Page 142 of Relentless Sinner

Due to Eric’s new position in the Bratva, he had everyone who could have helped me running around like headless fools on missions that led nowhere.

The house staff had evacuated because he told them there was a bomb on the property. They fled with the regular guards to one of the other homes the Bortsovs own. Then he sent the Creed guards on a wild goose chase.

He told each group of people he’d take care of Jaxon’s father and me.

That’s why no one was around when I went downstairs and why no one was concerned about us.

Once I was brought here, I got the Cliff’s Notes version of the next steps from Eric.

I’m still going to Russia tonight. But with him. He plans to marry me in a month’s time when Jaxon is officially declared missing. He’s going to make it look like Jaxon was killed and plant evidence to suggest it was one of his enemies who did it.

Marriage to me will apparently keep him at a high rank at the table with the Creed. Jaxon never told me those parts, but it touched my heart that he was going to let me go and take nothing of my inheritance. It showed he wanted to be with me for me.

He’s in trouble now, but I don’t know what’s happening, and I don’t know if he knows he can’t trust Eric.

I’m also sure Jaxon’s father must be dead by now. Any hope of survival is long gone. His pulse was barely there when I felt it.

In my heart, I pray that somehow, someway, Jaxon will find me and save me again. We’ve both come so far to end this way.

The lock on the door clicks and I whirl around, my nerves buzzing, charged like they’ve been infused by lightning.

Oh God, who is that now?

I steel my spine, hoping I won’t crumble. No matter what, I have to stay strong. If I break, there will be no point in hoping.

The door swings open, and my father walks in with that cunning smile on his face. That’s not a good sign.

As if he’s touched me, the bruises he left on my face sting, the ghosts of his cruelty haunting me.

“I’ve just come to check on you, my dear daughter.” He spreads his arms wide, like he’s waiting for me to hug him.

“What for? Haven’t you done enough?”

“I guess I have, but what’s one more thing?”

“When did you start working with Eric?” It may be a pointless question, but I want to know. The whole thing is just so bizarre.

Dad smirks and levels me a curious stare. “When we started needing each other.”

“You mean when no one else would help you?” I’m right, but he’s never going to admit to that.

“He approached me just after you went to the Hamptons with Jaxon.”

That makes sense now, how those men were able to get to us. “How could you treat me like this? Why did you change so much after Mom died?”

“Because it was my fault she died. That night she was killed happened because of me. I made mistakes and trusted the wrong people. People who decided to screw me over.”

So all those rumors were true, and now that I hear it, I’m not as surprised as I would have been if I’d heard the truth years ago.

I now realize it wasn’t that my father changed—he was always despicable—but being with my mother mellowed him somewhat.

Now we’re here at the end of all things between us, and he’s confessing. That’s also not good. Not for me.

“With your mother gone, there was no point to anything anymore. Including you. You and your sister simply became assets to me. From this partnership with Eric, I’ll be able to fix all my problems just by handing you over to him.”

My fatherhanded me overto Eric with the simple threat:

Comply or get sold.

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