Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
I shoved the cellphone in her face. “Then tell me what the hell you’re doing in that photo, Kathleen—smiling away as you congratulate the Forbises on their adoption of this kidnapped boy, Jake Willard.” The lines around her eyes tightened. I’d never seen a smile wipe away faster.
“The Forbises are pissed, by the way. They’re heartbroken that they were made complicit in kidnapping, and now they’re going to lose the boy they love. My sister said by the time they left, the Forbises were on the phone with their three-hundred-dollar-an-hour attorneys and the FBI. The investigation has already started into the mysteriously vanished Sunshine Agency and the woman who ran it.”
“What?” Madison screeched. “What did you do?!”
“Whoops,” Genny sang. “Guess we dropped the innocent act.”
“I am innocent,” Madison cried. “That’s not what you think. I didn’t—”
“Save it,” I snapped. “You met with the Forbises every weekend for three months. You don’t think they remember who took fifty thousand dollars from them and then gave them the answer to their prayers? They could pick you out of a line-up with fifty of your evil clones! Admit it! You and Luca were working together! You set me up!”
Madison’s gaze darted around, looking for an escape. “Okay, I did, but—”
I punched her dead in the face. Madison dropped like a stone, laid flat out on her back. “You evil piece of shit.” My voice shook. “You picked me out and offered me and my daughter up to Luca, knowing exactly what hell he’d put us through. What went wrong with you, Madison? How did you become... this?”
She pushed herself up, clutching her bleeding nose. The fury in her eyes burned me where I stood. “Fuck you! Why should I give a shit about trash like you? You’re the spawn of some crazy murdering psycho who shot your Daddy over tea and cookies. When you faked those designs and conned your way into the Phenomenal Five, it was obvious you didn’t fall far from the criminal tree.”
“Ah. Here we are,” I said. “Part four. Before you continue explaining why you’re justified, you should know I didn’t fake or steal anything. I was set up by Damien and your buddy, Lyla.”
“Oh, please,” she scoffed. “No one buys that crap. If you’ve never done a thing wrong, why are you shacked up with her family! Another band of crazy murdering psychos! No, Kenzie. I saw you for exactly what you are. There was no saving you, but there was still a chance for your kid. Whatever Luca did to you was his business, but I knew he would give me your kid, and I’d place her with a proper family. I would’ve been doing that kid a favor.”
I bristled. The urge to punch her again welled in me so strong, I cut my palm clenching my fists. “Who gave you the right to decide? No one asked you to be my baby’s fairy godmother.”
“Someone had to be,” she shouted. “Someone had to look out for those kids and give them a better life. You weren’t going to do it, and the Merchants sure as fuck weren’t either.”
Genny stepped forward. “What does my family have to do with any of this?”
“You have everything to do with it! My mother got involved with the Merchants. She was like you, Kenzie. A fake. A fraud! She used to run scams and cheat people out of their money. And of course, any criminal that operates in the Cinco city limits pays a tax to the Merchants.” She spat the name like it tasted foul on her tongue.
“When she was my age, she quit the life, changed her name, and met my father, Richard James. Our life was good,” she cried. Her whole body shook. “We lived in a penthouse in Leighbridge, and had two other homes overseas. I went to the best schools. My best friends were the sons and daughters of models and movie stars.
“Too bad dear old Mom missed the thrill. She started up again, but this time didn’t tell the Merchant overlords that she was back in business. Eventually, they found out and you know exactly what they did, don’t you?” Madison didn’t give me a chance to answer. “They ordered her to cut them in or they’d shut her down. Mom refused and the Merchants gave her up to the police! While she was fucking being arraigned, they hacked her secret accounts and drained them.”
I asked, though I could guess. “What happened to you?”
She lifted her shoulders, eyes dull. “Dad paid to get her off, but after the charges were dropped, he was done with her. He invoked a clause in their prenup that left her with nothing... except me. Just like that, I went from penthouses and private schools, to living in a Rockchapel dump. Unfortunately for Mom, she wasn’t running any scams after her face ended up on the news. She had no choice but to take a string of dead-end jobs just to make rent. In the end, she fell into depression and killed herself.” She jabbed a bloody finger at me. “Your precious Merchants did that to us. They destroyed my life for nothing!”