Sins of the Father (17 page)

The shaking started in my hands and traveled throughout my entire body. Hot, wet tears scorched paths down my cheeks. It was too late.

She was already gone.

Hours passed and Frank refused to leave her side. He didn’t speak, he didn’t cry, he just knelt beside her, clutching her hand. When the truth finally sank in, he stood and pressed a final kiss to his little sister’s forehead.

There was no sadness in his voice when he spoke. No grief, no desperation. Only pure, untamed fury. “I will make him pay for what he’s done to you. I don’t know how, but I’ll find a way. I swear it.”

*Present day*

I stared out the windshield at the open fields surrounding the stable. At the rope blowing in the breeze from the sturdy branches of a wide oak where a swing used to hang.

“Sylvie was the light of Frank’s life. When she died . . . it was like that light went out. He couldn’t hold back the darkness anymore. He went online, found a picture of your family on some website. Concocted this crazy plan to make your father confess to his part in Sylvie’s death by kidnapping his daughter. Using her as leverage.”

Fi sat stiffly in the passenger seat, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. When she’d seen my scars, she’d looked at them with such compassion. Something I didn’t deserve, especially from her. This girl, this wounded sparrow . . . She had a collection of scars herself. But where mine required an actual covering, hers could be concealed with just a smile. Somehow that was worse. To suffer alone, in silence, the way she did. To never have any physical proof of the pain she’d endured. The pain she’d
survived
. . .

“Did he do it?”

No mother, no sisters. The only significant female presence in my life was Sylvie and she’d grown up surrounded by guys. Women had always been a bit of a mystery to me, but Sparrow . . . I hadn’t the slightest clue where her head was at most of the time. “Who?”

“My father.” A tiny crease appeared across the bridge of her nose. “Did he kill Frank’s sister?”

I sighed. “Your father’s company . . .”

The whole point of this was to expose the truth, but looking at her now, the curve to her spine, the way her arms wrapped around her narrow waist, I couldn’t do it. If we succeeded, she’d learn the truth along with everyone else. If we failed . . . did she really need to know? I was beyond getting back at her father by going through her.

Fi tried to touch me last night, the desire to sooth some of that ancient pain clear in her eyes. I understood that now because I had to curl my fingers more tightly around the steering wheel to keep from reaching for her.

“You asked me before why I did this. I only gave you half the answer. I’m not just here to keep Frank out of trouble. I’m here for the girl in that picture. To keep her safe. To keep
you
safe.” Regret tugged like a fishhook in my gut. “I haven’t done a real great job of either of those things.”

I threw open my door and Fi moved to do the same.

“Stay here.” Not a chance in hell I was letting her walk back in there. Not ever again.
“The key is in the ignition. If Frank comes out without me, I want you to go. Just drive. Find the closest police station and you tell them everything. Understand?”

“Sawyer you can't—”

“Do. You. Understand?”

She hesitated to answer, but when she did it was with a rough nod of her head.
Good
. It was time to put an end to this shit, and as long as she was safe I could do that.

I stalked down the alleyway in silence, hoping to hell that Frank was smart enough to see reason. We couldn’t keep doing this. I couldn’t watch someone else I cared about get hurt. Not even for Sylvie.

The stall door swung open with an ominous creak. I was cautious—on guard for any fists flying in my general direction—but Frank didn’t attack me. He wasn’t lying in wait. He wasn’t sleeping it off.

He wasn’t there at all.

Shit.

“Gone?” Sunlight brought out the golden highlights in Ophelia’s hair where she stood, arms folded across the roof of the car. “What do you mean he’s gone?”

“I mean he isn’t here.”

“You mean he ran?”

I stayed quiet, letting the sun warm my back. That had been my first thought, too. And I couldn’t deny that half my reasoning for coming back here before heading to the police station was to give him that opportunity. But the truth was I didn’t believe it for a second. Frank had never run from a damn thing his entire life. He wouldn’t run from this, either. Not before he accomplished his goal.

“I doubt it.” I pulled out my cell and dialed his number for the bazillionth time. When the ringing gave way to the same mechanical pre-recorded message I’d been getting all morning, I hung up.

Dammit.
The metal roof dented under the impact of my fist.

