Dark Captor (Dark Syndicate 2)

“Where are we? Please … just tell me that. I think if I’m going to die here then I’d like to know where I am.” Her face contorts into sadness and she glances away from me.

“What makes you think I’m going to kill you?”

“Everything. Everything does.”

“How does everything make you think that?” I ask.

“Tristan D’Agostino, you forget I’m from your world. I know what darkness is and what it means. I know the look of those tainted by it. I know there is no negotiation in situations like this. Men like you don’t have a heart. I’m collateral damage and there will be a time when I stop being that too.” She pauses for a moment, closes her eyes then continues.

“You lured me into thinking you wanted to be with me. I never believed you were this, but you are, and I just wish I saw the monstrous side of you first. The man who drugged me as he kissed me. The man who lied to me as he knew full well what he wanted to do with me. You brought me here. I know your face and I know your name. You would only do such things if you were going to dispose of me when you were done.”

I look at her and I don’t know what to say. Everything she’s said so far has described me no matter what I feel for her. There is nothing I can say to explain what I’ve done and why because it’s wrong.

She looks at me long and hard seeing she’s struck a nerve.

“You’re only nursing me back to health so you can get what you want from me and I can’t give you anything,” she adds. “You know it’s funny now that I think of it. I’m the joke. My father has so many enemies, but his biggest enemy is me. I guarantee you there’s nothing he’s done to you that is worse than what he’s done to me.”

Her gaze drops to the sheet and she looks at her hands.

I consider her words and they grip me. She grips me.

“You don’t know what he did to me,” I answer. It sounds like just talk though because part of me thinks she’s right.

“I don’t need to. I just know… I belong to him. No different than his pocket watch or a shoe on his foot. I’m property. A thing you can choose to treat however you wish. At least you can do this. You did do this. You can save yourself. You can do something. I can’t do anything. There’s no one to save me. No one could save the people I lost because my father is untouchable.”

This doesn’t sound like a person who would protect her father. I look at her and I don’t know if I can believe her. I don’t know if I should.

There’s too much conflict in my soul. I can’t make the decisions I used to because lack of trust didn’t just come to haunt Massimo. It came for me too.

Despite what I feel I can’t take such a risk and trust her.

I think I’ll know more when we get Sacha. He’s a man she’ll protect.

I stand up, deciding it’s time to go. Her gaze follows me as I head to the door. I stop just before I open it and look back to her. There’s one thing I want to know. One thing on my mind that’s bothering me.

“Who’s Eric? You asked me to save him.”

She shakes her head at me. “I can’t talk about him, and it’s not because of who you are. It’s because it’s my fault he’s dead. He died for loving me. What a mistake to make.” A tear tracks down her cheek and she looks away.

I stare back and I see it. That’s the death that broke her. That one.

I remember the terror in her eyes earlier and the way she pleaded with me to help her.

“I would have tried to save him if I could,” I state. I don’t know why I say that. It carries no weight to it, and it won’t help anybody. It won’t redeem me from what I’ve done to her, but I say it anyway in answer to her plea for help.

There’s a little spark in her eyes that tells me I reached her. I reached something inside her that might help and that’s all I can give her right now. I can’t connect anymore. If I do, I’ll start to forget who she is.

I leave because it’s best, but her words plague me all night and all of the next day. I get Candace to tend to her while I do some company work remotely.

When night falls later I make my way down to the beach. When my phone rings I know it is Nick.

I answer, readying myself to hear the only news he’s supposed to give me.

“We got him, boss,” he says. “We have Sacha.”