Page 104 of Ruthless God

Clemon presses a button on his desk and the bookcase opens up, leading to a tunnel.

“We’re going have a talk about your obsession with my daughter, but for now, we’re going to fucking kill your father.”

I follow him down the stairs to a room equipped with so many guns, it looks like a store. I grab an AK-47 and a 9mm revolver, tucking them in my holster.

My father is going to wish he hadn’t fucked with Lyrical. He will be meeting his maker today.

I grab my phone again and post a message in the group chat with her location.

Me: Lyrical is here. My father kidnapped her.

Jameson: Your father has been to that location before. It’s the mansion in the middle of nowhere where I can’t look into because it’s secured.

I dial his number and he answers on the first ring.

“Why does he go there?”

“That’s where he’s staying, and for some reason, he’s working with Professor Carter and another guy with a scar across his face.”

“We’ve got to go. Meet me there. Call Keanu and tell him to come.”

When we make it to the front entrance, we find Lyrical’s mother, placing fresh flowers on the table in the foyer. She eyes the guns strapped to our bodies.

“What’s going on?” she asks.

Clemon leans down and kisses her on the forehead. “Go to your mother’s and don’t come back home until I tell you to.”

“But I thought we’re going to support Lyrical on her big day at the gallery? We have to be there in twenty minutes. If you miss this, she won’t for—”

“Lyrical is missing, Nora,” I state. “My father has her. You need to leave now, just in case he sends someone here to murder you while we go to get her back.”

“Bu—”

“Please, Nora. My love. Do what we say.” He kisses her lips. “We’ll get our daughter back.”

She nods as tears fall down her face. “You go get our baby and be safe. The both of you.”

We leave and get into the car. Clemon pulls out of the driveway and takes the main road.

What if he’s put his hands on her?

What if he is torturing her?

Why is my father hanging out with Carter? I knew something was wrong with Carter, and I should have known that he was after my girl, but I couldn’t find shit on him—on his background. It’s like he appeared out of thin air. I even followed him to his apartment, searched through it after Lyrical had dinner with him, but I couldn’t find anything. I’ll kill him too, and the other guy.

“Jameson told me that Professor Carter and another guy are at the location that Lyrical is at. Why would he be there?”

“I did a background check on all of Lyrical’s professors.” He rubs the back of his neck. “There was a rumor about Carter.” When I don’t respond, he continues, “For years, people said he was associated with the mafia, trafficking girls.” He hits the gas pedal fast, bypassing a dump truck. “We couldn’t prove it because there wasn’t any evidence of it. So, the dean let it go.

“I believe he’s still doing it. When Lyrical came to me months ago about the car accident, she said she believed it was staged, so I checked into everyone’s backgrounds. Everyone who was close to her. I found nothing. If the rumors are true about Carter, your father is using him to get back at you by selling her to someone because he couldn’t get the money for your sister. In my book, that is worse than death.”

Lyrical

Staring at Bailey, her eyes narrowing further, the first thing I notice is a few of her teeth are missing. My chest hurts and I cry uncontrollably.

“Bailey… what have they done to you?”

Her face is blank and she stares at the ceiling, watching the fan turn. I try to remove her restraints, but it’s no use; they have a lock pad on the chain. I grab her by the shoulders in an attempt to shake her to her senses but she doesn’t budge. She’s drugged up, so out of it. Her pupils are the size of saucers. Finally, she turns her head to look at me, a weak smile spreading across her battered face.

---