Fi squinted into the sunlight. “If he’s done with me, but he isn’t giving up . . . Sawyer, I don’t think he’s looking for justice, anymore. I think he wants revenge. What if he goes after my father directly?”

It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. “It would have to be somewhere public. Somewhere he’d get the attention he’s looking for. Somewhere with an audience.”

Ophelia’s eyes grew wide. “I know where he’s going.”

Chapter 18

~Ophelia~

Castlehill College wasn’t all that big, but the campus was a freaking maze, and crowded as hell. Parking alone could have been an all-day affair. Not a problem for Sawyer. He cruised right up to the main entrance and threw it in park. Definitely
not
a parking space, but I guess a ticket from campus security was the least of his worries.

He got out and waited for me to round the hood before taking my hand. My first thought was that he did it to keep me with him—so I didn’t go running off to my father and bring the whole thing crashing down—but when he threaded his fingers through mine and gave them a squeeze, my thinking changed.

“When we get in there, you do what I tell you,” he panted as we raced across the damp, gray concrete. “If things get out of control, the keys are in the car.”

My heart lodged somewhere in my throat. This was really happening. Ahead of us, a small crowd lingered near the entrance to the Business Administration building, waiting to file inside. I scanned the faces, one after another, but Frank wasn’t among them.

We hardly blended in. I got a lot of strange looks, wearing Sawyer’s hoodie, jogging pants, and a pair of his oversized sneakers, but it was the best he had back at the stable. I couldn’t exactly show up barefoot to the annual Business Department Alumni Reception. A chance for the eager up and comers of the business world to rub elbows with the people they hoped to someday work for.

My father said it was an honor to be chosen as this year’s guest speaker. I’d been slotted to accompany him before I fell off the face of the Earth. Put a fresh face on his company and hopefully attract new blood. It hadn’t mattered that I’d wanted nothing to do with it. And even after all that had happened, here I was. Right where I didn’t want to be.

The procession moved at a snail’s pace down a boring white hallway. Billboards hung here and there with announcements pinned to them. Study groups, student employment opportunities, internships . . . the kinds of things I
should
have been worrying about. Instead my mind was solely focused on the likelihood that my father’s life could be in danger at that very moment, and it became a physical effort not to push and shove my way through the throng.

I doubted anyone was paying enough attention to recognize me, but I kept my head down as we were bumped and jostled into the reception hall through a door at the front of the room. A podium stood to our right as we filtered in, with row after row after row of folding chairs lined up all the way to the rear of the enormous space. They were expecting a huge turn-out. And judging by the amount of people already seated and the numbers pouring in behind us, they were going to get it. Two news cameras had been set up along the far wall. If Frank was looking for an audience, he’d found a hell of one.

“Go to the back.” Sawyer tugged me closer and bent to whisper in my ear. “Near the emergency exit and stay put.”

“Where are you going?”

He frowned as his gaze drifted over the packed room. “To look for Frank.”

It had been a fight just to get Sawyer to agree to let me come in with him at all. We didn’t even know for sure if Frank was there and my being in the wrong place at the wrong time had the potential to only make things worse. For now, I’d choose my battles. “Okay.”

Sawyer’s hand slipped from mine as I let the flow of bodies push me along toward the back of the room. The recycled air tasted stale, drying my throat. Voices carried throughout the room, filling the space with noise. Row by row I examined the audience as I moved. No Frank.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe this wasn’t Frank’s plan at all. Maybe he
had
given up. Run for the hills. Gone underground.

In the rear right corner was a metal door with a push bar and a red and white sign that read, ‘Emergency Exit Alarm Will Sound’.  No one noticed when I veered away from the group, but the closer I got to it, the heavier the lump in my stomach grew. Something wasn’t right. There was a chain wrapped around the bar. A heavy padlock, locking it shut.

Frank
was
there.

Chapter 19

~Sawyer~

*Present day*

A hush settled over the crowd as a man in a tailored suit stepped up to the mic. His dark hair glistened with a dignified silver lining around his ears as he cleared his throat and tapped the small pile of papers in his hands. Mr. Reed Tanzen in the flesh. He didn’t look like half the man he pretended to be.

“I’d like to thank you all for being here today. It’s an honor and a privilege to be asked to speak with you this afternoon.” He paused long enough for the audience to decide
they
were, in fact, the privileged ones. “Business is a cut-throat industry. Especially when you’re on top. As you may have learned from my recent upset, some people will do just about anything to bring you down.”

