Page 39 of Hacker Salvation

I tried to remember where I had seen the woman before. Even the house I was dragged through seemed like something I had seen on TV before. But I couldn’t place the woman or the house. Maybe if my body wasn’t in so much pain, I could concentrate and figure out what was going on.

My vision went out for a second. When I came back, I was strapped to a chair in a large office. Old books lined the walls. A large dark oak desk sat in front of me, and the woman from earlier sat behind it.

“Nice of you to finally wake up, Annabella,” she said.

“Sorry that me being beaten took time out of your day.” I didn’t see the blow coming from the left until it was too late.

“Jeremy, stop hitting her. I need her awake for this. When I’m done, I don’t care what you do with her.”

“It seems you know my name, and I don’t know yours.”

Her cold glare sent a shiver of fear down my spine. The man who kept hitting me smiled. But it wasn’t a smile that put me at ease. It made me scared of what he would do to me.

“I guess it doesn’t matter if you know my name. You won’t live to tell anyone what I did. My name is Isabella.” The name and her face seemed so familiar, but I couldn’t get the fog to leave my brain.

When I looked back at the woman behind the desk, the picture above her caught my attention. Once I saw the man she stood next to in the photograph, it clicked into place who she was, but I still didn’t understand why she’d had me beaten. I would bet she was also behind the few attempts on my life.

“Wh-what do you want?” I asked.

“For being a dumb movie-star blonde, you sure do know how to escape death. But you aren’t going to live through today.”

I swallowed past the lump in my throat. When I ran my tongue across my teeth, I tasted blood. “Why are you trying to kill me?”

“Like you don’t know.” Her words were laced with hatred. “Did you think you could get money out of us?”

“Money? Why would I want your money?” I tried to raise my hand to protect myself from another blow to the face, but my hands wouldn’t move since they were tied to the chair. The impact hurt just as badly as the last one had. It was getting harder to keep my eyes open. One was already swollen shut from being punched.

“I know you didn’t ask for money yet. Maybe you’re planning on going to the media with the story.”

I squinted my one good eye, trying to figure out what the hell this woman was talking about. “I don’t need your money. I’m in the press enough. Why do you think I want or need anything from your people?”

I should’ve asked John to come to the bathroom with me. I could tell he’d struggled with the decision to let me go alone. Now he would never forgive himself for my death. I knew it would be coming soon. The woman in front of me may have been liked by the public, but she looked crazy. She wouldn’t get her hands dirty. The men next to me would be the ones to kill me. I just wanted to know why I was about to die.

The woman stood, placed her hands on the wood desk, and leaned forward. “You don’t have to act dumb. Your lawyer confirmed you received the DNA test and the letter from us.”

I closed my eye and let my head fall back. Nate and I had done that crazy DNA test together. He’d wanted to help me find my birth father even though I wasn’t sure if I was ready. We’d done the test and had the results sent to his law office. I remembered seeing the test on the counter at the house, but I’d never thought anything about it.

“Are you saying that Governor Jackson is my father?”

“Like you didn’t know. You had your lawyer contact us for a meet and greet. Luckily, I intercepted the call before my do-gooder husband heard about it. He would want to do right by you. You know what this scandal will do to his career?”

Scandal. Career.This was all too much. “I don’t want anything.”

The woman huffed and threw up her hands. “I can’t take the chance. My husband plans to run against Zack Turner. I can’t have this scandal sitting out here if he plans to win.”

My time was running out. The woman really thought I would ruin her husband’s chance of running for president. It was only a matter of time before she would kill me.

She looked at the man next to me. “Take her away and make sure you kill her this time.”

The guy to my left punched me again, and this time, the room went dark. I was going to die.

17

John

“Did you happen to see Annabella on your way over here?” I asked Gabriel.

He shook his head. “No. There was no one back there, and most of the lights were off. Are you sure she went back that way?”

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