Flawed (The Mercenary Series Book 3) Read online

  I still had the flashlight I’d taken from Giovanni’s men. Using it to guide the way, I plunged off the track leading up to the cabin and into the undergrowth. I knew I needed to get downhill of the cabin, but other than that, Vee could have been anywhere.

  I was amazed Mickey hadn’t put a bullet in my back to prevent me being the one to find Vee first. Perhaps he enjoyed the game, or perhaps his reason for keeping me alive was simply that he knew we needed as many people as possible searching, in order to cover more ground. Mickey Five Fingers wasn’t a stupid man. He knew his daughter had been hurt, and he knew how cold it was tonight. If Vee had gone through that water, underground, and miraculously found her way out again, she’d be soaking wet and freezing.

  I was glad to have grabbed the flashlight from one of Giovanni’s men. I’d be screwed now if I hadn’t, though if the batteries ran out I could always use what light I could get from the cell phone Giovanni had left me, which was still in my possession.

  Behind me, I heard Mickey shouting instructions to his men—one to head east, the other west. We both knew we needed to be downstream of the cabin, but that was about it. The underground watercourse could pop out anywhere in these mountains—miles away for all we knew. Whoever found her first, if we even did find her, would be purely on luck, nothing else. None of us knew anything about the geography of these parts. At least we were all on an even footing on that part, even though there were three against one.

  I decided to head directly south, running at a jog. I could have moved faster, but I didn’t want to miss anything. If Vee had made it out in one piece, she could have passed out and be lying partially hidden in the undergrowth. I didn’t want to run right past her in my haste.

  “Vee!” I shouted. “Vee, where are you?”

  From both sides of me came similar calls from Mickey and the other two, only they called for Verity, not Vee. Would she recognize the difference if she heard us, and know to head toward my voice instead of theirs? Would she identify her father’s voice and take off in the other direction?

  I crashed through the bushes. Branches swiped at me as I ran by, but I ignored them. I was focused on finding Vee, my gaze searching the forest floor for any sign of her or of an underground stream. Finding a particularly boggy patch might give me a clue as to which way the water below ground was running. It was hard to tell anything in the dark; I wasn’t even sure I was still heading in the right direction. If I was becoming disoriented so early into the game, I couldn’t imagine what Vee must have felt like, emerging from an underground tunnel, wet and freezing, having gone through the trauma of having part of her finger cut off and being abducted.

  Plus, she was pregnant. Jesus, she was pregnant.

  Rage boiled up inside me. How could any man do that to a pregnant woman? I was glad Giovanni was dead.

  “Vee!” I yelled again, as loud as I could. “Vee!”

  My shouts disturbed small creatures in the forest, sending them scurrying away from my footsteps and voice. Each movement made my heart lurch, thinking it might be her, but each time I was disappointed.

  Was she dead, trapped underground, drowned in the same water she’d been trying to escape through?

  No, I couldn’t let myself think like that, or I would fall to the ground and let whatever was coming finish me off. I would keep searching for her, however long it took. If I had to spend days or weeks or months trawling through every inch of this forest, then that’s what I would do. I’d take an axe and break my way into the mountain if I had to. I didn’t care what it would take. I’d dedicate my life to finding her because I knew I wouldn’t be able to live any other way.

  Losing her would break me.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  V

  My run through the forest had taken on the strange, distant feel of a nightmare. Though I continued to move, albeit slowly, I had withdrawn inside myself, no longer paying attention to which direction I was headed. I’d lost all track of time and awareness. I realized I had no memory of the last ten minutes, or had it been as long as half an hour, an hour, even? I didn’t know anything except that I was still on my feet.

  But then something broke through my daze.

  I froze, holding my breath.

  What had caught my attention? I’d forgotten already, but something had pulled me out of my stupor. Something had made me stop.

  Was I imagining things, or had I just heard someone call my name?

  Vee.

  That was it. I thought I’d heard someone call my name.

  I listened hard, wondering if I might hear it again.

