Page 36 of By Sin To Atone

He smiles. “She won’t help you. No one will.”

I study him. I know he’s right. “Did Wren text back?”

“Not yet.” He points to the bed. “Sit.”

“Tomorrow’s Sunday and it’s her birthday.”

“Is it?”

“I need to visit her.”

“Do you?”

“She has a routine. She relies on it.”

“I’m sure she does.”

“How long are you going to keep me here?”

He smiles, cocks his head, and folds his arms across his chest. “You’re blackmailing me. What do you think? I’m just going to let you walk away?”

I shiver with a sudden chill and rub my arms. No, he’s not. He’s not going to just let me walk away. Not when I can damage him.

“Let’s focus, Blue. I need you to fill in some blanks for me.” He steps closer, holds his phone out for me and when I look at it, I gasp with surprise. It’s a photo of me. My face. It’s from the night I took Wren to the hospital.

“Where did you get that?”

He scrolls through another of me then one of Wren.

When I see my sister, I look away.

“You took your sister to the hospital. You told them you fell down the stairs. Both of you. Police were called but you managed to convince them it was an accident, which is shocking, actually.”

I keep my gaze averted. How does he know all this? Why does he know it?

“Is your father the staircase you both fell down?”

My gaze shoots up to his. How did he find out?

“Where did you get the two grand cash?”

I keep my mouth shut.

“Oh yeah, two other men you were extorting money from. That’s right. Quite the leap to jump to 100K from me, isn’t it?” He waits a beat and when I don’t answer him, he continues. “No comment? Okay. Let’s see how you do with the next one. Where is your mother, Blue?”

I blink away, pick the baseball cap that I bought for Wren. She used to love baseball. She’d watch all the time. I never got it. This cap is her favorite team’s. Although she doesn’t remember that anymore.

“She got married a bunch of times, didn’t she?” he prods.

I don’t respond.

“Get around a lot, did she?”

At that, I leap up from my seat and slap my hands against his chest to shove him. “You don’t get to say that! You don’t get to say anything about her!”

He catches me easily, gripping my wrists and not letting go.

“I get to say anything I want.” I try to tug free, but he holds tight, looks down at my injured hand. “I told you to take it easy with this.” He walks me backward. “Now sit back down,” he commands and deposits me on the edge of the bed.

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