Taken With Trouble (CAUGHT IN CHAOS #2)

44. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Liam

The door shuts behind Serena, and I rush at my father—the pitiful excuse of a man—all the while praying Caleb catches Serena on the way out.

“Whoa.” He holds up the gun, stopping me in my tracks, though I don’t know why. My heart ceased beating thirty seconds ago when the woman I loved left with a man who will hurt and abuse her. “I could have used that kind of energy from you years ago. I don’t want to kill you, but if you come at me again, I will. It would be a shame, too. Your mother would miss you.”

I seriously doubt that. “Why did you kill those men?”

He purses his lips. “What men?”

“The ones on the video. They were men with families. Good men.”

He laughs. “They were not good men. They had invested with me, and let’s just say, their investment period had come to a close.”

“You’re despicable,” I spit. He’s gotten older, though the Botox he’s invested in has tried to prevent it. I almost feel bad for the man who is so full of himself he pushed everyone who mattered away. Almost.

“Oh, come now. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”

I hate him. With every fiber of my being, I hate him. He’s wrong. I thought I wasn’t good enough for happiness, good enough for Serena. But standing here next to him, the contrast is black and white. The thoughts and intentions that drive me are good. I’m not perfect, but I’m trying. And that’s the difference between us. I want to be good. He never did.

“I’m nothing like you.”

He only laughs—a terrible evil laugh. “Why don’t we discuss your position at the family company?”

“I want no position.”

“And yet it’s yours, because one misstep from you, and I’ll kill Sebastian’s new woman.”

My heart seems to beat, and then stop. Beat, then stop. That’s the only reason he let her live, so that he would always be able to march me around like a puppet.

The light fades from the room, taking all hope with it. Caleb should have been here by now. Something must have gone wrong. Ford must have found him. But the other agents are coming. They have to be.

I grit my teeth. I need to sell my hopeless act for a little longer and get the evidence I need to destroy the man who made it his life goal to destroy me. “Your wish is my command,” I deadpan.

“Splendid.” My dad grins. “Robert, bring him to the back. Your first order of business is to ensure we got rid of all video evidence of my little indiscretion.”

Robert grabs my bad arm and shoves me forward. I grimace but don’t fight. In fact, I nearly speed up when I see the four monitors and the huge tower in the back room, but I can’t seem too eager. He has no idea what he’s done.

“I don’t really do that stuff anymore,” I lie, poking the mouse with my finger to wake the computers. It requires a password, and Robert stupidly types it in.

“You’ll have to brush up on it if you want to live.” My dad comes to a stop right behind me. “And don’t act a fool. One wrong move, and this bullet goes into your spine. You’ll get to live paralyzed and watch the woman you love live the life you want.”

I grit my teeth to keep from snapping and give the computer my full attention. Lucky for me, my father didn’t inherit this particular skill set from his father. I bounce back and forth over the web and applications, looking for the video while simultaneously adding a bot to his system that will allow me to access every piece of evidence I need to take my own father down. When the bot is in place, I send an encrypted link to a friend, then shove the mouse away from me. “I don’t see anything.”

Something presses into my spine. “Maybe you didn’t look hard enough.”

I fake a sigh. “I can try again but I’m going to need to look into a few things. I can’t remember wh—”

“Save it.” My dad steps away from me and heads to the living room. Robert approaches me.

Now’s my chance. If Caleb isn’t going to save Serena, I will.

I throw my elbow into the henchman’s nose then spin, grabbing his head and bringing it down on my knee. He falls to the ground, and I snatch up his gun. My arm is throbbing from my wound, but I hit him over the head with enough power to knock him out.

My father stands near the bar, eyebrows raised but otherwise unconcerned. “Seems your fighting has improved. Maybe you have more potential than I thought.”

“Want to know my specialty?” I ask, casually strolling toward him. “Ruining the lives of criminals like you.”

“You’re going to shoot me?” He laughs. “You don’t have the balls.”

I shrug. “Challenge accepted.”

He slips his gun out from behind his back and marches forward. “If I’d known you’d be so valuable, I never would have put that bounty on you.”

He put the bounty on me? But why?

The treasure. No matter what he has in life, he will always want more. He will never be satisfied.

Well, we were raised by the same man. I’m going to beat him to that treasure.

I shake my head, refusing to reveal anything. “For such a smart man, you’re really stupid. That treasure doesn’t exist.”

“There’s proof,” he says, we’re circling each other now, both guns out. “I found coordinates.”

“Too bad you’ll never get to test them out. ”

His eyes widen, and he pulls an expression onto his face that is almost human. “ We will.”

“You’ve never wanted any part of my life. Now I don’t want any part of yours.”

His lips quirk in a half smile. “A shame.”

I nod. It is.

Three things happen in the next second: A door bursts open followed by two gunshots—one from my gun, one from his. I don’t feel anything except the feeling of falling.

Falling.

Forever.