Page 118 of The Attraction File

My heart pounded in my chest as my mind raced with anything my mom would have said that would have caught Damien’s interest. As much as I sought to escape, run from this monster, a part of me wanted to find out what he was talking about.

“Oh, that’s wonderful. Her own daughter doesn’t even know her father is a powerful senator in Washington,” he said.

My father? How would Damien know about my father?

My mother always told me she had a one-night stand and couldn’t track down my dad. I believed her because my mother would never lie to me. Would she?

Damien leaned down so that his nose was only an inch from mine. “Why do you think I wanted to marry you all those years ago? You had an in. I thought when I hooked up with your mom it would be a one-time thing, but then she let it slip that your father worked in DC and wanted nothing to do with you. A few choice questions and I had enough information to do a little digging.”

Damien’s lips curled into a sneer and he stood beginning to walk behind me. A shiver went down my spine as he ran his fingers through my hair. “Senator Gabe Thomson. Yeah, that one.”

Everyone knew Gabe Thomson, the Senator for Wisconsin. There was talk that he might run in the next presidential election. My mind raced with images of the man. His eyes, his nose, the shape of his face. I had my mother’s eyes and hair color, but his nose and jawline . . . it was all so clear.

Damien was right.

“He probably doesn’t even remember my mother. And if he does, that was over thirty years ago. Even if he runs for president and anyone uncovers this, he can claim he didn’t know me, and has nothing to do with her.”

That’s what most people didn’t think about when they planned things. They didn’t look for the holes. That was my job. In HR, I had to look for the holes in the résumés, the background checks, and in candidate’s stories.

He yanked my head back, pulling on my hair until every follicle felt like it was bleeding. I stared up at him as my eyes watered. He waved a wrinkled piece of paper in front of me with a perfect evil grin on his face.

“That’s where this beauty comes in.” His laugh matched his smile.

“I found it behind one of those pictures of you as a kid in your mom’s kitchen. It’s from dear old Daddy.” He frowned but began to read from it. “It says here Daddy was surprised by Lucy’s letter informing him of her pregnancy. But he worked hard to get a foot into his career.”

Damien cups the side of his mouth and whispers to me, “I’ll give you a hint. He gets into politics. He didn’t have time to help raise a child. There was mention of a check in the envelope to help your mom financially, but that was it. You, Evaleen, are his secret.”

He let go of my hair.

“I laid low for a while after you ran away, but I kept this note.” Damien walked around me. My scalp throbbing and I wondered if that was blood or sweat rolling down from my temple.

He moved in front of me, his finger reaching for my neck as he slid a lone finger down. My blood ran cold as it moved closer and closer to the edge of my blouse. I could feel his fingernail digging into my chest as my breathing picked up. His smile slipped as his gaze became lost. “You were my prize. So sweet and innocent. Beautiful, sexy, and worth so much money. I knew the senator would pay if you only hadn’t slipped away in the night.”

The collar of my blouse dug into my neck as he yanked and tore the fabric. He grabbed my breast and yanked at my nipple. It hurt but I was thankful the adrenaline racing in my veins kept the tears away. I ground my teeth and held back a painful scream.

Just as quickly as he grabbed my breast his other hand came at my neck. Gripping just as hard. Any pain disappeared grasping for breath as his fingers tightened around my throat.

He pressed his forehead to mine, his hot breath scatted over my cheeks. “When I was offered the chance of a lifetime, money and power, I was done with hitting up desperate women willing to give me anything to make them happy. Now I can use that note, my golden ticket, to get me one step closer to everything. All thanks to you and your stupid mother.”

Just then the door opened and he let go. My head fell forward and I gulped at the musty air thankful for the interruption. My eyes a blur as I gained my breath but I could hear two sets of legs moving toward us.

“Perfect timing, Trey.”

“It’s not Trey. It’s Dino. Found someone lurking around outside.”

I heard someone stumble and watched as Edgar fell to the floor. Just as fast as my heart rose to the moon, it tumbled just as hard.

Edgar found me. He knew I wasn’t guilty of the awful stuff the detectives accused me of and tracked me down. But now he was caught too. What would they do to him?

“Ah, the little brat who thought he was a big boy and tried to track me down.” Damien grabbed Edgar by the back of the shirt and lifted him just enough to punch him in his stomach.

“No, stop. Please. Haven’t you done enough, Damien?” I screamed, my voice hoarse from what he did to me.

Damien just smiled as he punched Edgar in the face and once more in the stomach. When he was done he threw Edgar to the floor. I tried to pull at my ties but was too weak to make any difference. Even if I had my strength, Damien and his crew weren’t dumb enough to not know how to tie someone up properly.

Damien pointed to Edgar and stared at his thug. Dino lifted Edgar and threw him onto the chair next to me. I watched him moan, hunched over as he got tied up.

Damien and Dino went to talk near the door so I couldn’t see them anymore.

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