  I must have been imagining things, or perhaps I’d literally been sleeping on my feet and had dreamed it. Only the swish of the last of the fall leaves clinging to the branches above my head in the wind, the occasional scurry of an animal nearby, or the mournful hoot of an owl met my ears. I’d been in such a daze as I’d dragged my poor, beaten body through the woods, half asleep even as I’d pushed forward, I must have imagined it. My mind had been filled with thoughts of X, so it was no wonder I’d hallucinated him calling for me.

  Was now the time to give up, to sit down on the ground and let sleep take me? I was too exhausted to go on any farther. I’d fought, and I’d fought hard. I hadn’t allowed Giovanni to kill me, and that was the main thing. I’d die on my own terms, and at least I was free. I hated the idea of X turning up at the cabin to find me gone, but he was strong and smart. He’d get himself out of the situation then go on to live a good life without me. I knew he’d mourn at first—I didn’t doubt that he loved me—but he’d get over my death, and the death of our unborn child, eventually.

  I sank to my knees, not even feeling the damp of the earth beneath the wetness of my jeans. My chin hit my chest. A strange numbness filled me, a deep weariness …

  “Vee!”

  My head snapped back up.

  I’d heard that. I was sure I had. It had been distant, but real.

  My heart lifted with hope. Had I really just heard X’s voice, or was my tortured and exhausted mind playing tricks on me?

  No, there it came again. The name he called me echoing through the forest.

  He was here.

  I wanted to cry in relief, but I didn’t cry. My eyes remained dry, even though the emotion built inside of me.

  I staggered back to my feet, looking around. Which direction had his voice come from?

  “X?” I tried to call back, but my voice came out as a croak. “X, I’m here!”

  My voice was pathetic. There was no way he’d ever hear me. I wished I had a whistle, or some other way of getting myself noticed. Should I stand still and hope he found me, or try to move toward his voice and pray I didn’t go in the wrong direction?

  He called my name again, only this time he sounded farther away. Panic shot through my veins, causing a fresh spurt of adrenaline, which got me moving. I couldn’t risk him wandering away from me.

  My limbs were numb and aching. I called for him, my voice rasping against a throat that felt like it had been swallowing broken glass. But I pushed onward, praying I would find him soon.

  Arms wrapped around me, male arms, and I let out a sob.

  “Got you,” a voice said.

  Horror lurched inside me, and I shoved away from him, almost falling backward.

  I stared in dismay. I was seeing things—hallucinating, surely? How was it possible that my father was standing in front of me in the middle of a forest in the dead of night? He lifted a flashlight I now saw he was holding and shined it at me, so I had to lift my hand and squint against the glare.

  “Hello, Verity. Looks like I’m the winner.”

  “What ..?”

  My mind blurred and the strength gave out from my legs, pitching me forward. I hit the ground on my hands and knees, my fingers digging into mulch. Surely this wasn’t happening? I couldn’t have fought out of all of this only to have my father step onto the scene. How had he found me? Had Giovanni contacted him and demanded a ransom
for me? I couldn’t think of any other way.

  Had I been imagining hearing X’s voice? Had it been my father’s I’d been running toward this whole time?

  But then I heard movement behind me.

  “Vee!”

  I twisted to face the voice and hitched a breath. I’d never been so happy to see another person in my whole life. He stood, his shoulders squared, his gaze flicking past me to my father. I wanted to crawl into his arms and kiss his face, but my father was armed, the gun pointed at me now.

  “Oh, God, X. I thought I was hearing things.”

  He shook his head, his lips pressed together. “I’m so sorry, baby. Jesus, what did they do to you?”

  “I’m okay. I mean, I will be.” I tried to get to my feet, wanting to move toward him, but my father’s voice bellowed.

  “Freeze, or I’ll be forced to shoot you, Verity. You know I’m capable of it.”

  My muscles turned to rock, making me a statue.

