31

31

STACEY

Once I arrive at the institution, I pop up the pram and place a sleeping Eva into it. I show my badge and tell the receptionist I’m here to see Tobias Mitchell.

She beams down at the little girl with Barry’s eyes and Lisa’s blonde hair then tells me she’ll call my name once Tobias is set up in the room – the special room we always meet in, the one I went to the very first time I visited him, to ask for help with Kade. He managed to pull some strings a few months back because we felt like we needed more privacy for the subjects of our conversations, and it seems he’s persuasive.

Or maybe he’s a violent bastard who threatened the workers here? Who knows?

Once she calls my fake name, I head down the corridor, push the pram off the elevator and a guard opens the door to the room. Tobias is sitting silently, arms crossed, glaring at the table, legs parted like he’s thirty years younger.

His voice is deep as he huffs and says, “I’ve been waiting here for five minutes.”

I sigh and pull off my scarf and jacket. “You say this every day.”

“Because it’s true and keeps happening.” He turns, his face lighting up when he sees the pram. He gets to his feet and smiles down at Eva. “Hello, little princess.”

I’ll never tell anyone, but Tobias has the most beautiful eyes, especially when he smiles. They’re blue, almost silver, and when the light shines on them, they glint. Despite being in his late forties, he’s fit and has kept his chiselled features, the dimples and the straight white smile.

I get why Aria still isn’t over him, even twenty plus years later.

Eva grins and kicks her legs as Tobias lifts her from the pram, sitting at the table and ignoring me while I set up the chessboard between us.

Ten minutes pass of him and Eva ignoring my presence, and I watch as he walks her around the room, telling her pointless facts about the books he’s read from the bookcase.

He does this whenever I bring her, and we never get any work done. The man dotes on Eva.

Luciella always said that despite her father’s illness and struggles, he was always so loving and caring when it came to her and Kade. I can see it, the side of him they got to see growing up. It makes me envious of my best friend, because although my dad died when I was nineteen, we were never as close as those two.

I smile as Tobias tries to read a passage from some ancient book to her, in the most babyish voice ever. She grabs the book and throws it, then breaks out in a giggle as he tickles her.

A few minutes later, she’s cuddling into his shoulder as Tobias hums a tune to her, and he sways until she falls asleep then carefully places her back in the pram. Rolling it to the side, he pulls up the hood to shade her from the lamp light and gives me his full attention.

“I think I like her company more than yours,” he says, stretching his arms above his head, his white top riding up ever so slightly to show that, even at his age, he has abs for days. “But that isn’t much of a competition, since you’re a pain in my ass.”

“Shut up. It’s because she has no choice but to tolerate you.”

Telling Tobias to shut up is risky, but not for me. I’ve thrown every insult under the sun at him and he doesn’t flinch – he just insults me right back.

He snorts and drops onto the single bed in the corner of the room – the room he has set up for visitations with Aria – the fact there is a bed here makes me question a lot, but I keep my mouth shut. He’s lifting a book and pretending to read it. I cross my arms, lean back on my chair and glare at the older version of Kade. “Are you going to take your turn?”

He glances at the chessboard then back to the book. “No. I’m not in the mood.”

I roll my eyes, making sure he can’t see. He says it’s rude when I roll my eyes, which I do a lot. “Remind me why I’m here? You’re pissing me off.”

Kade’s father hums, flipping the page of his book and folding his arm behind his head. “I ask myself that same question every day.” Then his narrowing eyes lift to me. “And watch your fucking language.”

I toss a chess piece at his head, and even though it makes contact, he doesn’t flinch. “Imagine I stopped visiting? You’d only have Aria and Luciella coming to see you once a month. And you get sad when I’m too busy to come.”

He doesn’t look away as he speaks with a smirk. “You always come, little one.”

I groan and turn back to the chessboard. He taught me how to play, along with every other board game he could get his hands on. “I don’t know how Aria has been able to deal with you for over twenty years. I can barely last one without wanting to strangle you.”

“You could try. But that kink is specifically for one woman and one woman only.”

I snap my head at him. “You said you stopped sleeping with her. Did you lie?”

“I don’t lie. When my son told me to back off, I did. Maybe you should do the same. I’m starting to think you want a piece of me too.”

I give him the finger without sparing him a glance.

He chuckles. “Very mature of you. Are you going to eat those chips, or do you plan on staring at them like they’ve offended you?”

I had no idea I was, but I grab the packet of Lays and toss it at him. “You owe me my entire lunch by the way.”

“You’ll live. Have you spent any of that money yet?”

Chewing my lip, I shake my head, but then I stop. “I bought a coffee from Starbucks the other day. I felt bad though.”

“You have eight-six million in your bank and you felt bad for buying a coffee?”

“Hey, I said from the start I wasn’t going to spend a penny!”

“Was it at least a large coffee?”

