A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(113)

“I found out about your father many years ago, Annabelle. I believe it was right before you buried your poor mother. Do you remember the day we first spoke, Joe?” Fernandez asked.

“You mean the day you threatened the only thing I had left to live for once my wife was gone?” Joe replied. Although he was forced to wake up from recovery abruptly, he still had fight left in him as his bitter words radiated through the phone line and echoed around the room.

“Well, I suppose you could put it that way. I prefer to think of it as the day I found out who in the CIA was so determined to ruin me. The day I received a name, a face, and the information about everything he held so dear. It was a very good day for me, Joe.”

Fernandez spoke like he was talking to an old friend. The ease with which he said Joe’s name made Parker sick to her stomach as she listened to the back and forth conversation.

“You see, Annabelle, it would have been so easy to kill your mother, the love of your father’s life, his reason for existing and all that other nonsense. It would have shown him that by digging into my life and trying to put a stop to my livelihood, he would have to pay. But when we were told she was on her deathbed, it just didn’t seem prudent. To kill her would have been a waste of resources, so to speak, when Mother Nature was doing such a fine job. But then luck was on our side. Joseph Parker, CIA agent extraordinaire, had a daughter. A beautiful, teenage daughter who meant the world to him and had such a bright future ahead of her. Some photographs delivered to his mailbox at work of this daughter doing a few mundane things like painting her toenails in her room after a shower and walking through a clothing store in the mall were sufficient incentives to get him to back off,” Fernandez explained. “It also put just enough fear into dear old Dad that he thought the only way to protect you was to push you away.”

Parker closed her eyes as a tear slid down her cheek. Garrett wiped it away and wished he could shut Fernandez up once and for all. His only redeeming quality was this information proved to Parker that her father had never hated her. He never pushed her away because she reminded him too much of his wife. He did it to protect her.

They heard Joe sigh on the other end of the line.

“Why are you doing this, Fernandez? What is the point in bringing all of this up now? I tried to stop you, but I couldn’t. Too many people know about what you’ve done now. It’s over. You’re over,” Joe stated.

“I decide when it’s over. ME! You have no say in the matter.”

Garrett felt the barrel of the gun being pushed harder into his skull with each word Fernandez spoke as he pressed down on the gun he held there.

“You thought you were so smart bringing your daughter into the CIA. You assumed she’d be safe and protected, learn ways to thwart people such as myself. But you didn’t anticipate the fact that the CIA would use her to continue the work you started, that they would put her on the case of trying to take me down. In all your efforts of keeping her as far away from me as possible, all you did was wrap her up in a neat little bow and deposit her in my lap. I have to tell you though, Joe, being able to keep an eye on her through my son over the years has been a joy. You have a very smart daughter. It’s too bad she chose the wrong side to align herself with.”

Garrett knew whatever insane idea Fernandez had planned was going to come to fruition any moment now. He needed to get him to talk immediately.

“How exactly do you think you’re going to get away with this?” Garrett asked, turning his head a little so he could see Fernandez out of the corner of his eye. “Joe is right. Too many people know about what you’ve done. Do you honestly think everyone who works for you will remain faithful? Especially once they know about the girls? You might be able to lie your way out of the embezzling and money laundering, but do you really think they’re going to believe you when you try to tell them you had nothing to do with their missing daughters? Their missing sisters, cousins, nieces, and granddaughters? Do you think the people of this country will stand by your side when they know you had sex with underage children and then sold them to the highest bidder?”

Garrett hadn’t been one hundred percent sure about Fernandez having sex with any of the girls. They never found concrete evidence to prove anything like that. But it just stood to reason if a man was involved in something as disgusting as selling young girls as sex slaves, he most likely sampled the merchandise before all sales were final. Garrett was taking a chance by putting that out there, and as luck would have it, it paid off.

“Oh, Lieutenant. McCarthy, you are so naive. Those young girls you speak of? They weren’t worthy of the pity you give them. They were whores who brought filth to the streets of this country. They asked for what they got, and I was more than happy to give it to them. Being able to enjoy the fruits of my labor and make money off of their bodies was an added perk. Men will pay an obscene amount of money for a taste of young flesh. Why shouldn’t I take advantage of such things? This country is full of girls with low self-esteem and no real use. I gave them a purpose in life. One of my chefs complained to me a few years ago about his niece. She flaunted her body and did not behave in a way that was pure or showed the proper respect to her family. I made one million pesos showing her the error of her ways. My guard at the front gate, his stepdaughter had become mouthy and acted much older than her fourteen years. I made two point five million pesos showing her what her mouth was for.”