Page 63 of The Fix

Cami stared at Seraphina, the words she’d just said repeating in her head.

She knew? She knew who had meant great harm, even potential death, to an innocent little boy?

“Who?” Her voice already sounded stronger, less slurred, even if her muscles were still heavy and partially numb.

“If you or Hollis didn’t arrange Cyrus’s kidnapping, then who did? ”

“Hollis’s mother,” Seraphina said.

Cami blinked, the vision of the haughty society maven blooming in her mind. “Felicia Barclay? She ...” Her body seemed to sink even deeper into the plush leather of her seat.

“It was my doing, really.” Seraphina’s smooth brow wrinkled momentarily as if she was conflicted about that.

But in what way, Cami couldn’t guess. “I printed that email for both Hollis and Mrs. Barclay. She asks that we cc her on everything, and it’s just habit.

There’s nothing she’s not involved in.” She looked away.

“Or maybe I included her because I didn’t trust Hollis to take any action whatsoever if that note turned out to be true.

I printed it because I wanted to hand it to them myself and not wonder if it got lost in their personal inbox. ”

“Meaning what?” What kind of action was Seraphina hoping Hollis took?

But Seraphina seemed to have zoned out slightly, like she was considering something she wasn’t sharing with Cami.

“I knew Felicia was ambitious on Hollis’s behalf.

I’d seen her use the weight of her legal team on those who challenged her.

I knew she was driven and calculating. But I didn’t truly understand at that point the extreme lengths she’d go to to retain power and achieve more.

I guess you could say I practically signed that little boy’s death warrant.

” She smiled, a wry expression as though there was something ironic in what she’d said.

And Cami could only take in the information because it was too much to try to organize, much less understand.

She knew Hollis had always been close to his mother.

She had no idea if he’d ever shared what Cami had told Hollis about him being her child’s father.

The Barclays never said a word to her or reached out in any way, so she figured either they’d done as Hollis had done and convinced themselves that the baby was not his, or they just preferred to leave it all behind.

Regardless of whether Mrs. Barclay had believed Hollis was Cyrus’s father, once Cami put him up for adoption, she must have believed he was gone for good.

A closed adoption to another state. No connection to Hollis, at least none that had ever been recorded.

No way for Cami herself to contact their son even if she’d wanted to.

He’d been gone. Unproblematic. Until he wasn’t.

Was that what Seraphina was telling her?

“She was willing to have Cyrus murdered rather than risk him coming forward as Hollis’s son?” The words slithered over her after she’d spoken them. If that was true, the woman was pure evil. And so was Seraphina if she was hand-delivering Cami to Hollis and Mrs. Barclay to do with as they would.

Seraphina hummed. “I’ve thought about why Felicia decided Cyrus needed to be taken care of.

After all, I’m extremely well acquainted with the interest the media took in your story.

The news of your son would be a new chapter.

A reinvigoration of a media sensation that garnered the nation’s attention.

Can you imagine? The press would have a field day.

The baby Camille Cortlandt put up for adoption was Hollis Barclay’s all along.

And if it came out that he knew it, well, I have to believe Hollis would be cast in a less-than-flattering light this time. ”

Deservedly so.

Seraphina looked down and traced a loop in the pattern on her dress. This woman had everything to lose as well, even if she’d seemed to carry some guilt for what her mother had done. “Mrs. Barclay suggested the email was a prank, and Hollis willingly believed it,” Seraphina said.

That definitely tracked. “Are you surprised?”

“No, I have no illusions about who Hollis is.”

The fact she was okay with that said everything. But there was more here. They were all linked in ways both past and current, crimes and motives overlapping. “Does Felicia Barclay know your connection to me?” Cami asked.

“Of course she does. She had a complete profile done on me after Hollis and I were engaged. She would have done it sooner, I’m guessing, if she hadn’t been living in her other residence when Hollis and I met.

Our courtship was quick. Once we were engaged .

.. well, the public seemed to view me favorably.

