Page 70 of Shadows Relived
“Language, Miss Harrington. After all, you’re still a senator’s daughter and a teacher of little ones. You wouldn’t want them to hear such a potty mouth, now would you?”
Her voice cracked despite herself. “This isn’t right.”
“When someone steals from me, Miss Harrington, it hurts. I trusted your father, and he betrayed that trust by stealing from me. Now I’ll make him hurt byletting him watch his precious only daughter fall.” He stepped closer again, and this time she did flinch, just slightly, as he leaned down and whispered near her ear. “And because he loves you, he’ll fall in line when I point the knife at your throat.”
She yanked hard against the ties, pain flaring in her wrists, and her shoulder burned from the strain, but the fury in her chest didn’t dim. It flared brighter. “So that’s your plan? You’re going to kill me?”
“I’m going to bury you,” he told her, unbothered. “Not literally, of course. Dead senators’ daughters raise too many nosy questions I really don’t have time for. But disgraced ones?” he smiled again. “Those make perfect headlines, and your fall will keep my hands clean.”
Her stomach twisted. “You won’t get away with this.”
He chuckled, a short, sharp bark. “That’s cute. You still think this is about getting away with something. Sweetheart, this is already done. Your father signed the last report himself. He just didn’t read it. This is about making him hurt.”
He tossed back the last of his drink and turned his back on her, heading toward a small folding table covered with papers and an old laptop. From the corner, a man stood guard, bored and checking his watch. She didn’t recognize him, just assumed he was one of Everett’s hired goons, likely ex-military or failed law enforcement, just competent enough to be dangerous.
“And the others?” she asked.
He blinked as if her question threw him off. “Gage. Elvis. Callen.” Her lip curled. “Wraith.”
The name landed hard as she closed her eyes.
Everett’s smirk flickered for just a second. “Ah. So you do know what he was. I must admit when I dug into the man your father sent to protect you, it surprised me what I found. Made for quite the nighttime reading.”
“I know him better than you ever will, which is why I know this won’t end well for you.”
He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. He’s too broken and too far away to stop this. And even if he tries…” Everett tapped his phone. “I have eyes everywhere.”
Meaghan shifted, her shoulders aching. “Then why are you still talking to me? Seems like you’re merely wasting time. Why even take me at all? Why not just turn the files over to the authorities and be done with it.”
Everett turned and gave her a full, warm smile, his teeth sharp in the shadows. “Because, as I said, your father needs to hurt, and I imagine by now he’s heard you’re missing and his little soldier boy failed. He’ll be going absolutely nuts with worry.” He shrugged. “You see, my dear Meaghan, you’re not merely my scapegoat; you’re my revenge as well.”
A loud creak echoed from the far hallway, floorboards moaning under someone’s weight.
Everett looked up sharply, his body tensing. The man on the other side of the room glanced toward the sound and then back to Everett.
Meaghan’s heart stuttered, the look on Everett’s face telling her whoever was out there wasn’t someone he knew.
Everett narrowed his eyes and nodded toward the hallway. “Go check that out.”
The guard disappeared into the shadowswith the clunk of boots, which were a dead giveaway that he was on his way.
Everett turned back to her, his jaw tight. “Don’t you just love surprises?” He took a step closer, tilting his head slightly. “You look like your mother, do you know that? That same fire when she testified against the energy conglomerate. I hated her then, too.”
Meaghan felt her stomach twist, but she didn’t look away. “That’s the real reason, isn’t it? You couldn’t touch her, so you settled for me.”
He approached fast, anger tightening every muscle in his face. But she didn’t flinch. Not when he bent down again, not when he grabbed the back of her chair, and leaned in closer. “You have no idea what I’ve touched,” he whispered.
She sneered at him. “And you have no idea what’s about to touch you.”
Somewhere in the distance, the sound of an engine rumbled. Tires on gravel. Voices.
Everett froze as he glanced over his shoulder at the doorway. “Where is that damn guard?”
He cursed under his breath and reached for the gun tucked into the back of his waistband
Meaghan’s pulse surged as she watched him leave the room, closing the door behind him with a finality that chilled her to the core. The click of the lock echoed like a shot, and she stared at the door for a long moment.
They were close. He was close. And if she could survive long enough, so was payback.
