Page 81 of Retribution

‘Okay. What’s your name, Mr. In-charge?’

‘You don’t need to know my name,’ he growls very close to my ear, making me jump.

He chuckles low. ‘Getting scared now?’

‘No. I have sensory issues. The light is hurting my eyes and this chair is really uncomfortable. Also, I’m cold.’

He doesn't say anything and I frown. I need to move this along. There’s not much time before Joe realizes I’ve given his babysitterthe slip and I want my safety ensured before he starts tearing the city apart.

‘I’m Daisy,’ I say, trying for some normal conversation.

Maybe that’ll help me to appear less threatening and they’ll talk to me instead of interrogating me.

My overture is met with silence, though, and then I hear more whispering.

‘What?’ Mr. In-charge snarls.

‘My name is Daisy,’ I say a little more loudly.

‘We know who you are, Novelle!’

I frown. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I’ve been kidnapped by people who want ransom from my stepfather.

That would be very bad luck. Not the worst, but not great for my plan at all.

‘You know my stepfather hates me, right? I doubt he’d pay for me to be released or anything.’

‘What about the Bandervilles?’

I shiver involuntarily. Joe would pay to get me back. He loves torturing me too much to let me go and he wants this marriage. What would he do to me if I was given back to himafterhe’d had to pay for me to be returned?

‘Not sure,’ I say, my voice quieter.

‘Did you blow up the lab in Wrath? Set the fire in the Novelle Center?’

The question throws me. Why would a kidnapper ask that?

‘Answer!’

‘Um. No. I didn’t go to the Novelle Center that day and I was in the club when it blew. Why would I set off a bomb in a building I was in the basement of with no way out?’

He scoffs. ‘Everyone knows there are catacombs under the buildings in that part of town.’

‘That’s still quite a risk to take,’ I say, tilting my head to the side.

‘Maybe you did it wrong. Made it badly,got the timings off.’

I wrinkle my nose. ‘If I was going to make a bomb, Mr. In-charge, I’d research it to the nth degree. I wouldnotdo it wrong!’

He’s silent again for a few minutes. ‘Open your eyes.’

‘No, thank you.’

‘It’s not a request,’ he growls, his hand taking my chin in a tight grip.

‘Yes, I know.’ I try to shake him off, but it doesn’t work. ‘Imade the request. The light. Remember?’

‘I— What?’