Page 186 of Reaper

But still, he doesn’t give us any useful information.

When I get to his bone, I set the filet knife down and pick up the bone saw. He whimpers as I get the saw in place, and for a moment, my heart clenches at the sound but then it hardens. This is the asshole who thought he could dictate my life. The asshole who planned to break me until I was whatever he wanted me to be.

I drag the saw over his bone, and he cries out again.

“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”

I don’t remove the saw from his leg, instead choosing to wait for him to talk.

“K-Kelly. I got the information from Kelly C-Cox.”

The air in the room shifts at his words, the tension in it so thick I could cut it with a knife. No pun intended.

Black dots dance across my vision as rage flows through my veins.

He went to my ex-best friend.

The same ex-best friend he encouraged to sleep with my ex-fiancé.

My ex-best friend gave him information to hire men to kidnap me.

Her continued betrayal hits me square in the chest and rage has me twisting the saw. Darren cries out again as the jagged edges cut further into his skin, muscle, and bone.

“How did she know the men? What else did she tell you?”

Darren pants, catching his breath, sweat running down the sides of his face. “Sh-She said that R-Richard uses them to help further his deals. Sh-She said that he wouldn’t have a-a problem loaning them to me to t-teach you a lesson and k-knock you down a few pegs. A f-few hours after w-we talked, she c-called me. Said o-one of the men would be in c-contact with me within twenty-four hours after they f-finished their current job. I never knew their names. T-They never mentioned them. She e-even got Richard to knock some of the p-price of using their men because of what I had p-planned for you.”

The heavy thump of boots on concrete signals someone’s approach, and when I see Darren blanch even further, I know it’s Anthony. His hand touches the small of my back and it helps calm my anger. To a degree anyway, and it’s enough where I can think a little clearer.

“What else did you have planned for Lark?” Anthony asks him. “Beyond what you’ve already told her.”

Darren swallows thickly and licks his lips nervously as his gaze bounces between us. “T-That when I had her under my t-thumb, I’d make her sign over the r-restaurants, her land, everything, to me. Then I’d sell it to R-Richard, at a cheap price per our agreement, so he could build his r-resort.”

Anger runs through my veins so hot, I start to feel numb. I came so close to losing everything because of this asshole and the fucking Cox family. Wait. He only mentioned Kelly and Richard. Did Aiden have anything to do with this?

“Who else in the Cox family did you deal with?” I ask him and out of the corner of my eye, I catch Anthony glancing at me before he looks back at Darren.

Darren shakes his head. “Just K-Kelly, Richard, and their four men. T-That’s it. I know R-Richard has more than four men working for him, but I-I only met those four that took you.”

I stand rooted in place as I stare down at Darren. To be honest, I’m still leery about Aiden being involved or not. Though, now that I think about it, it’s always been Kelly and Richard trying to stir shit up with me and my family. They’ve never gone to the extreme where I said I’d release the video of Kelly and Aiden, but they’ve gotten damn close a couple of times. After that day in the supper club, Aiden usually kept his distance, and if we had to interact, he was cordial for the most part. A few times, he even intervened with Kelly.

“Were you working with anyone else?” It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask if he knows my second stalker but I don’t know if that would be a good idea or not.

Darren shakes his head again, though he eyes me questioningly. “No one else. Just those six.”

“If it was just Kelly, Richard, and those four men involved, then why did you stay silent for so long? What are they holding over you?” Anthony asks him. “What incentive did they give you?”

Darren’s body sags against the table, and his eyes turn misty for a second before he blinks, clearing all trace of his tears. Whether they are from the pain or something else, I don’t know.

“My daughter” he whispers and I stare at him in shock. From what Python dug up, Darren doesn’t have any children.

“You don’t have a—,” my voice trails off as my suspicion rises. “Is Kelly’s daughter your daughter?”

Kelly had given birth recently to a little girl, who if rumors are to be believed, looks nothing like Kelly or Aiden. Or any of theother Cox’s. Everyone assumes the pool boy is the father, but that’s all it’s been so far. Rumors.

“She is. R-Richard and Kelly approached me with the entire p-plan. They didn’t know I was already p-planning to get to you, somehow.” He pauses as he frowns. “Or at least I don’t think they knew.” He shakes his head, a defeated look coming over him. “If I was able to get R-Richard all of your land and property, they would f-fabricate a story where Genivieve died. In r-reality, I would be long gone with her, you, and the m-money. With Genivieve ‘dead’, Richard w-wouldn’t have to constantly explain w-why she doesn’t have any of the Cox’s p-prominent features. He was going to have p-paperwork forged to show Genivieve was our d-daughter so that there’d be no trace back to the Cox f-family.”

What the fuck?