Page 95 of Claimed By the Villain
No. I can’t allow myself to think that she probably hates me now. I have to focus on why I came here.
Just like Tur and Abaddon told me, Martin had been acting alone, but until I’m a hundred percent sure of that, I won’t take chances. That’s why I asked Beau to take her away.
I need to understand why Martin wanted me dead, and why after all this time.
He could’ve killed me years ago if it was about revenge for what I did to his father. Not that it really matters in the end, because to me, an enemy is always an enemy, even if he was once like a brother. Still, I want to hear his reasons from his own mouth.
“We had exhausted all possibilities regarding your present and recent past,” Tur finally answers. “There were no viable enemies, so we looked into your childhood. We don’t have all the answers, as you can imagine, but I can tell you that when your . . .brother-in-law?Should I call the bastard that? Anyway, when he disappeared over seven years ago, he was the right-hand man of a leader in a global pedophilia ring.”
“What?” The pieces start to form in my head, but I don’t want to believe it.
Indifferent to my rage, Tur continues, “I know the family, meaning you and your wife, being the only surviving relatives, held a funeral with an empty casket because you thought the plane he was on crashed into the sea with no survivors.”
“Yes.”
“At the time, that was staged. You thought Martin Alston was in our line of work, but in truth, he was inserting himself into something much more lucrative.”
“Pedophilia,” I finish, even as I struggle to believe it.
“Yes. Apparently, he wanted the position that had belonged to his father in the pedophile network. But he got greedy and landed on the FBI’s radar.”
“You’re telling me that all these years Martin was hiding? He faked his own death just to avoid prison?”
“Exactly. He tried to fake his death but was actually injured. He spent years abroad, and from what we’ve gotten out of him so far, he was completely fucked up, without memory.That’s the only part of what he told your wife that’s likely true. He had to relearn to walk, to talk, and for years he remembered nothing. Once his memory came back, over a year ago, he resumed working with the pedophile ring. Got involved with the boss’s daughter and took a privileged position among those perverts. Made a fortune. I think it was when he got back into that world of money and power that he learned you were the one who killed his father.”
“And why come back only now?”
“As I said, I don’t have all the answers. But I think he was carefully planning his revenge. Until that hit in Bolivia, he hadn’t set foot on American soil again. So here’s my guess: I think he returned to the country after learning you and his sister were together.”
“Because he wanted to separate us?”
“Maybe. But I don’t think it was just separation he was after. When we saved Jackie today, we heard him tell her she had to die. So it’s likely Martin decided to use her as bait.”
I step into the warehouse, blood boiling in my veins.
Martin is already dead, whether he realizes it or not. This time, I’ll make sure the bastard never comes back from hell to haunt his sister again.
I would’ve killed him just for drugging Jackie and trying to take her away from me. But now that I know he’s also a pedophile, I won’t just kill him. I’ll enjoy doing it.
“There’s something else you need to know,” Tur says.
“What is it?”
“Martin completely changed his appearance. That’s why it took us so long to identify him.”
“And how did you manage it?”
“He was getting desperate, obsessed with revenge. Exposed himself. He even started circling Jackie’s friend, the redhead. That’s how he found out your wife would be heretoday. I’d bet my life he had a hacker working for him, otherwise he couldn’t have stayed hidden on the deep web and gathered so much information about you.”
“Yes, that makes sense. He hired someone to erase his tracks, because every time one of Beau’s contacts got close, the lead vanished.”
“Abaddon is inside with him,” Tur informs me.
“I want you to leave me alone with him.”
He nods and steps back.
“Tur?”