I look nice on Hollis’s arm and all that.

She weighed the risks and the benefits of having Hollis call off his engagement during the campaign and decided it was better to keep me around for now.

Of course, those are all assumptions. Before that, Mrs. Barclay questioned me about my mother.

She knew it was no coincidence that I’d volunteered for Hollis’s charity.

And so, I confessed it all. It felt freeing in a way I didn’t expect.

Finally, someone to lean on. A mother when I hadn’t had one in so long.

A mother who had the money and influence to keep us all safe.

She acted understanding. She simply took it all in and said, ‘Oh, you poor dear. We’ll take care of you now. ’”

You poor dear. Hollis’s mother had learned who was responsible for Cami’s mother’s and sister’s torture and murder, and she’d simply set it aside.

She knew who the fixer was, and she’d decided protecting Hollis’s political future took precedence over justice.

Despite the muscle relaxant still rendering her mostly incapable of movement, a tiny shiver skated over her spine, and her shoulders twitched.

“Felicia Barclay knew of the family my mother hired too. Apparently, they make sure they’re known to those who matter, and the Barclays certainly matter.

Not that I imagine there’s a whole list of fixers to choose from.

It seems a niche business. But in the DC area?

Who knows. My best bet, though?” Seraphina went on.

“She used their particular services as a type of insurance. Maybe she hoped to blame Cyrus’s kidnapping on me if it became necessary.

The same fixer my own mother used. An undeniable link.

I’m sure the press would make it look as if I’d stalked Hollis too.

” She let out a small laugh. “In a way that’s exactly what I did. So much juicy potential.”

Seraphina chuckled, while Cami felt like she might be ill.

“She was willing to have a child murdered,” Cami whispered.

“Her own grandchild. Her blood. If she’ll do that, she’ll do anything.

” And Seraphina had divulged all this. She had to know there was no way Cami wouldn’t contact the authorities with this information.

Which meant that Seraphina wasn’t planning on letting her go.

Thoughts of Cyrus and Rex crowded her mind, and their pictured faces gave her a surge of strength. They’d missed their dinner date by now. Rex would know something was wrong. Rex would move mountains to find her.

But he didn’t know where she was. She hadn’t had a chance to text him, and he’d be searching blind. Oh God.

Seraphina took out her phone and glanced at it as the driver exited the highway and turned onto a city street.

Behind Seraphina’s purse, Cami noticed her own.

They’d tossed both her and her purse into the limo.

My phone. As quickly as hope soared, it plummeted.

Her phone had clattered to the ground. The last thing she remembered was watching it shatter before losing consciousness. “Where are we?” she asked.

“Alexandria.”

Where Hollis was. Didn’t he have a rally?

What was going to happen now? She was bound and helpless again.

Hollis didn’t have the constitution for murder, even if he had the malice.

But Hollis would do whatever he was told to do.

Would Mrs. Barclay take care of her somehow?

She wouldn’t put it past her, especially considering what she knew she’d done to Cyrus.

Her heart rate increased. Then again, Mrs. Barclay was the type who paid others to get their hands dirty.

Maybe that’s what she’d done. Maybe the driver who’d tased her would dump Cami in the Potomac, and she’d sink to the bottom.

Several deadly scenarios streaked through her mind, but she forced them away.

Panicking wouldn’t help her now. She knew that well.

And she refused, she refused to be another person Cyrus lost. Her fingers curled again, this time clenching into a fist. If she could just move her wrist a little bit more, she could work on the zip tie binding her, each time Seraphina looked away.

Maybe she could get it loose enough to slip her hand out. Enough to surprise Seraphina.

The limo came to a slow stop in the back of what appeared to be an office building, and Cami thought she heard music on a sound system from somewhere beyond.

Seraphina leaned forward again, and though she looked exhausted from closer up, there was very suddenly the spark of something in her eyes that hadn’t been there a moment before. “We’re here, Cami. And I’m sorry for what’s about to happen next, but I’m also not sorry at all.”