To Capture a Thorn (The Society 2)

Sian sighed. “Let’s not talk about this here. I feel like we’re going to be taken or something.” She laughed. “Er, I’m just going to go to the bathroom. You won’t leave, will you?”

“Leave without you? Hell, no.”

She gave my hand a squeeze and I watched her leave.

Damn it. This was why I steered clear of all emotion. The pain and the feelings were all just too much. They consumed me in a way that was nowhere near healthy. I felt sick and happy and sad all at the same time. There was no way this was the kind of life I wanted and yet, with Sian, I knew I could handle it.

Running my fingers through my hair, I tried to compose myself.

Someone slid into Sian’s chair and I glared, and then froze when I noticed who it was.

“Alexander Roberts,” I said.

He smiled at me.

There was a bandage across his cheek, and he looked … haggard. This wasn’t the carefully controlled mastermind of the pictures I’d seen. This was a man who looked close to the edge.

“Hello, Mateo Robinson. How is life treating you?” he asked.

“Your daughter just went into the bathroom. You must be getting desperate to be out and about. Nearly a year without a single appearance and you arrive at the mall of all places.”

He smiled. “I have my ways. The Society has a lot of enemies. It’s so easy to exploit them.”

I had no idea why this man was here or why now, why me, but I stayed perfectly still.

“If you’re thinking of alerting your fathers to my presence, I advise against it. I have a gun trained on you and I can kill you within a few seconds. If you want to live, I suggest you listen to me closely.”

I tensed up as he reached into his jacket.

“Your media empire is of great value to me.” He pulled out a USB key and slid it across the table. “You need to air this tomorrow night at ten.”

“What makes you think I’m going to do anything to help you?” I asked.

All I wanted to do was tackle him. To end this. Gun be damned.

I stared at him across the table, assessing my options. He must have followed us to the mall. I had no doubt he was dangerous, and I had to be careful.

Glancing around the mall, I smirked. “Do you think this is a smart move?”

“The Society has always believed they’re the ones in control, but the truth is so far from that. They don’t know anything. Play that, or I leak everything I’ve got on the internet and kill my wife.”

The threat was there and very real.

“How do I know you haven’t killed Joan yet?” I asked. It seemed wrong to refer to Joan as his wife.

“I’m not stupid. Your dads should have told you that. They didn’t know what was going to happen. What I’m capable of. Play the tape or the next body to be in a burning building will be Sian’s.”

He got to his feet, and there was no way for me to stop him as Sian came to the table, sitting down.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

I stared at the USB key. “Your father was just here,” I said.

“What?”

She got to her feet, but I captured her hand, stopping her from following him. Alexander was escalating. It would only be a matter of time before he killed his daughter. Staring at the key in my hand, I had to figure out a way to protect her from him. To stop all of this, but I didn’t know how.

The Society hadn’t found him. No one had.

He was the one who’d come out into the open willingly. What was on the USB key? What did he want us to show?

“We need to get out of here,” Sian said.

The day I intended to spend with Sian had been ruined by her fucking father. One day soon, I intended to make him pay for everything he’d done.

****

Dante

“You cannot play this,” Harrison said.

I stared at Sian. She looked a little pale. Her hair was nice, pretty. I wished I’d been the one to take her but I had stuff to do that didn’t involve haircuts. Knowing her father had followed them told us two things. He was getting desperate and he was close. Why hadn’t The Society dealt with him? Why were they holding themselves back?

“What else can we do?” Justin asked. “He wants this on tomorrow night at ten! We don’t have much choice. We have no idea where he is. We know he’ll kill her. He never fucked loved her.”

“This is playing right into his hands,” Lucas said. “If we play this, it’s our companies. Our lives. Our reputation. There is only so much that can be done to recover from it.” Lucas grabbed a vase and threw it across the room.