“Bugger,” she muttered. “I was hoping it was like the size of a lion. The bigger the lion, the more afraid you should be.”
I didn’t even know what to say to that analogy.
Hearing footsteps coming back, I lifted my hands back up to the rope. “Quick!”
By the time they’d opened the door, both of us were back in position, looking innocently at them.
“I think it’s time we made the call,” the man said, smirking as he held the phone out. “I’ll dial because you can’t, but I think your boyfriend will probably want to say hello, don’t you?”
Chantal growled when he said the word boyfriend, getting a dirty look from the man as he hit the green icon on the screen, followed by the speakerphone icon.
It only rang once, and then a pissed of sounding Parker answered. “They better be okay, you fucking bitch.”
“Bloody hell,” Sadie mumbled. “He really needs to work on his phone etiquette.”
“Remember when I told you the dumb shit my family had done when they got kidnapped or were in shit?” She didn’t answer verbally, but the wince said it all. “I’m going to remind you of this when we get out of here.”
Glaring at me, she nodded over to where Chantal was watching us with a crazy look on her face.
“She’s been like that since Parker answered, but you’re too busy giving me crap for trying to lighten the mood.”
“Mr. Knight, it’s good to talk to you again,” the man said with a smirk on his face. “It’s been so long.”
“Moodie,” Parker growled. “What the fuck do you want?”
“I don’t think it’s what I want, but what you want that I have.” And with that, he placed the phone on the ground in front of me, pressed the muzzle of the gun against Sadie’s forehead, and yanked a fistful of my hair hard enough that I screamed.
There was a long pause, but judging by the lack of noise coming through the phone, Parker had muted his end of the call for a moment. Then he was back.
“I’m confused, Moodie. See, I knew you as Doctor Derrickson when you treated me, but after some investigation, I found out your real name. You bought your qualifications online using an American Express card—”
“Probably for the Airmiles,” a voice I didn’t recognize said in the background.
“—a year before I became a patient of yours. You’ve treated hundreds of patients over the last eighteen years, Moodie, fifty-nine of which committed suicide. I could go on listing facts, but I think you already know most of it. You’ve got the blood of a lot of people on your hands, don’t you? That’s got to be tough to live with.”
The muscle under Moodie’s eye twitched as Parker reeled off the information, but other than that, he showed no emotions.
That was until Parker revealed the next chunk of information. “I’ve also got some photos in front of me of Chantal with your dad and brother. Naked with them, in fact. Oh, here’s another one with her naked with both of them at the same time.”
Moodie turned slowly, the gun in his hand pointed straight at Chantal now as a slight tremor worked its way through his body.
“She’s been a busy woman, Moodie. The photos my brother’s PI could get only go back four months, but his investigations go back six years. So far, I’m counting seventy-two men she’s been fucking behind your back.”
A loud growl came out of Moodie, and the gun started to shake, making Chantal’s eyes widen even more.
“He’s lying,” she screeched with her arms up in front of her. “When would I have the time?”
Before Moodie could say anything back, though, Parker turned into Santa as the phone vibrated on the floor. “I’ve just sent you through twenty of the photos, Moodie. Man-to-man, I think you’ve been played enough.”
Not turning away from her, he picked the phone up and looked at the screen. The second he did, Chantal had her gun back out and was pointing it back at him. “You do anything, and I’ll shoot the shit out of you.”
Sadie shuddered at something and leaned into my side. “I don’t want to get hit by that,” she whispered, and I realized she thought Chantal meant literally.
Not even giving her the satisfaction of looking up at her, Moodie kept swiping his thumb across the screen, looking at all of the photos until he got to one that made him tense up.
“I think he found the family portrait,” I said under my breath to Sadie, then wished I could hit myself for falling into the Townsend Hostage Insanity trap.
“Maybe they’re putting it on the Christmas cards this year?”
Raising his head, he glared at Chantal. “I trusted you. I did everything you asked me to.” Then leaning forward, he bellowed, “I fucking loved you!”