Page 69 of The Freedom in Captivity

He’s old money. A mob family. There’s numerous, simpler means my father could have gone about this rather than the fuckery he devised.

Nico’s grin signals he’s about to start speaking. “You’ve decided now to talk. But the thing is, we’ve gotten the information needed from our sources. When learning who the Duponts really are, it only took a few hours before gaining their backgrounds. What city they’re from. And I’ve pieced together why your father is so invested in the status of their life. Because where they’re from, he is too, isn’t he? So why do I need you?”

Now, that’s interesting. Seems like Flynn lied to me and already know where the Haynes are from, which means they likely have Dad’s location. Regardless, I doubt they have the biggest piece of the puzzle yet and that’s my leverage.

“Get in here.”

Dad yanks me in by my wrist, which feels like it’ll be ripped from the socket with any more force. He pulls me into his office and slams the door shut. Thankfully, he also releases me, but it doesn’t stop the burning. I don’t hold the skin because then he’ll notice my pain and right now isn’t the time to fight with him. Not with the crazed look in his eyes, his hair a mess from being tugged on it too many times. Frustration tightens his every step from me to his desk.

“Fuck!” he screams. “Fucking Della! That bitch flipped sides.”

Blinking from the memory, I focus on the man in front of me. Della may have once switched sides…but so have I.

I’m pickingme.

“Maybe. But do you know why my father chose Montreal as his base? Why your soldier’s life and death were so important to him? You claim to know what city they’re from, but do you know what’s there?”

One, two, three…He’ll take the offer by my count of five, I bet, and when his jaw clenches, it’s his silent admission he wants what I’m presenting.

A hand shoves into my back, knocking me forward, at the same time the chain around my neck wrenches me the opposite way, and I fall against the large, warm body behind me. Just the feel of him against me untenses one of the many knots in my shoulders. His familiar and electrifying scent only reminds me of another thing Dad took from me.

He growls in my ear. “Stop playing fucking games.”

“You came in here wanting to disclose information, so get talking,” Nico demands. He takes a single step toward me, getting much too close for what’s comfortable. “You have two minutes to talk before I stick a gun to your head, and we decide breathing isn’t in your future.”

Testy man.

Flynn tugs on the chain again, though gentler this time, and I throw a quick glare his way. Now I see why he wanted me in these damn things.

“What do you know, so I can just fill in the gaps?”

“No,” Nico responds. “Because then you’ll edit the truth. All or nothing, Rozelyn. Tick tock.”

Fucker.But this only works in my favour. I have a single thing I need from them before I agree to talking. Theonlything in this world mattering more than Dad’s death.

“You know better than anyone else, truth isn’t free. I want to strike a deal.”

Nico laughs once, humourlessly. “In case you haven’t noticed, you’re nowhere near being able to strike deals.”

Ignoring him entirely, I demand, “My sister. Or you kill me, and you’ll only have half the answers.”

“The half that matters,” he counters with a slight hike of a brow.

“Is it?” Plastering my own knowing smirk, I taunt him with a second of silence before gesturing to myself. “I have nothing left, Corsetti. In caseyouhaven’t noticed, I’m stuck. Captured. I know very well any one of you will stick a gun to my head and end me instantly.”

Flynn grunts, in denial or hope, I’ll never know.

“I have nothing left,” I repeat. “Nothing but my humanity, which I plead to you with.” Glancing at Della, who has slowly approached, I use her presence to make my point. “Clearly, you fell for my stepsister, despite her operating under my father’s commands. Why? Because you thought her to be strong, admired her drive to protect her family, right?”

For a complete ten seconds, the room is completely silent.

With the silence as a barrier, I make my request: “All I want is my sister’s safety.”

Della takes another step, injecting herself into the conversation. Low, she asks, “Where’s Yasmine?”

She’s asked this before, downstairs in the basement when she came to visit me, but the response I gave was half-assed at best. An indication she’s with our father, but Della is seeking for definitive details now because that’s who she is. After today, if I know my ex-stepsister, she’ll want to help Yasmine, which means handing over everything I know will only benefit us all in the end.

“With our father.She’shis favourite. She’s his only blood-related daughter, after all.” And Dad was certain to remind me of it often. In other families, DNA doesn’t always mean shit, but with him, it’s everything. “Regardless, my deal is for her life. We’re both products of our father’s choices.” I look from Della to Ariella, who’s standing to my right by Aurora. To both my ex-stepsisters, I tell them, “We’reallproducts of that life. We’reallon the same side,” emphasizing specific words to make my point. “You might have had it bad, Della. But I had it bad in other ways. Remember when you first came into our life, how kind he was to you? How much conditioning he forced upon you? Picture that, but for nearly one’s entire life. Then come back to me and you’ll be allowed to bitch.”

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