  X pulled his own weapon, but a shout from my father prevented him from lifting it.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” my father said. “You try to shoot me, and I’ll put a bullet in her. I swear I will.

  What would X do? I wondered if he’d drop his gun, but he didn’t. Instead, he slipped his arm out of one side of his jacket, transferred the gun to the other hand, and then took the coat off completely.

  “What are you doing?” my father snapped.

  “She’s freezing,” he said. “She’ll end up with pneumonia or hypothermia, if she hasn’t already. The very least you could do is let me give her my jacket.” He paused and then said, “Or don’t you care about the life of your grandchild?”

  My breath caught at his words, my heart sinking. I watched for the surprise or shock in my father’s face, but there was none. So he already knew I was pregnant. How had he found out? I hadn’t wanted him to know, fearing he would decide the child could replace me somehow. That he had a right to the baby. Perhaps he would keep me alive now, but only long enough for the baby to be born. He wouldn’t want me in its life. He would think I’d turn the child against him—which was exactly what I would do.

  “Fine,” he said. “Throw it to her, but don’t try anything stupid.”

  X took a step toward me and threw the jacket gently in an underhand throw. “Take off your wet top. Put the jacket on and zip it up. It will help.”

  I nodded at him and did as he’d instructed, pulling the wet material over my head and throwing it to the ground. I hid my wet, bra-covered breasts with one arm, aware of the greedy gaze of the man who currently had a gun pressed to X’s head. I knew him from when I’d been living at my father’s house—his name was Bruno. He was a few years older than I was, but had known me as a teenager. I didn’t like the way he was watching me now, sneering and lustful, despite being in the presence of both my father and the man I was pregnant by.

  I pulled on the jacket, instantly appreciating how it was still warm from X’s body heat, and zipped it up over my breasts. My bra was still wet and clinging to my chest, but losing the top and putting on the jacket immediately made me warmer.

  “Please, Mickey,” said X. “Just let her come with me now. She’s been through a lot. Let’s get her somewhere she can warm up properly, and then we can talk.”

  He shook his head. “Not going to happen. I’m done talking. Verity is mine, X. That was our agreement. I found her first.”

  Confusion filled me. “What’s he talking about, X? Please tell me you didn’t have some kind of arrangement with the fucking bastard.”

  “Now, now, Verity. That’s no way to talk about your father.”

  I spun to face him. “You’re no father of mine. You lost the right to be called that the day you forced me to shoot Mom.”

  “I should have shot you instead,” he spat. “At least then I wouldn’t have had to watch my oldest child betray me in such a way.”

  My mind flicked to Nicole. “Where’s Nickie? What have you done with her?”

  X spoke. “She’s safe, Vee. We left her in the car on the road before the turnoff to the cabin.”

  My mouth dropped open. “You brought her here? What were you thinking? Giovanni might have taken her as well!”

  “I know. I tried to tell your father it was a bad idea.”

  That my father would be so stupid as to bring my little sister into the middle of this made me angrier than anything. I knew he wasn’t exactly a doting parent, but I thought he’d have had more sense than that. It only proved to me that he didn’t give a shit about us at all. All he wanted was to use us to his own benefit.

  “She’s fine, Verity,” said X, seeing my distress. “No one will have taken her.”

  “How do you know that? What about Giovanni?”

  X spoke. “He’s dead. I shot him.”

  Though relieved to hear Giovanni was dead, I didn’t understand what was going on. I looked between the two men as best I could in the limited light. “Why are you talking like you’re working with my father, X? Please tell me you’re not.”

  “I’m not. This was a means to an end.”

  My father laughed. “That wasn’t what you said when you came crawling to me, begging for my help.”

  X growled. “I did not crawl.”

  “Whatever.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was insanely happy to see X, but the idea that he’d gone to my father for help cut like a dagger in my side. He knew how much I hated the man. X asking him for help, whatever the circumstances, felt like the ultimate betrayal.

  Movement came from behind X, and another man emerged from the darkness of the trees. I tried to call a warning, but my voice failed me. He stepped up behind X and jammed the muzzle of a gun into the back of his head. “Drop the gun.”

