Page 92 of Seducer

“I had to do it. The only people allowed in tonight were by special invitation only.”

“Including me.”

“Yes. That’s all I fucking know.”

“Why do it?” When I moved toward him again, he threw out his hands.

“They have my sister. They said they’ll kill her if I didn’t. They consider her payment for what my father did.”

“Let’s try this one more time. Who is ‘they’?”

“I don’t know! One of the hundreds of people my father schemed. That’s all I know. Or I guessed.”

“What are you supposed to do?”

“I was given a guest list and told to lure you here. That’s it. I did as I was told.”

This was nothing more than a piece of the puzzle and Brant was being used much like Jerry had been. Why go to such great lengths?

“Where is your father?”

“Where do you think? The bastard ran.” Brant was exasperated. “If I could find him, I’d kill him myself. I wish I knew what this shit was about. I don’t. I’d tell you if I did.”

I tried to wrangle my mind around what he was telling me. Over the years, Blackwell had experienced our share of enemies using creative methods to try to break through our secret veil, learning our tricks and trades. That was common. This had a personal flavor to it.

“Where is this guest list?”

“I have it. It’s right on my computer. But keep in mind people were allowed to bring guests.” He pointed to his computer and I nodded.

He was shaking as he moved toward it, fumbling before he pulled up a document.

I moved around him, staring at the list.

There were names of celebrities and politicians, influencers and musicians. There was also a single name I recognized personally.

Sara Capshaw.

“What the fuck is going on?” I wasn’t really asking him.

He exhaled through gritted teeth. “I don’t know. I swear to God, I’m not lying to you.”

The guy was a broken record, but one thing was certain. He was terrified.

I took a deep breath and filtered through other files on his computer. When I came to one in particular, I took an exaggerated deep breath.

The quote.

The stupid fucker had typed the note on this computer and forgotten to erase it prior to heading to my house. Of course he knew where I’d be since he’d been invited to the club for the evening.

“You’re the one who visited my house. You left a threatening note, which you also sent to the reporter in St. Louis. Is anything you just told me the truth?”

Brant was practically foaming at the mouth.

I debated the consequences of killing him. At this point, I doubted he had anything useful to offer, but I couldn’t allow him to get off without some form of punishment. He had a separate hard drive connected to his computer. The best weapon at this point was by use of keeping him in line.

I closed the files and ejected the drive, pocketing it before raking my arm across his system. As it tumbled to the floor, he gasped and dared confront me.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he asked, completely exasperated by my actions.

---