The Knight (Stolen Duet 2)

By my second week in Mosset, I managed to find a routine and a small sense of safety. I would always be looking over my shoulder, but for the moment, I didn’t have to run.

It was another week, while I was getting ready for my shift when I broke down and called Anna. “I was getting worried!” Anna shrieked the moment she picked up. “How could you go so long without calling?”

“I’m sorry. I had to make sure it was safe. Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay.” I could hear her pout through the phone. “You almost gave me a heart attack, like, every single day. You can’t just disappear. You have to call.”

“I’m sorry,” I repeated. What else could I say? It was hard to make someone understand your paranoia if they didn’t fit in your shoes.

“You’re not the only one scared, Mian. Call.”

“I will.”

She didn’t respond, so I listened to her sniff and huff while I searched for an excuse to hang up. “So where are you?” she finally spoke.

“Anna, I don’t think—”

“No,” she growled before I could turn her down. “What if something happens to you and Caylen? I won’t know where to tell the police to look.”

I gave in partly because she was right, but more because I felt guilty for scaring her this much. “North Carolina,” I conceded. “Mosset is just a tiny piece of the world, Anna. You’d hate it.” Anna was an undeniable city girl. “I got a job at the only diner in town and a place to stay. The people are so nice. I feel safe here.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. No one will find Mian Ross here. To the good people of Mosset, I’m Alison Hill.”

“Okay, Alison,” she teased. “I love you. Call,” she warned again.Chapter NineANGELI WAS GROWING impatient. Like a thief in the night, Mian had fled, and money, threats, and favors couldn’t find her. Her little friends were loyal to a fault, even when I threatened death, but they were also her weakness, and I intended to keep them close.

After three weeks of no trail, trace, or cookie crumb, I paid a visit to the prison. Theo hadn’t had a visitor since I told him his daughter had a price on her head, but maybe he knew where she would go.

“What are you doing here?” His greeting was about as inviting as crotch rot and he looked like shit. The bruises might have faded since I last saw him, but the weight he lost and the fatigue clouding his eyes were obvious.

“You look like shit.”

“What do you want?” he demanded more forcefully.

“Your daughter is missing.” I watched his pale face whiten even more. Unfortunately, I couldn’t relish his suffering given the reason.

“You were supposed to protect her.”

“Victor got to her. She vanished after that.” I left out the part about her almost killing me.

“Victor,” he whispered. His gaze lost focus as his shoulders trembled. His head lowered until his forehead hit the table with a harsh thud. Staring at the back of his head, I considered putting a bullet in it—damn the consequences. When he finally lifted his head again, his eyes were rimmed with red. “This is all my fault.”

I ignored his plea for pity, and said, “He’s dead.”

“Then where is my daughter?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be here.” The day he had been led away, I dreamt the next time we met would be the day I put a bullet in his heart. “Where would she go, Theo?”

“I don’t know.”

“Think hard. The price on her head is high. There will be people who won’t stop to find her.” Including me.

“How do I know that debt isn’t being paid to you?”

I ignored him again. “Who did she run to?”

“She has no one!” He then pointed his finger accusingly. “But she should have had you! I gave her to you because I thought you would protect her despite what happened between me and your father.”

“She was always mine. My father knew I wouldn’t let you stand in my way, so he made you an offer you wouldn’t refuse. You should have thanked him instead of getting him killed.”

“You don’t know everything.”

“I know about the marriage you and my father forged between Mian and me.”

Regret shone in his eyes as he shook his head and gazed at me with pity. “When it comes to Mian, you’re a bigger fool than I had ever been.”

“I know it was my mother who pulled the trigger, but you aren’t innocent of what happened that night.”

“He fucked my wife, but did you know he killed her too?”

I didn’t react even as shock and suspicion ran rampant. “Your wife died from cancer.”

“My wife had cancer, but she died from suffocation. All this time, I believed cancer took her earlier than we expected, but the truth was, he not only fucked my wife, he had her killed. Victor told me everything, and Art confessed that night. Ceci threatened to expose them if he didn’t leave Bea, so he had her killed.”