Page 142 of The Reluctant Hero

IOU

Amanda

The warning system settles as soon as I’m in the cop car. I’m too numb to be confused about it. All I know is that it was there and now it isn’t. It doesn’t feel as important right now. It’s not going to be useful for much longer anyway.

My first few hours at the police station were nonstop crying. I was so thankful we didn’t end up at the golf course that the tears started flowing, and now they won’t stop. I may be at the police station, but who knows where I’m going after this. They could be getting another spot ready to kill me and bury my body.

I’m sitting in some kind of interrogation room, but no one has come in since I was dropped off here. It’s a shallow hope that they stay away. Not with the threat of Mikael hanging over my head.

I can’t even think about that. For some reason, I’m in complete denial of their guilt, even when they’ve proven that they’re scumbags.

My heart wants more, and my brain is trying to bitch slap it into shape.

As time slowly crawls by, I have nothing to do but pace and think. I don’t want to do either one but it’s all I have.

I’m alone. I don’t have money for bribes. I don’t even own a gun. The only people I have phone numbers for want me dead. Not including my parents but I can’t call them now. Maybe not for a long time. I can’t risk them getting involved in this.

Thank God the phone is dead. They took it from me before they left me here, along with my other belongings. Seeing the eviction notice again was a gut punch. It’s only a matter of time before I’m dead meat.

At first, that prospect is terrifying. Then time goes by and I start getting mad. Madder than I’ve ever been before. It isn’t the mouth-running, thoughtless anger I usually contend with. This is something dark and seething that hides deep inside, making me cold. It fills up that hollow space that opened in Gabriel’s office and leaves me calm.

I sit down to wait for someone to come in and question me or kill me. If they do, I’m not going down alone.

No one comes.

I’m left all alone with my hate-filled thoughts until I lose track of time. I keep seeing the looks on their faces as the cops took me away. The smug satisfaction that I want to punch off.

What would be the point? Gabriel is rich and powerful. He has a pack of jackals at his beck and call. I need to stay away from them until I have more information. A plan. A way to separate them and take them out one at a time. I should have taken up South’s offer to be a ninja assassin immediately.

I think of that bunker. The body and the camera. Was that the missing PI? Who caught him snooping? Whokilledhim?

This is so much more than a cheating husband and property purchases. We now have a multi-million dollar bunker for drugs and sex trafficking. I’ve seen enough crime shows to know what I was looking at. It’s either that or a serial killer’s dream for the rich.

If I can’t take down Gabriel and company, that leaves Blake and all his lawyer and judge friends—all those yellow and pink highlighted names. I can build myself up to taking on Matthias and Co. But I no longer have access to thatinformation. Gabriel does. I’ll have to find another way unless he has them all on lockdown now that I’ve identified them.

I’ve been so stupid.

I could always go back to Mrs. Danvers' place to get the names again. But it wouldn’t give me the lawyers and judges. I doubt any of this is in public records. That’s probably why it’s in the Matthias building to begin with. A cover-up.

The thought of bringing trouble back to that apartment complex makes me shudder. So far, they’ve focused on me. If I stay away they won’t know Mrs. Danvers was the one giving me the letters. Manny won’t get questioned or hurt.

I’ll have to wing it. I've gone through an internet list of lawyers before, and I can do it again, minus the phone calls.

I can’t leave. What I’ve seen can’t be left alone to rot under the sand. Blake bought a lot of properties. I only visitedone. Who knows what else he’s been doing and who is backing him?

One site closed down. That means there might be another one. I need dates on what properties he bought first. It might give me a timeline to follow and make a guess. Unless the golf course isn’t the first. I don’t want to think about that. But the people that were in those cages had to go somewhere. They looked like they had been occupied.

I shudder at the thought. I feel sick all over again, but my expression remains flat.

Those women in the pictures. I’ve been feeling disgusted by them. Now I’m wondering if they weren’t willing to be with him to begin with.

I’m going to kill Blake. And anyone who helped. Anyone who saw what was happening and thought it was a great idea. As many of them as I can.

The thought doesn’t startle me like it should. It relieves some of the pressure building up.

I’m a Jefferson. I won’t stop fighting until I’m dead.

I’m used to running my mouth with anger. This goes way beyond being a brat now. Maybe it’s time for me to really let loose. Instead of hiding or ignoring things I could go balls to the wall crazy.

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