been savaged.
Fifteen.
“Okay . . . okay,” I coaxed. Or maybe I was only trying to talk myself down from the ledge. To keep from coming unglued and destroying my purpose. Ruining it all before I got the chance to take that piece of shit down.
“Tell me where you are.”
She whimpered. “I’m in my closet.”
“Okay, good girl. Is your door locked?”
“Y-y-yes,” she stumbled. Wanted to ask her if she had a knife or a gun or a fucking rocket launcher. Girl deserved to blow that shit into the fucking sky and let the bullshit rain down around her.
“Good. Very good.” I raked a hand through my hair, pacing some more, trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do. How I could make this right when I was on the opposite side of the country.
Hours and a few documents and one beautiful girl away from ending this once and for all.
“But I’m scared.” It was a wheeze of shame.
“I know, sweetheart, I know. But you did exactly what we talked about. You did good. So good. What I need you to do is stay there until I call you back, okay? I’ll give you the go when it’s safe to come out.”
“Okay.” The word was nothing but a hitched sob, but in it, I knew she was giving me her trust.
“I’m going to hang up right now, and then I’m going to call you right back. I want you to plug 9-1-1 into your phone and be ready to call it if you need to. If anyone comes into your room before I call you back, call it. Don’t hesitate or question it. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I’m hanging up. I love you, Maggie.”
“I love you, too.”
I ended the call and immediately dialed the number.
Two rings later, Daddy Dearest answered.
“Ah, Royce, to what do I owe the pleasure?” he answered.
“Tell me you didn’t invite that twisted fuck into your house.”
Pretentious laughter rippled out. “I assume you’re talking about our friend Cory.”
My teeth grated so hard I could feel my jaw crack. “Don’t act like a fucking prick. Tell me that cocksucker is not in your house.”
He tsked. “Such a chip on your shoulder, Royce. Green is such an ugly color on you.”
He thought this was about me being jealous? Thought it was about money?
Like any of that bullshit counted. But I knew well enough that it was the only thing that mattered to him.
“Tell me if he’s there, because your daughter is locked upstairs having a panic attack, not that you’d notice or care. I’d just like to let her know when it’s safe for her to come out.”
I could almost see him rolling his beady eyes. “Always so dramatic, isn’t she? Just like her big, bad brother. Making things a bigger deal than they really are.”
It took everything I had to stop myself from putting my fist through a wall, wishing it was his face. Still, I was pressing my knuckles against the pitted, jagged brick, sucking in cleansing breaths before I totally blacked out.
Before rage took over and I said or did something I couldn’t take back.
“Tell me if he is there.” The demand flew off my tongue. Daggers and knives. Sharp enough to kill. I only wished.
“You can cool the overreaction. He’s gone. And before you start making accusations, he showed up at my door. What kind of person would I be if I was so rude not to invite him in? He’s one of our biggest names. The best talent we have. He is the face of our label, Royce, don’t you agree? Besides, Anna was with him. You don’t expect me to be some kind of coldhearted bastard, do you?”
Agony clutched my chest.
Her face flashed through my mind.
The memory a jagged knife twisted in my guts. I slumped forward, my hand pressed to the wall to keep me standing.
Breaths nonexistent.
Lungs caving.
He laughed. The asshole knew exactly how to bring me to my knees.
“He’s gone?”
“As of five minutes ago.”
It was the only relief I could find. That my sister was safe. But that didn’t mean Anna was.
I had to push the thought out of my head. Shun it. It’d been the only way I could stay sane for the last four years.
“And I’m not sure why you’re the one making demands when I don’t have my contract in my hands.”
I was still reeling from Maggie’s scare, but I knew what was important to Karl Fitzgerald. It was my duty to play the part. See it through to the end.
I wasn’t going to mess it up now.
“I told you what it would take for them to sign.”
“The deal was they had the spot at the ACB Awards if they signed. It wasn’t your place to renegotiate.”