Page 176 of Heartless Beloved

“It is. Look,pick it up after midnight on February 14th. We’ll be away on vacation for Valentine’s day, so let yourself inside the house.” She mumbles some other things that have been texted. “Then the art guy asks how much he should ask for. Delacroix saystwo point four million nothing more. Your cut is one million.” She pauses for a second. “That’s a huge cut for an art dealer.”

I run my hand against my face and rub my eyes. I can hardly believe what I’m seeing.

“It’s not art,” I repeat, feeling sweat running down my back. I’ve seen a lot of shit in my life. But this…this I never thought I’d see.

“What is it, then?”

My voice is barely audible because I struggle to believe it myself. “It’s Alex.”

My best friend’s eyes leave the screen to look up at me. “I’m…confused.”

I straighten up, feeling the room tilt from the shock. I round the desk, standing in front of it with Tamar behind me and our hostages in front of me. “You motherfucker orchestrated the kidnapping of your own daughter.”

Tamar gasps as Alex turns to me, pale as a ghost. “What?"

Delacroix doesn’t say anything.

“Dad?”

“He’s out of his mind,’’ he replies casually.

“Why would he do that?” Alex asks me, utterly confused.

“For sympathy. So people would talk about it. Career boost…who fucking knows what else?”

Tamar jumps back in. “This doesn’t make sense. How could you know him asking to pick up a painting means,walk into my house and take my daughter.”

“Because I’m the one he hired.”

The silence stretches for so long, I have to take a look at Tamar to make sure she’s still alive.

My best friend stares at me with wide eyes. She never knew what I’d done. “Please, tell me you didn’t spend Valentine’s Day kidnapping a young girl…”

“She was eighteen.”

“…and then dated her.”

“None of this was planned. In February, it meant a million dollars for NSC. Obviously, nine months later, she means something else to me.”

“I don’t…I can’t…Xi, you’renota kidnapper.”

I cock an eyebrow at her. I’ve kidnapped and tortured many men, and she knows it.

“I mean ofinnocent people,” she hisses. “What the hell went through your head?”

“We were desperate.”

“Who was with you? What did you do with the money?”

“Logan, his brother, and Racer. I never got the money because the cops got to the house. I now know it was Delacroix who sent them after us since he was tracking his daughter. The fucker never intended on giving us any money. He just wanted to show the world he could rescue her. He wanted some publicity.”

Delacroix looks at me and back at his daughter.

“He’s lying,” he tells her, the lie slipping through his teeth like a snake through the grass.

In a swift movement, I grab the gun back from Alex and press it against her dad’s forehead. “Don’t call me a liar. I’ve come clean to your daughter about my mistakes. It’s time you do the same. Tell her.”

“Dad,” Alex whimpers. “Please…I don’t want you to die. Tell me the truth.”

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