Page 73 of Skin Trade

“Fine, detain me.” She held out her hands. “I’ve done nothing wrong. I want to see my father.”

“Your father is not here.”

“Not here?”

“No. Because I have no idea who he is. So, what’ll it be Miss Ma--”

“Arrest me, get the mayor down here to see me. He’ll tell you himself. I am Payton. Do blood tests. Hell, take my DNA; I am who I say I am. I was taken from my father when I was thirteen. That date,” she pointed to his device that said what day she died, “is the date I was taken. Was there a body, huh? Hard to have a funeral without a body.”

“There was a body, yes.”

“Open casket?”

“This doesn’t prove anything. You aren’t getting in here.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Well, I’m not leaving. Not until you get my father down here.”

Riggs stayed silent, his eyes on her as if he was reading everything about her. She didn’t like that. Wanted to tell him to stop it. In the end, he lifted the device, aimed it at her and took a picture. “Stay here,” he said, and left the room.

She stayed still for several seconds after Riggs left, her eyes still bright from the flash on his device. Shit, it was brighter than the light outside, but if he had taken that to her father, then good. He would see it was her, come down. Dead? She wasn’t bloody dead,

Was this why he hadn’t come to find her? Was this why she had suffered at the hands of Creven and his friends?

She sat herself down in one of the chairs near the door and rested her elbows on her knees, her head in her hands. It made sense now. Why he hadn’t come, why he hadn’t demanded her back. They all thought she was dead.

Chapter Forty-One

Payton tried to keep her mind calm as time ticked by and she was left waiting in the room by herself. From where she was, she couldn’t see a damn thing, and for all she knew, the guard was going to come back with a whole army of men and then throw her out on her ear.

It wasn’t the end of the world, or at least she tried to tell herself that. If they threw her out, she could ask to call Zane, get a ride home and be in Seth’s place before he even realised she was gone. She could, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to see this through. She’d waited too long to see her father just to hit this block. She’d wait outside all night if she had to to see him.

Payton paced, stopping occasionally to stare at her father’s portrait and ask that he please come. If she got anything, it would be that her father came to see what the fuss was about, and then the moment he saw her, it would all be fixed.

Oddly, in the picture his eyes seemed darker. It was a struggle to reconcile this face with the man she knew as her father. She couldn’t even imagine his voice coming from that mouth. Not that she could remember his voice so well. She could remember her mother’s, remember it like it was crystal clear as if she’d just spoken. Maybe her mind had held onto it because she knew she’d not see her again.

It was a good half an hour before the door opened again. But it wasn’t Riggs who came in. Payton stepped back, putting herself at a distance from the woman who came in. The woman could have easily been twice Payton’s age. She wore a sturdy suit, equally sturdy black shoes to go with it and held a device the same as Riggs had held.

Riggs was at the door, and when he saw Payton wasn’t about to jump and attack the woman, he went to his office, though he left the door open.

“Payton,” she said. She put her hand to her mouth, gasped, that cold exterior dropping away with every step she took closer. “Payton? Oh, God. It’s really you?” The more she spoke, the more recognition came into her words.

Payton narrowed her eyes. “I know you. I …”

“Yes. Nancy. You remember me? I was your father’s aid. I …” She trailed off as she got right up to Payton and flung her arms around Payton’s neck and brought her into an embrace. Payton froze. She wasn’t used to the physical contact of strangers. Not when everyone was afraid some kind of sickness could be passed around and it would wipe out the already dwindling human race.

She let Payton go enough so she could hold her by the shoulders, position her so she could look at her. Really look at her. Nancy. Payton didn’t recall the name or couldn’t really place this woman. It was like with Seth, a familiar stranger who she knew she knew somehow, but couldn’t place properly.

“I can’t believe it’s you.” Her eyes shone with unshed tears “All this time.”

“You thought I was dead?”

“Yes, yes. Oh, God. We thought … your father. I … Where have you been all this time? I mean, look at you, all grown up now.”

It wasn’t a story for now. Not for this moment. Not to tell the world about Creven, about his friends and what they had done. It wasn’t the time for the details of the life she’d led this last decade. What mattered was that she was here, she was here and so was her father. Somewhere. “It’s a long story,” she said in the end. “Is my … is my father here? I’d really love to see him.”

The woman’s face softened. “Oh, Payton. He’s away on business. I …” She raised her hands to Payton’s face, cupped her cheeks. “He’s going to be over the moon. I’ve got to call him. No. I can’t. Can I?” She paused her mad babbling, making Payton’s head spin with her to-ing and fro-ing. “You’re alive. Alive.”

The woman’s smile was infectious. The woman who had walked in was not the same confident woman standing before her. She trembled. She’d dropped the business demeanour, the exterior of a woman who had probably come to tell Payton to get lost.

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