  X went rigid, his eyes widening at me, and he allowed his weapon to fall from his fingers onto the forest floor.

  “No, please! Don’t shoot him,” I croaked. Horror filled me at the thought of watching a bullet go through X’s brain. Of watching him die in front of me, while I was dragged off by my father.

  My father reached forward and grabbed me.

  “Let me go, you fucking bastard,” I managed to say, though it sounded less pathetic in my head than the squeak that emerged from my throat.

  “No chance. Anyway, I’ve got someone you might want to see.”

  I froze in his grip.

  He chuckled. “That’s right. Remember Nickie is in the car. Don’t you want to see your baby sister?”

  “She’s eighteen. She’s not a baby anymore.” I struggled against him, but I was weak, hurt, and exhausted, and he was far stronger than I was. I looked toward X for help, but he had a gun pointed at his head.

  Help wasn’t coming.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  X

  God dammit. I’d let my guard down, assuming Mickey’s men had headed in the opposite direction, still searching for Vee. From the height at which the muzzle was pressed against my head, I figured the person behind me was Large. I thought he was probably enjoying this. He’d been desperate to shoot me since the first moment he’d laid eyes on me. I wondered about the location of the second guy, Little. Would he materialize from somewhere too, or had he been searching in the opposite direction and was completely unaware of what was happening now?

  Now I was unarmed, and being forced to watch Vee being dragged off by her father.

  But she was alive. She hadn’t died trapped underground. She looked wretched. Even in the poor light, I’d caught a glimpse of her poor hand all wrapped up in a piece of cloth. She’d been shaking and was clearly weak from everything she’d been through. I wanted to pull her into my arms, hold her tight, kiss her and tell her everything would be all right, but now I had this asshole jamming a gun into the back of my head.

  I hoped he didn’t think I’d let him get away with it for too long.

  Mickey Five Fingers vanished between the trees, pulling Vee along with him. I could tell how weak she wa
s by how little she’d fought back. She was normally a wildcat, but she’d been almost complacent. Or perhaps, as Mickey had warned, it was because he’d used the trump card of him having Nicole in his possession.

  I allowed the guy to shove me forward, getting me to follow Vee and her father. I was surprised I was being made to follow and not just shot out here in the middle of nowhere and left to die in the forest. Mickey must have some kind of plan for me. Perhaps he thought if he wasn’t able to hurt his daughter anymore because of the fact she was carrying his grandchild, then he’d hurt her emotionally by torturing and killing me in front of her. Hadn’t that same punishment befallen Nicole and the tutor she’d been involved with?

  I moved quickly, my feet scuffing through the undergrowth. I didn’t want to lose sight of Vee. I didn’t trust her father for a single second.

  The walk through the forest felt like it took far longer going back. I’d been distracted searching for Vee, and hadn’t noticed how far we’d come. Vee’s father was half carrying her, but I knew she must be struggling to walk this far. I wanted to help her—hell, I’d carry her myself—but I knew Mickey would never allow it, and I didn’t want to call attention to myself. If I was lucky, he’d be focused on his daughter, and an opportunity would arise where I could deal with the man behind me, and then try to take out Mickey as well. I didn’t want to push my luck and get Vee hurt, however. That was my main priority. She’d been incredible to get herself out of Giovanni’s clutches, and I didn’t want to be the one to screw everything up.

  When we eventually stepped through the trees and out onto the road, we didn’t emerge in front of the cabin. Instead, the route back had brought us out onto the road opposite where Mickey had left the Mercedes. The man obviously had a better sense of direction than I did. He’d led us right to the spot where he’d left his youngest daughter.

  Mickey’s roar of fury shattered the otherwise quiet night.

  It took a moment to piece together what had happened, my eyes adjusting in the gloom. He still had hold of Vee, but the back door of the Mercedes was wide open. The internal light of the car was on, illuminating the empty interior.