He laughed. “Have your fun while you can, Addy. This was all meant to be. I knew some psycho was watching you. The cops found your picture in his car. I just didn’t know he had anything to do with this until I came out here to see if this place was still standing.” He gestured to Prescott and Arnold. “Then I overheard your batty old momma telling my daddy about how someone had found out the truth about you being adopted. When you showed up, I knew this was my chance to see that you got what you deserved.”
Adeline let the remark about her mother go, she would get him for that later. “Why don’t you let Prescott and Arnold go? This is really between me and you, right?”
“No way.” He shook his stupid head. “What I’m doing is getting you the hell out of my life for good. You’re going to die tonight, cuz.” He smiled. “That psycho brother of yours would never have gotten to you the way Henderson has been all over you. I just made his job a little simpler. Works out great for me, I get rid of you and nobody ever has to know I had anything to do with it. That keeps the old man off my back.”
“Well, aren’t you smart,” Adeline mused. “I guess everyone’s been wrong about you. You aren’t the stupid brother.”
His lips twisted. “At least I won’t be dead. It’s so sad,” he mocked. “The police will finally find the three of you and you’ll all be dead. Too bad, too sad.”
Adeline wondered briefly where the boy was as she eased over a little more. She hoped if he wasn’t here that meant he was safe. When she’d positioned herself in front of the women, she asked, “You’ve got me where you want me, Clay. I guess you can go.” Time to use a little reverse psychology. “You wouldn’t want to risk getting caught here if Wyatt shows up. You know it’ll only be a matter of time before they find us.”
He moved his head back and forth. “Buthewill get here first. It’s almost time. He’s always on time.” Clay hitched his head toward the door. “I’ll just hang around out there in the woods so I can see his reaction when he finds you here.” He laughed. “I wish I had a camera. A bittersweet family reunion. Now sit,” he ordered Addy.
She kept her hands up as she dropped to her knees on the floor. She sat back, drawing one knee up in a stance that would allow her to shoot to her feet more quickly.
“Good.” Clay reached down and snagged the flashlight. “I’ll be watching.” He ran the beam of light over the floor until he spotted her weapon and cell phone, picked both up, and shoved them into his waistband. He gestured to Prescott, then Arnold. “Doesn’t look like they’ll be going anywhere.” He focused on Addy. “You could leave them to fend for themselves and run before the bastard gets here,” he offered. “You might even get away. I’m not the best shot in the county. It’s a risk you might decide to take. After all, that’s what you do, isn’t it, Addy?Run away from your trouble.”
A shadow blocked the moonlight filtering through the open door. Adeline’s heart lurched. Clay, apparently, recognized the danger at about the same time she did. He wheeled around, actually squeezed off a shot.
Something sliced through the air, slammed into Clay’s temple. He lurched sideways, then crumpled to the floor. A baseball bat clanged down next to him.
Adeline lunged forward. Two hands rammed her shoulders and shoved her backward. She landed on her ass. She scrambled to a better position. The flashlight had rolled across the floor, its beam highlighting the bastard.
Tall, bald, and looking furious, Daniel Jamison surveyed the situation as he dragged a gun from his waistband. “Thanks for making this easy,” he said to Clay’s motionless body. Then he looked at Adeline and the others and smiled. “All the princesses in a row. Perfect.”
He kicked Clay in the ribs to see if there would be a reaction. Clay’s body bounced with the impact but he didn’t grunt. Just lay there.
Clay had taken her weapon. Damn it.
Jamison dropped the bag he carried on the floor and motioned to Addy with his gun. “You. Get up.”
She pushed to her feet, squared her shoulders. “I don’t know why you think it’s necessary to finish your father’s work. You saved us once. Why would you do this now?” Reason likely wouldn’t get anywhere with this guy, but the longer she could keep him talking, the more time she had to formulate a plan.
He laughed. “You were too young to remember how it was, so don’t pretend to know what you’re talking about. You have no idea.” He took a step back and pointed to the sports-type bag he’d dropped on the floor. “Open the bag.”
Addy moved toward him, took a long hard look at the man who was her brother. He’d rescued his sisters as a child, surely some part of that good still survived deep inside him. She lowered to her knees and opened the bag. More chains and shackles.
“Get the key from the bottom of the bag.”
She dug around, found the key.
“Now put on a pair of those cuffs.”
She pulled the length of chain from the bag. Seven, eight feet long. Three sets of cuffs were attached to the length of chain. He was going to shackle them together. Shit.
“I’ve been watching you for days,” he told her. “Trying to find the right time. Imagine my surprise when asswipe over there did my work for me. Looks like I’m not the only family member who had it in for you.”
Her fingers cold as ice, Adeline ignored him and slid two of the iron bracelets onto her wrists, then clicked them shut. She lifted her gaze to his. “Yeah, yeah, the story of my life.” Then she dared to smile. “Maybe I’ll have the pleasure of doing to you what I did to asswipe’s brother.” The front of his hand smacked across her face. Adeline rode out the wave of pain, licked the blood from her lip. “You know, if you were a real man you wouldn’t have picked on a poor old lady in the hospital.”Bastard.
He laughed. “I did that just for you, little sis.” He smiled. “I knew you’d love it.”
Fury bolted through Adeline. He was dead.
“Now take the key and release Prescott. Put the next set of cuffs on her.”
Adeline lugged the chain toward Prescott. The woman sobbed harder, shook her head. Adeline produced a smile. “It’s gonna be all right,” she whispered as she unlocked the cuffs already on the woman’s wrists. Her wrists were scraped and bloody.
“Put those on her wrists before you release her ankles,” the bastard ordered.