Page 56 of Sacrifice

He briefly glanced over his shoulder, smiling thinly. “It was because ofyou, my dear. By the way, what’s your real name? I assume it’s not really Mina.”

“Rose,” I muttered.

“Rose. How sweet.” He let out a derisive snort and went on. “You know, I honestly believed your little story at first. I felt very stupid when I finally figured out what was going on.”

“You said it was because of me. What gave me away?”

“Your accent,” he replied, glancing at me again. “At first, I took you at your word when you said you were from Montreal. But it kept nagging at my brain for hours afterwards. I knew it was familiar for some other reason. Then it finally hit me. It wasn’t a Quebec accent at all. It was an Alderwood one.”

“Oh,” I said in a small voice.

“I realized then that you had to be working with Sebastian,” Adam went on. “After all, he’s been spending so much time up in Alderwood lately. Much to his detriment, in the end. Just like his mother.”

“So… you followed me after I left your house earlier?”

He chuckled. “I didn’t do it myself. I pay guys to do things like that for me. The grunt work, as they say,” he replied. “Butyes, they followed you after you were done with your little cleaning scheme, and they saw you get into a car with my son. Then they tracked you both to that hotel.”

“But how did you drug us? We checked with the front desk. The champagne—”

“Was given to everyone,” he finished for me. He hesitated for a few seconds, rubbing his jaw with one hand. “I suppose you wouldn’t understand this, coming from a community where money isn’t much of a concept. But out here in the real world, money can buy you almost anything, including power and influence. And I happen to have a hell of a lot of money.”

“So you paid the hotel workers to do it?”

“Not exactly. Too many loose ends and liabilities that way,” he replied. “I contacted the manager and arranged a meeting. As soon as he heard my name, he jumped at the chance to clear his schedule for me. The Thorne name commands a lot of respect around these parts, you see.”

“Because of all your money, I presume,” I said in a hollow voice.

“Exactly. You’re a fast learner, Rose.” Adam glanced back at me with another thin smile. “Anyway, I told the manager I was branching out from the healthcare industry to the hospitality business. Said I’d just bought a vineyard and wanted to give out free bottles of champagne to his guests. All he had to do in return was let me know how everyone liked it.”

I raised a brow. “And he actually believed that?”

Adam chuckled again. “Like I said, money buys you power and influence. So yes, he believed me. His only question was: why did I choose that hotel in particular for the free samples?” he said breezily. “I told him that it’s my son’s favorite place to stay in the city, and in fact, he just so happened to be there as we spoke. Then I asked if he could do me a favor and deliver a very special bottle to his suite.”

I frowned. “But you didn’t know which suite we were in.”

“No, because Sebastian was smart enough to pay cash and use a fake name. But I have photos of him on my phone, as most parents do. The manager showed the girl at the front desk, and she confirmed the room number. After that, it was just a matter of getting someone to deliver the drugged bottle to you and then getting you both out of there via the freight elevator once you’d been knocked out.”

“How did you know we’d accept the bottle?”

“I didn’t. I simply made an educated guess and assumed you would both be in the mood to celebrate after your little coup,” he replied. “With the laptop, I mean. Nice job on finding it. It’s a shame you lost it again so quickly.”

I gritted my teeth. “And if we hadn’t accepted the bottle?”

“Then I would’ve found some other way to get to you both.” He flashed a wolfish grin at me in the rearview mirror. “It was only a matter of time.”

I swallowed hard. “So what happens now? Are you planning to kill your own son just to keep his mouth shut about everything you’ve done?”

The grin instantly slipped from his face. “He hasn’t left me with much of a choice, has he?” he said in a low voice.

“I can’t believe you would do such a thing to your own blood,” I muttered. “How can you even think of it?”

Adam suddenly slammed on the brakes, sending the car to a screeching halt on the edge of the road. He turned to me, eyes flashing. “You think I want to do this?” he shouted. “You think Iwantto hurt my own son?”

I glowered at him. “Yes. Clearly.”

“No. I never wanted anything like this!”

“But you’re still planning to do it, aren’t you? Just like what happened with your wife,” I said, raising my brows. “I think thatsays it all about what you really want in the end. You only care about yourself.”

---