Chapter 4

FOUR

ELLIS

I was wrong… very, very wrong.

The worst situation is being led out of the jet and toward the mansion of the man who is going to kill me. Anxiety is eating away at my stomach as I realize that every second that passes is a second closer to my death. How did I fuck up this badly?

“Please? Please?” I beg.

“Did you ever stop when they begged you?” Tavish asks as he confidently walks ahead of me. There are two burly men who are in charge of dragging me now, leaving him off the hook.

I really feel like I could have appreciated what looks like a beautiful island if I weren’t so busy trying not to hyperventilate.

I’m going to die. I really, really am going to die and I don’t know what the fuck to do about it. This is one of those things that you just can’t ever fathom happening to you. It’s so out of the realm of possibilities that you assume it won’t ever happen. This kind of shit only happens in the movies.

And while I’m over here breathing like I’ve just climbed a mountain, head flicking this way and that like someone’s going to pop out of the bushes to save me, Tavish is strutting along, hands stuffed in his pockets, a pleasant expression on his face. “Damn, this place is nice. I’m starting to think that I’m not getting paid enough for this job,” he says as he looks around. Right inside the door of the grandest mansion I’ve ever witnessed, he picks up a vase and flips it this way and that. “Can I have this?”

“No,” the guy on my left says.

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

“It’s a really nice vase and would look perfect in my house,” he insists.

The guy stares at him and I can’t help but hope that he keeps pestering the guy until he decides that Tavish is the evil dick here and lets me free.

Clearly, luck is never on my side as Tavish grudgingly puts the vase down and keeps walking.

“I just want to let both of you know that this man is delusional and that he’s abducted the wrong guy,” I throw out there.

Neither gives any shits as I’m dragged along even farther down a long hallway and through a door. Inside, an older man flanked by two guards is staring out the window at what looks like a giant flower garden with a large pond. The moment he sees us, he quickly turns and looks relieved.

“You did it,” the man says.

“Of course I did. Did you think I’d fail? It wasn’t even a hard job,” Tavish responds as he notices a vase of flowers that he starts fiddling with. “Now that I see this rather nice island with your private plane and your luxurious mansion, I’m starting to wonder if I got ripped off a bit.”

“Ha, of course not,” the man says. “I’ll tip you generously.”

Tavish seems pleased about that. “Has to be nice finally facing your daughter’s killer, right?”

“You have the wrong person,” I say. “I didn’t kill your daughter. He grabbed the wrong person. I promise.”

“No, he grabbed the right person,” he assures me. “My name is Arthur Wilson.”

He says it like it’s this big reveal, and maybe if I really did kill his daughter, it would be one.

“O-Okay?” I reply. “I’m really sorry your daughter was killed, but I didn’t kill her. I’m just a regular guy. I’ve never done anything like that and I’m so sorry you went through all of that. And I’m sure it would be a huge relief to have your daughter’s killer in your hands, but I’m not him.”

“Ellis… or should I say, Shawn?”

I freeze at that name. Fuck… oh fuck.

I glance at the Scottish man who is over there pocketing something he snatched off the table. “I told you I wasn’t a fucking killer! Please, get me out of here.”

Tavish nonchalantly looks up. “Huh? Did I miss something? I feel like I missed something rather important. Would you guys mind rolling the conversation back to the big reveal? I was uhh… busy,” he says, pockets bulging.

“Shawn, where’s your father?” Arthur asks. “Where is Zachary?”

“I… don’t know. I’m pretty sure he’s dead. I’m really sorry that I can’t tell you more. Can I go? It kind of seems like you know more about him than I do, really. I know nothing about the whole thing. I just would really like to go home. You have a nice house. Really nice house. Bet it’d be even nicer without me in it.”

“I’m still lost. Is anyone else lost?” Tavish asks.

“I’m a little confused too,” the taller of the men near Arthur admits.

“Kill Tavish and shut him up,” Arthur orders.

“Now that, that I understood,” Tavish says as Arthur’s four guards all whip out a weapon at the same time. A shot goes off and Tavish pulls back as a man near the door lunges at him. He slams a knife right into his shoulder before Tavish throws the man to the ground. Panic hits me; I’ve never even been to a gun range before, and now there’s suddenly bullets whipping past my face. I can’t move, I can’t do anything with my ankles and wrists still taped. The only thing I can do is flop onto the floor, which seems like a really fucking good idea.

