Page 21 of Ruthless Redemption

The room quieted as all eyes turned to her again.

“You’re already doing it, sweetheart,” JD spoke. “In fact, I think we didn’t just divert a disaster back there. We improved our situation.”

JD was obviously referring to Izzy’s new dress and the way she looked in it. In a normal situation he might have agreed. Her in that red dress that clung to every curve and dip of her beautiful body was akin to waving a red flag in a room full of nasty bulls looking to rut. The only men she’d encounter who wouldn’t want to immediately fuck her would either be half dead or gay. And he wasn’t about to count out the half dead.

Her appearance alone would be all the distraction they needed to nab Frank. Which was the plan. He was the only one who had the information they needed. Unless the bastard fiancé decided to show his face. Then all bets were off and the hit would go down a little closer to the action than they currently intended.

“What do you mean I’m already doing it?” Her question came with another bout of silence as they all watched her take in what little information she’d been given and process it.

Since he was standing right next to her, he was the first to notice when it finally clicked. Her body stiffened and her posture straightened. In fact, he could feel the increased tension radiating off of her.

And he couldn’t lie about how that made him feel. His body reacted to hers in the most primal of ways. Despite having just gotten his head blown off in the most explosive orgasm of his life, his dick grew hard again.

Maybe it was just the dress. It certainly made him want to eye fuck her. But he didn’t think so. It was part of it for sure. He wasn’t blind or stupid to the fact that without a bra, the gentle curve of her tits were being lovingly cupped by the silk of the dress. Nor did he miss the beautiful outline of her gorgeous nipples as they pressed against the fabric in a seductive, not obscene, invitation for him to come closer.

Fuck. He needed to think about something else before his cock ripped through the pants of his tux and went after her like a heat seeking missile.

Frank. The sick bastard. That’s who he needed to keep forefront in his mind. That and all the depraved things he’d done in his life starting with the selling off of his daughter to the highest fucking bidder.

Something she was about to find out.

JD hadn’t responded to her question, but they all knew he didn’t need to.

“You just needed me to be here. I’m the bait.”

She hadn’t posed a question and the quiet disappointment that filled her voice alarmed him. He’d seen her mad before and whatever this was, his gut told him was about to be a whole lot worse.

“You’re using me just like he did. Or more precisely not using me like he did. To him I was just a useless pawn in his sick game then and now it’s even worse. Because I foolishly believed you understood what I have to offer.”

“Izzy,” I started, grasping her hand.

She jerked free from my touch. “Don’t,” she seethed. “You all think because I’m his daughter that gives you some kind of leverage against him.” She shook her head. “Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. He doesn’t give a shit about me. I know that for a fact. Why else do you think he gave me away as fast as he could? He couldn’t wait to get rid of me.”

JD stepped forward. “Calm down and let me finish. We have a lot to get through in a short amount of time.”

Her face and neck turned red an instant before her mouth opened. “Don’t you dare tell me to calm down, motherfucker. I already let you slide with the coddling comment.” The already silent room got quieter, but she didn’t care as she forged on. “Don’t you get it? I’m sick of being a pawn in my father’s games. Whether you control it or not doesn’t matter. I want more than that. I want to punish him. Forever. I want him dead and I want to be the one to do it!”

The vehemence in her voice shocked even him. As did the rage blazing in her eyes. Although he understood exactly how she felt. He’d felt that every day of his life for a decade every time he’d closed his eyes and watched his mother die all over again at the hands of his father. He’d been robbed of that vengeance as well. And every day that asshole got to rot in a jail cell was another day he didn’t deserve to breathe.

“Your father isn’t going to live forever. I promise you that,” JD growled. “But tonight we need him alive. We have to find the missing girl and to do that we need Frank alive.”

She shook her head and paced away from them to an empty corner of the room. “You’re a fool if you think having me gives you anything to force Frank to cooperate. I have tried to tell you more than once it wasn’t enough and you didn’t listen.”

“Oh we listened.” JD snapped his fingers and some douche in a three-piece suit and a briefcase as big as the titanic jumped from a table he hadn’t even noticed. “And we dug. Starting with all of the tidbits of information that Houston was able to obtain from his undercover assignment, we were able to finally put some of the pieces together. I never thought it made sense he would just hand over his daughter to a sick bastard like Marco Scutari, until we found this. And everything began to fall into place.”

The little dude in an ill fitting suit dropped his case on an end table with a heavy thump, clicked the levers to open it and withdrew a stack of papers that he held out to JD.

I didn’t have a clue what was about to happen and that made me both uneasy and angry as hell. Whatever he was about to spring on Izzy…

“I’ve known Frank for a very long time and the idea of him just giving you, his only child, over to that bastard didn’t feel right. First, because who does that to their own child and because Frank does nothing without some ulterior motive. So we just had to find it.”

JD grabbed the thick file from the business suit and then passed it to Izzy.

“What is it?” he asked, interrupting JD before he could continue. “How is it I’m just now hearing about this?”

JD gave him a hard look, his lips compressed in a thin line. “Last I checked you were still riding the fence on whether you were coming back to the club. And as much as I consider you family, you are not full club and this has been sensitive club business until now.”

He seethed with frustration. He was in no mood for them to use that tired excuse to keep him in the dark. He’d done everything they had asked of him and then some. Hell, he’d initially sacrificed his relationship with Izzy in order to gain their help and trust.

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