Page 80 of The Restaurant on Plum Island
“She’s not going to be amused.” Harley rolled his eyes. “We’re racking up a body count today.”
“Shall we try to wake him?” Ethan looked at Harley as he hung up from Daniella. “As you’ve been so keen to throw water in someone’s face…”
“Alex?” Paul mumbled, trying to pry his eyes open. “Alex, you have to go find Ethan, Shay, and Carly.” He tried to sit up but grabbed his head in pain. “They’re in danger. I thought he was just going to scare Ethan to get the truth from him once and for all.”
“What truth?” Ethan and Harley said in unison.
“That your brother killed my Anni,” Paul’s eyes misted with tears. “I didn’t know it was all lies.” He waned in and out of consciousness. “When my baby girl showed me…” He grabbed his head. “It was toolate. I confronted him and told him he was going too far, but he hit me over the head.” He started to panic again. “Please, you have to get them before he does. He’s crazy, and he’ll do it.”
“He’ll do what?” Harley asked. “And why has he taken Carly?”
“He’s in love with her.” Paul coughed and grabbed his head again. “He’s always been obsessed with her. But she rejected him, and so he wants her to fall into the same fate as them.” He grabbed Ethan’s arms, still thinking he was talking to Alex. “He killed her. Not Ethan. It was him.”
Paul’s words sent a chill up Ethan’s spine, confirming his deep suspicions that Beth didn’t commit suicide. A sick feeling rose in Ethan’s gut as images of that fateful day flashed through his mind, wondering how sick or malicious you’d have to be to do something like that, not caring there was a child in the house.
“Please, please tell Ethan I’m sorry,” Paul muttered. “I should’ve listened. I should have known my beautiful girl was suffering, but I was so scared she’d end up like her mother.”
“No, Paul,” Ethan seethed. “You thought by not acknowledging it, it would go away.”
Anger spurted through Ethan. He would never hit another human being intentionally, especially not an injured one, but he wanted to throttle Paul Liddiard.
“Where are they?” Harley asked Paul through clenched teeth. “And who has them?”
Before Paul could answer, his eyes rolled back, and he passed out.
“Why does this keep happening to us?” Ethan threw his hands in the air.
“We could get the ice water,” Harley suggested. “I could put some ice cubes in it, and you could throw it in his face.”
“Tempting!” Ethan admitted. “But it’s not going to …” His face fell, and his words trailed off.
Ethan’s breath caught in his throat, and he felt as if someone had dunked him in a bath of ice as his eyes fell on a picture on the dining table. He moved toward the table, feeling like he was stepping back in time when he saw not only the photo but building plans for a familiar-looking house.
All of a sudden, the pieces fell into place and started to make sense.
“We have to go,” Ethan said, snatching the photo of the house that had haunted his dreams off the table. “I know where they are and who took them.”
As Ethan and Harley left the hotel room, the weight of their situation bore down on them. It was showdown time. Only, Ethan hoped they could get to where they needed to be in time because he knew that the kidnapper wasn’t after the money. That was just a perk; hewas after revenge for what he perceived had been done to him. Ethan had taken away something special from him, and now he was taking everything from Ethan.
CHAPTER 19
Carly’s senses gradually sharpened, the haze of disorientation giving way to a keen awareness of her precarious situation. Her head was throbbing, a dull reminder of the chaos that had snatched her from the safety of her restaurant. As the fog of sedation lifted, the grim reality of her situation settled in with a clarity that sent shivers down her spine. She was tied to a chair, her wrists bound tightly behind her back.
Her eyes scanned the dimly lit room with a single bulb dangling from the ceiling. The blacked-out windows offered no hint of the world outside, no clue as to where she might be. Carly didn’t even know how long they’d been there for.
“Carly?” Shay’s voice drew her attention, and she turned to see the teenager was also bound to a chair, but her hands were in the front, allowing her to sip from a juice bottle.
“Is that a juice box?” Carly asked Shay in amazement.
“Uh-huh.” Shay nodded. “Would you like a sip?”
Carly nodded. Her mouth felt like it had been stuffed with sand. Shay bounced her chair closer and held the juice box to Carly’s lips.
“Thank you,” Carly said gratefully, her eyes widening when she saw the other occupant of the room.
Carly’s heart jolted for a few seconds until she realized it was Alex and not Ethan, bound to the chair on the other side of Shay. Like Carly, Alex’s hands were tied behind the chair.
“Yeah, they have Uncle Alex as well,” Shay told Carly. “Which makes me wonder if they mistook my uncle for my father.”
