Heartbreak You (Heartbreak Duet 2)

“He was breathing to begin with,” I squeak out.

“You know that’s not what I mean. It was as if a weight was lifted.”

“I don’t want to talk about Atlas,” I tell her, getting into the car. I look back at her and say, “You’ll call me at the office when you have news?”

“Yes,” she answers, then shuts my door.

It’s the following day before I am able to see Atlas’s father. It was a tricky one to pull off. Ronnie seldom leaves my side, but somehow I have managed to sneak out with the help of Marissa. I drove myself in her car while she told Ronnie I was busy.

My hands are shaking as I walk into the visitor’s room where he’s seated. His hands are chained to the table in front of him, and he eyes me up and down as I walk over to him. I know who he is the minute I see him. He looks like an older version of Atlas, right down to being covered in tattoos, except his hair is shorter than Atlas’s. As I step up to the table, he tries to stand, but his cuffs clink on the table preventing him from doing so.

“This is a surprise,” he says, smirking. “I’m taking it my son doesn’t know you’re here.”

“Why would you do that?” I say, ignoring his comments and getting on with business.

He drops his head to the side. “Do what?”

“Do you like to act dumb, or are you actually dumb?” I ask, my leg is shaking under the table, but he can’t see my nerves, but I can sure as hell feel them ricocheting through my entire being.

“You’ve got a mouth on you, a fast one too,” he says in appreciation. “I bet you won’t be so fast to smart talk when your insides are being ripped out, now will you?” he retorts.

My mouth opens, and I shake my head. “Well, I can see why you’re in here, right where you need to be.” I stand. “I shouldn’t have come, but I had to know what kind of man tries to kill a woman he’s never met.” I smile. “At least now you have a reason to kill me, you ignorant old bastard.”

“Sit back down, Theadora, or I’ll have your favorite human killed next.”

I pause.

“You don’t know fuck all about me,” I retort. “Let alone who my favorite person is.”

“Tina, the baby…” he pauses. “Maybe Atlas.”

I sit down immediately.

He smiles. “Good girl. Maybe you aren’t so dumb, after all.”

“What do you want?” I ask.

“What’s so special about you that made him fall for you, I wonder? I mean, Lucy was a loose cannon, but you seem to be well…. normal. Atlas doesn’t usually go for your type.” He eyes me up and down.

“And what’s my type?”

“Good, wholesome… blonde.” He raises an eyebrow. “Lucy is more his style, minus the crazy, of course.”

“Do you love your son?” I ask.

His fingers tap on the table in front of him one after the other. He seems to think before he answers and that’s troubling. “Yes, but not as a father should love their son. I respect what he has created. And when I’m free, I will take it all from him… it should have been mine to begin with.”

“Why?” I ask.

He slams his fists onto the table, and it shakes. “Because it was all my idea,” he seethes.

“You’re jealous.” I smile.

That’s it.

I stand and grin widely. “Thank you for your time, but I think that is all I need to know. You are jealous of your son, that he’s everything you wish you were but could never be.” I turn my nose up at him and lean in close so he can smell my perfume. “He is nothing like you, you stupid, idiotic old prick.” I turn, but his voice stops me.

“I loved his mother once, until I killed her,” he whispers, so the guards don’t hear. But I heard every word he uttered.

When I leave, my hands are shaking as I grip the door handle.

Atlas is nothing like his father.

I hope.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Atlas

“What do you mean you lost her,” I say to Ronnie on the cell.

“I’m sorry, sir. She was in her office, and when I went to check, one of her co-workers told me she was in the bathroom. That break went on way too long before I realized she had taken her work mate’s car and left.”

Fucking hell.

“Sydney.”

She comes into my office straight away, a pen in her hand, with her glasses on. “I need a much bigger detail on Theadora than just Ronnie. She seems to have escaped.”

Sydney looks down at her feet, her eyebrows pinched as she avoids my gaze. “Sydney,” I snap at her.

Licking her lips, she looks up at me, opening her mouth to speak, but then she stops.

“Sydney, what do you know? Tell me, now.”