“No, the large wasn’t worth the money.”

“You are the worst visitor I’ve ever had in my life.”

“Yet I’m still your favourite.”

All he does is grunt like a damn dog while eating the crisps – or what he calls chips.

If I’m not here, he calls me on his secret phone. Sometimes I’m not able to answer, but his obsessive side makes him continuously call until I pick up. I know he doesn’t mean to be overbearing, so I try to be as patient as possible with him.

“I’ll be back later tonight, but I have a hair appointment tomorrow, so I can’t come,” I say, leaning my cheek on my palm, elbow on the table as I swing my legs. “Think you can handle a day without me?”

“Could you handle a day without me?”

“Stop answering my questions with a question! God, you’re more like Kade than you think. Both idiots.”

All Tobias does is chuckle and continue to read.

Once I knock all the chess pieces into the box and fold the board away, I grab my satchel and pull out two notebooks, an iPad and two pens.

I zoom in on the map I bring up and circle an area. “Okay, so based on our latest findings, Kade is in this small town in the west of Russia called Uglich. Barry thinks he’s doing work there until next month.”

That gets Tobias’s attention. He tosses aside the book and joins me at the table. He stands behind my chair and leans over my shoulder. “Did he mention how he is?”

“No, just that he was with…” I gulp down a lump. “Bernadette has a daughter, and he’s with her a lot. Plus, there was a transaction of two million between him and an unknown source two days ago, and the guy Barry has on the inside thinks it’s Kade’s way of trying to do undercover work without his boss knowing.”

“I still don’t understand why I’ve to stay here,” he says, frowning and walking to his side of the table. “My son needs my help.”

“What exactly are you going to do? She has an entire country, and you don’t even have a passport.”

“Do you think I’ve spent the last twenty-two years doing nothing? If I wanted to leave, I could be out of here within the hour.”

I tut. “No, you couldn’t. How would you escape, let alone get to Russia?”

He shrugs, and I have my answer.

“Barry is working on it. We’ll keep tracking him.”

Tobias chews his lip, sadness taking over his expression. “How many people has my son killed?”

“This month? Only five.”

“Only.” He shakes his head and gets to his feet. “It’s the fifteenth. Aria would be horrified if she knew any of this. I should be telling her. She could help him.”

“You’d be putting her in danger.”

“I know.” He looks over at Eva then back to me. “And you still have all of your protection? Christopher can’t get to you?”

I nod – he asks me this every day. “He’d need to survive multiple gunshots to get near me.”

Tobias slouches in the seat in front of me, thinking to himself. “I feel useless. More useless than usual.”

“You sent one hundred guards to Russia to watch Kade – I don’t think that’s useless.” I had no idea he was as resourceful, considering he’s locked up. But apparently, Tobias has a lot of connections.

“They all died within a day,” he replies bluntly.

“And you paid someone to keep an eye on Luciella while she’s at university.”

“But I’m not there. I’m here, in this fucking…” He lowers his voice and glances at Eva. “I need to get out of here.”

“Aria would never forgive you.”

“My son is more important,” he counters. “My kids are more important. Aria can just deal with it.”

I stay silent, because I get it. It must be horrible to know your child is in the situation Kade is in and not be able to do anything about it.

“I need to leave now; I have two minutes left. Eva won’t be with me tomorrow morning, so you might want to get some goodbye cuddles.”

He cheers up instantly when Eva wakes and grabs his face. He tells her he’ll see her soon, then pulls me in for a warm, caring hug. I love getting hugs from him. He doesn’t always give them out, so when he does, I wrap my arms around him tightly and stay until he kisses my temple or the top of my head and tells me to fuck off.

“I’ll bring you chocolates and popcorn for our movie tonight,” I say. “Remember to keep me a seat!”

While I lie in bed, scrolling on my phone, I try to call Kyle, but he messages that he’s at work and will ring me back once he’s finished.

Barry and Lisa are out for dinner with Eva – I said I wouldn’t be joining since I’m going back to the facility soon for movie night.

I click my screen off and toss my phone on the bed, heading up from the basement to grab a drink and fold laundry. I always help around the house. I think they’ve got used to me being in their space to the point that Lisa sometimes prefers me over her husband.

I turn on the speakers around the house. “Porcelain” by Moby plays as I pull my hair into a ponytail and tidy up. I fold a blanket, some dresses and Finding Nemo PJs and take them upstairs to Eva’s room. It resembles a Disney princess room – her name is printed on the wall, her toys stacked up on the chest, her teddy bears all on her little sleigh cot.

Once her room is done, I grab a duster and get to work around the house. The living room is probably the messiest room, since we’re always in it.

I freeze when I walk in and see someone standing there.

The duster drops to the floor.

I gasp out a no and back away until I knock over a lamp, just as he rushes to me and covers my mouth. “Shhh, baby. You need to stay quiet and come with me.”