Tavish is quick; instead of running for the door, he slips behind me as he tears out his gun and shoots one of the men. Like fucking shoots him. Like… blood spraying, bullet in the head, man dropping to the ground, shoots him.

I’m in so much shock that I can’t even comprehend what is happening as Tavish grabs me by the throat and presses the gun against my head .

Why the fuck does it always come back to me being held at gunpoint? What if we… I don’t know, shoot someone else, and then like… the police come cruising in and are like “You poor thing, how did you get wrapped up in this, let’s take you home” and they put me in a luxury jet that delivers me to my front door!

“Clearly, you need him for something and have put quite a lot of time and resources into me finding him, so if you attack me again, I’m going to fucking blow a hole right in his head,” Tavish growls as he starts dragging me back.

I’m… I’m going to be real honest, going out the door with this man is weirdly starting to turn into a good idea.

“You’re making a big fucking mistake, Tavish,” Arthur yells.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Was I supposed to just stand there while you killed me? Is that what I was supposed to do?”

He pulls me through the door, but as soon as we’re through, he drops me with a pained “Fuck.”

Tavish reaches down and yanks at the binds around my ankles, but when it becomes clear it won’t be easy to free me, he jumps up and bolts, leaving me behind.

“No, no, no! You were going to save me! Hey! Come on!” I cry as I flop around like a fish out of water.

The door swings open as Tavish disappears, and I’m left lying on the ground questioning every moment of my life.

“What a mess,” Arthur says as he looks down at me. “But at least I guess I still have you. Why don’t we talk while my men go deal with that asshole, eh?”

“I’d really prefer we didn’t,” I grumble as he gives me a wave.

Two of his men drag me back into the room where he sits down, like there’s not a dead guy on the floor about five feet away. I’m plopped down on a couch across from him. The two men take up their stations on each side of him. One is a big man who looks like he could crush my entire body with his fist and the other is a smaller, thin man who is watching me with narrowed eyes like I’ve singlehandedly ruined his life.

“Let’s talk,” Arthur says.

“I know nothing. Literally nothing,” I assure him. “I was like sixteen. I didn’t even know what was going on. One day, I was told that we were moving somewhere far away, that I had a new fucking name, and that my father had disappeared. That’s all I know. I promise.”

“Oh, I’m sure you know something. I’m sure if you put your thinking cap on, you’ll think of something.”

“I’m positive I won’t,” I say. “My father and I were never very close. You really think he told me some shit that was so secretive that we were driven away from our lives because of it? I don’t know anything .”

“Miller, see if you can help him remember something about Zachary. Anything, really. What might have happened to his father. Or what his father might know. Anything works for me.”

This Miller guy is the smaller of the two, and I find myself weirdly happy it’s not the macho guy that he’s calling over, until I’m made well aware that someone doesn’t need to look like a fucking brick house to knock the air out of me.

I gasp as I slump forward and realize that maybe I want the fucking abductor cult to come back and drive me around in a trunk some more.

“You remember anything now?” Arthur asks, but I can’t even fucking talk, so how am I supposed to say one way or the other?

Miller slams his hand into my face as pain explodes through my cheek and up into my eye.

“How about now?” Arthur asks.

“I-I don’t fucking know.”

I’m punched again and again until Arthur’s phone starts ringing.

“Hold a second, Miller. I’m enjoying this too much to miss any part of it.”

I’m panting, blood dripping from my nose as fear eats at me, rolling up into a tight ball in my stomach. I really don’t know shit. My father wasn’t just jumping around, telling his sixteen-year-old son all of his secrets. I’ve always wondered what he had gotten into, but I have absolutely no idea and probably never will. I assume the secrets are off wherever my father is… if he’s still alive. I often wonder if he’s dead somewhere. Why else would he have just… disappeared?

I really didn’t think his secrets would come back to bite me in the ass twelve years after his disappearance.

“What a fucking mess. Miller, go put him in the basement. Let him think and see if he can come up with anything. Then go deal with this irritating fellow. If I’d known he was going to be such a dreadful mess, I would have had someone else find our guest.”