His recent upset? He was talking about Fi. His daughter being kidnapped was a
business
upset
for him. Something to be used as a teaching aid. Reed Tanzen was a Grade-A douchebag.

Tuning out the rest of his bullshit, I surveyed the crowd from my vantage point behind the solid black curtain serving as a backdrop to the podium.
Where the hell was Frank? And what was he—?

My heart turned over when my gaze landed on the emergency exit. I hadn’t even realized I was looking for Fi until she wasn’t there.
What if Frank got to her? I should have kept her with me. If he did anything to cause her more pain . . .

I took a step forward, searching frantically until I spotted her several yards closer than she should have been. Relief and anger clashed. She was safe, but wide, red-rimmed eyes stared back at me. Her father’s words had hurt her. My feet itched to go to her, but I couldn’t. Not now. The element of surprise was all we had on our side. I needed to find Frank before he did something monumentally stupid. Everything else had to wait.

Tanzen droned on between us as I melted back into the shadows. “To be successful you have to be willing to—”

“Lie?” Frank’s voice boomed through the quiet room. “Cheat? Steal? . . .
Murder?
”

Gasps traveled through the room as all eyes turned his way. Frank stood between the podium and the exit. And . . . 
shit,
where the hell did he get a gun?

Chaos broke out as everyone reacted at once. We were too late.

“
Silence!
” The ear-splitting crack of a gunshot cut through the noise. Plaster drifted from the ceiling. “Sit. Down.”

The gun swung out over the audience as everyone settled low in their seats. Fi ducked her head, pulling her hood low. I crossed my fingers and prayed like hell Frank wouldn’t recognize her.

“You came here to learn the secrets to having a successful business. Let’s hear them.” Frank retrained his weapon on Fi’s father. “Tell them, Mr. Tanzen. Tell them what it
really
takes to achieve your level of success. Tell them how many lies you have to tell. How many corners you have to cut. How many regulations you have to ignore. How many agencies you have to pay-off. How many people you have to
kill
. People like my sister.”

Tanzen took a step back, raising his hands in surrender.

“Oh, no. The floor is yours,” Frank insisted. “Tell them about your plant in Little Falls. Tell them about the toxic chemicals you’ve been pumping into the ground water there. Tell them how many people you’ve poisoned. How many of them died so you could earn an extra buck.
Tell. Them
.”

“What?” Tanzen spoke to Frank, but pitched his voice loud enough for all to hear. “What do you want me to say? I’ll say whatever you want. Just let these people go. This has nothing to do with them.”

Sonovabitch, he was putting on a goddamn show even now. He’d say whatever Frank wanted to protect these people? Where the hell was that self-sacrificial nature when his daughter needed him? Bitterness coated my tongue, but I choked it down. That was between Fi and her father. I was here for another reason.

Concealed by the backdrop, I crept around the podium. The steady hum of the air vents filled the silence. Frank had already proven that the gun was loaded, which surprised me, but I was still fairly certain he didn’t plan to actually shoot anyone. Whatever happened, the entire world would see. A pair of tiny red lights glowed on the cameras, broadcasting his every move. It was only a matter of time before the cavalry arrived. I had to get the gun away from him before some trigger-happy ego-trip with a badge decided to make a name for himself.

“Tell them,” Frank rumbled.

“W-we do have a plant in Little Falls,” Tanzen hedged.

“One that produces semi-conductor computer chips?” Frank urged.

“I . . . I don’t . . .”

“One that contaminates the ground water supply with gallium arsenic?” Frank took one step closer. Still, not close enough.

There was no cover on the other side of that curtain, nowhere to hide. If he saw me coming all bets were off. I knew Frank better than anyone and even
I
couldn’t predict how he’d react to what he’d no doubt see as a betrayal. I needed him to come just a little closer.

Tanzen’s face paled. “Please. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Frank’s eyes bulged. A sure sign he was about to lose his shit.

“You
lying
. . .” Sure enough, he stormed toward the makeshift stage. “. . . murdering, son of a—”

I dove, colliding with Frank. There was a momentary flash of shock on his part. An instant where I regretted standing against him instead of beside him.

And then we both went for the gun.