I’m frozen in place, my heart rate accelerating, waiting, needing Barry’s men to barge through the door and save me. My lungs stop working, terror coursing through me as Chris snakes his arm around my waist and walks me out of the living room.

He drags along the hall to one of the spare bedrooms, and as much as I fight against him, kicking my legs and elbowing him, he doesn’t let me go as he pulls me into a room.

“They’re coming for you, you stupid bitch,” he says, throwing open several wardrobes and swearing to himself. “If I let go, will you scream?”

“Screw you,” I mumble against his palm, sinking my teeth into his hand and drawing blood.

He hisses and throws me to the ground. “Did you not fucking hear me?” He assesses the bite mark on his hand and shakes his head. “They found you. You need to hide.”

My eyes water, my jaw rattling. “How did you get in here?”

Barry has this place heavily protected. Alarm system. Cameras. Security parked outside. Everything.

“Bernadette Sawyer found you,” he says, and my heart sinks. “Her men are coming for you right now. There are two cars outside. We need to hide.”

A tear falls down my cheek as I remember everything he did to me. I was free from him, and now that freedom is gone. “You ruined my life – what makes you think I’m going to listen to anything you say?”

“Because if they find you, she will torture you. Despite what you think of me, I’m all you’ve got.”

“The house is protected. There are guards everywhere.”

“You mean all the guys with slit throats and broken necks? They were already dead when I got here.”

We both jump in fright as the front door crashes open and we hear what sounds like a group of men storming in.

Chris doesn’t let me argue with him as he starts pulling up floorboards. He hauls me down with him, settling them on top of us. I want to scream, but he covers my mouth with force and warns me not to say a word – that he’s protecting me.

The heavy footsteps come closer as they swarm through the hallway. I can see through the thin gaps that they’re all dressed in black with helmets on, faces hidden beneath balaclavas. My body tenses as one of them fires a spray of shots all over the room, the window smashing, mirror shattered, bullet shells dropping above us.

I shake beneath the floorboards, unsure who’s more of a danger to me – Chris or these armed intruders.

More tears fall as Chris keeps a firm grip on my mouth. One of them speaks in a different language, and then I hear a set of heels in the hallway.

“She must have run off. Search the woodlands and replace the tracker on her car,” a woman says, and my nerves shatter when I realise I’ve heard that singsong voice before. “Try not to kill her, but you can mess around with her. I expect Stacey Rhodes to be in my facility by the end of the week. Preferably alive.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Her wine-red hair curls down the front of her tight black suit, breasts spilling out where she keeps her shirt unbuttoned at the cleavage.

I hate her – despise this horror of a woman. I grit my teeth, digging my nails into my palms. I want to yell, to call her a filthy bitch and rip her hair out. If she’s here with her team, and they’re firing openly in my house, not knowing if they’ll sink a bullet into my gut, where is Kade?

Is he here?

My inner questions are answered as she speaks again.

“Don’t let him know why we’re here. He thinks it’s a regular contract. If you see Christopher Fields, shoot on sight. I’m not going to let him get away with stealing our data files.” She’s silent for a moment, then she adds, “Barry Lennox. The owner of this house. Did you find him? His wife and daughter?”

My eyes widen, but my shoulders unstiffen as he replies, “No. Do you want to give orders to look for them?”

“No need. Just kill the brother and bring me Stacey Rhodes.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the guy says again, and she orders everyone to leave – they’ve obviously assumed the place is empty.

I hear a few things smashing, and when we’re sure the coast is clear, I elbow Chris in the ribs and push against the wooden slats. They lift, and when I get up, I turn around and punch him right in the nose as hard as I can, knocking him back into the hole he made in the floor.

“I fucking hate you!”

“Fuck, Stacey, stop!”

I’m impressed he bleeds so quickly, and when he doesn’t try to hit me back like I expect, I punch him again, slapping his face and sinking my nails into his cheek.

I tumble back as he shoves me.

He wipes blood from his lip, giving me a deathly stare. “What the fuck was that for?”

When I turn and attempt to land another punch, he grabs me by the throat and shoves me against the wall, hard enough to hit the back of my head. My vision fogs, and painful pressure makes me groan as dizziness settles in.

“I’m sorry I left you,” he says. “I was going to stop them, but I couldn’t. Do you understand? I gave you the blade. Did you use it? I haven’t heard from any of them since that night.”

I spit in his face. “You made my life hell,” I say breathlessly, my eyes stinging with tears and pain and exhaustion. “Why won’t you just leave me alone?”

“Because I love you.” Chris grabs my jaw in a tight grip. “Believe it or not, I’m trying to save your life. I’m trying to make it right, okay? Let me protect you. Pack your fucking bags and let me protect you. We need to run, Stacey. If not, they’ll kill you.”