Page 72 of Unfulfilled Promises
I stopped and glanced around quickly before I responded. “You. You’re pathetic, and what’s really funny is you know it, don’t you?”
He marched up to me and pressed the gun under my chin as he threatened, “Keep talking, bitch, and I’ll make you pay.”
I slapped the gun away from me, and his eyes grew wide as I answered his threat with one of my own. “Shoot me, you dumb motherfucker.I fucking dare you. And you know what you’ll get for your troubles? No account numbers, no money, and if I guess correctly, you’ll probably end up in the landfill like Sergey Junior.”
Shrugging, I waited for him to determine if I was bluffing or if I was pissed-off enough to fight him. We stared at each other, neither of us speaking or moving. Finally, he shook his head and relented. “I don’t want to hurt you, Regan. I just want what was promised to me. I deserve to get the money after losing everything.”
The faint sound of a deep rumbling engine echoed into the woods, and I knew it had to be a Death Hound patrolling. Hopefully, they’d discovered I was gone and already called in the cavalry. I didn’t want to fight Ricardo alone, but no one was going to touch me again without permission, and I swore I’d fight him until one of us was dead.
“What did you lose?” I asked and saw his shoulders shake a little.
He turned away before bringing his gaze back to me. “Everything. I fucking lost everything.”
Ricardo moved a few feet and took a seat on a large boulder protruding from the forest floor. The gun was hanging from his hand between his legs as he looked at the ground and began to explain. “I didn’t even want to be a part of this bullshit, but she said if I helped, we would get our happily ever after. But she used me, just like she used everyone, and now she’s dead and I’ve got nothing.”
If it was anyone else, I’d try to console them from their pain, but fuck him. And if he’s speaking about Kelly, then fuck her too.
“Will you tell me how you went from an FBI agent, and a highly respected one from what I’ve been told, to this? A lacky for a defunct crime family who kidnaps women and drags them from their family? What happened to you that this became an option?” I asked, taking a seat on the ground about twenty-five feet from him with a tree against my back.
He looked over at me before he shook his head and cast his eyes off into the forest. “I was fresh out of the academy when I met her.”
“Kelly?” I asked, and he nodded his response.
“She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever met, and when she showed interest in me, I fell for her lies.” He didn’t speak for a while, so I waited, listening to the sounds of the trees around us, hoping someone was looking for me. Finally, he continued.“I was new to the Bureau, but I was good at analysis, so I was put on the task force charged with disbanding the Syndicate. I worked with your brother, Rhys, and I was Lucian’s handler on occasion. The whole time, she was pushing me to give her information about cases I was working on. I should’ve known.” He blew out a breath before going on. “Kelly had been in a relationship with Sergey Lenkov for a year before she met me, and I was just a mark to her. At the time, I was blind to her games, and when . . . when she came to me with important news, I . . . I had to help. She would’ve killed him.”
“Who?” I inquired. “Who was Kelly threatening?”
He turned his red-rimmed eyes to me as he said the one thing I did not expect to hear. “My son, Waylon.”
I was speechless, and when he turned his eyes back to the ground in front of him and began to sob, a small part of me felt sorry for him. But then I remembered him being a prick to me, belittling me for what I did to survive, and the worst thing was on the night Sergey died, he dragged me out of that house and delivered me to someone who would stop at nothing to achieve her goal, including selling me to a monster. He could have let me go, but he didn’t, and I understood he was worried about his son, but he could have taken him away and admitted his part.
Instead, he chose to kidnap me not once but twice. When I glanced down to the brown scar running across my upper arm from John, I let any sympathy for Ricardo dissipate into the ether.
The rumbles I’d heard earlier were slightly louder, and while Ricardo was crying like a pussy, I looked around, trying to assess where we were. I’d been around Pierce Bluff and Portstill enough to sort of understand where we were, and if my poor sense of direction was close to correct, Skid and Grace’s cabin was a few hundred yards through the trees off to my right.
We’d only walked for about ten minutes when we stopped, so Lucian and Rylee’s house was behind me and, worst case scenario, the Pierce family property was to my left, even if their houses were a mile or two back into Pierce Bluff. I could try to run, but I’d rather keep him still and talking until someone found us.
I wanted to kick my own ass for not having my gun, but no one could have predicted this. Unless I was going to wrestle the gun from his fat fingers, I had to be patient, understanding to a point, and most of all, I had to remain calm.
Seth had been working with me on remembering the things I’d shielded from my mind, and he’d also been explaining survival. He said the most important thing was to remain calm and not make rash decisions. I was trying to do what he’d instructed while keeping the rage inside me locked down tight.
“Where’s Waylon now?” I asked, and Ricardo sniffled before wiping his nose on his sleeve.
The gun was in that hand, and he was being reckless with his finger on the trigger. I didn’t want his emotions to cause an accidental firing since I had little to no cover out here.
I tried something off the wall, thinking compassion may be what got him talking again. “I can understand why you wanted to protect your son.” Ricardo lifted his gaze to me, and I leaned forward, resting my forearms on my crossed legs as I forced my tone to remain calm. “Kelly was so mean to him, and I always thought he deserved better than her.”
He nodded, turning on the rock to look directly at me as he agreed. “I offered to take him to my mother’s place in Florida, using the reason that he was underfoot and Sergey Junior needed more of her time. She doated on that little fucker.” He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “He wasn’t even her kid, yet she treated him like a god while her own child was ostracized to the fringes. She wouldn’t let me take my own kid out of thatwhorehouse, and when she died, I knew she would’ve happily sacrificed him for herself or that bastard, Sergey Junior.”
“She was a horrible person,” I agreed. “How did Waylon manage to finance this whole thing?”
He shrugged. “I haven’t seen him since a few months before Kelly died. He followed her around like a wounded dog begging for his master’s love, and afterward, he refused contact with me until a few months ago, right before Giovanni contacted me about getting the information Sergey gave you. Waylon said if I wanted to be of assistance, I could help Giovanni and his little lacky get you out of the restaurant. He was supposed to call me a few days later when they let you go, but I got an email from him instead.”
He shook his head, and I was curious what the email said, but before I could get the chance to ask him, I saw something moving off in the distance. Without making it obvious, I tried to focus on what it was, only to see three more spots move. Realizing they’d found us, I sat back and rested against the tree, waiting for them to get here.
Ricardo heard something over his shoulder, and he turned to investigate what it was. I needed his attention back on me, so I asked, “What did the email say? Did Waylon tell you why he double-crossed Giovanni?”
I remained engaged with the conversation, and when he turned back to face me, I slowly released the worried breath I was holding. The shadows began to move behind him as he explained, “He said he was almost done with a quest, and that after he kills me, he’ll have completed his journey. Whatever the hell that means. I need to find him, and I thought if I took you, he’d come out of hiding. Or I could get the money Sergey hid from everyone and start over somewhere the Syndicate has never touched.”
