After the Storm (KGI #8)(104)

CHAPTER 33

WALT Breckenridge watched with smug satisfaction as Eve ducked out the back of the hardware store and slid behind the wheel of the Jeep that she and the other woman had arrived in.

He’d known the little bitch had lied about her involvement with his children and Eve. He hadn’t swallowed that bullshit story about Travis working a few days and then disappearing. And now, Donovan Kelly had arrogantly demanded a meeting with Walt in which he planned to discuss handing Eve over to him in exchange for Walt backing off Travis and Cammie.

Kelly had fed him a bullshit story about how he feared for Travis and Cammie’s safety. That he was well aware of Eve’s history of mental illness and that she’d gotten worse and he feared—as did Walt—that she was a danger to not only herself but others.

He played the sympathy card, commiserating with Walt about his troubles with Eve and expressing his regret over the loss of his wife, made worse when Eve went off the deep end and kidnapped his children and how desperate he must be to get them back.

And yes, it had been Eve he’d offered up, claiming he wanted her to get the help she needed from her caring stepfather and that once he was assured that Eve was taken care of and he knew it was safe for the children to go back, they’d meet and arrange for Travis and Cammie to return home with Walt.

Complete and utter garbage.

Did they think him a fool? He’d researched the Kellys and their do-gooder organization, KGI.

It was a trap, no doubt inspired by Eve’s lies and accusations. He wasn’t falling for it and now Eve, the dumb bitch, had fallen right into his lap. She was making things far easier than he’d even imagined. But she’d never been that intelligent. Stupid. Tenacious. But not smart. Certainly no match for his superior intellect. And now he had her.

Now he’d have what he most wanted. Revenge. He’d make her pay for all she’d done. He’d put her away and ensure no one ever believed her outrageous accusations. Then, and only then, would he get his children back from the Kellys. He had far more power than they would ever dream of having. Money bought a lot of privilege. And it sure as hell bought protection.

Eve would have neither of those things, and by the time he was done with her, she’d wish she’d never crossed him. And he would hear an apology from those lips, right before he wrapped them around his dick.

Satisfied that, for now, Cammie and Travis would wait, he climbed into his car, his focus on his immediate goal. Eve. A rush invaded his veins at the thought of her at his utter mercy. He’d enjoy every single moment. Eve? Well, he doubted she’d enjoy it as much as he would. But she didn’t matter. She never had.

He wanted her to suffer.

He wouldn’t be as easy on her as he was on her pathetically weak mother. Her killing had been too easy. No challenge whatsoever. Eve, on the other hand, had proven to be more of a challenge than he’d imagined. He’d underestimated her once. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

He wouldn’t kill her because, as with her mother, that would be too easy. He wanted her to pay. And pay she would. He wanted him to be what she saw when she closed her eyes. What she dreamed. And know that there was no escape. That her fate was solidly in his hands.

With a satisfied smirk, he pulled out of the area that had provided cover for his vehicle—a rental that couldn’t be traced back to him—and fell in behind the Jeep.

She was being careful. Not speeding. No, she wouldn’t want to draw undue attention to herself or risk being pulled over by the police, and that wouldn’t fit his plans at all. He had no desire to involve the law. Not here. Not where he had no influence and power.

A wreck. An abandoned vehicle. It would appear as though she wrecked and then ran. And then he’d make his meeting with Donovan Kelly and he’d play by Donovan’s rules. For now. After Eve was taken care of and was in a place where she wouldn’t be discovered, no record of her whatsoever, he’d return for his children.

Eve would simply disappear. Another person lost in the system. An unexplained disappearance blamed on the fact that she was on the run and mentally ill. The Kellys would likely investigate, but even they wouldn’t be successful in uncovering her whereabouts.

And with her out of the picture for good, there was nothing to stop Walt from reclaiming his children.

Travis would also pay for his part in aiding Eve, but he would be brought to heel with the threat of Cammie. He wouldn’t do anything that would cause her harm. In that, he and Eve were alike. A product of their weak, mindless mother. But Cammie was younger and more easily molded into what Walt wanted. And when Travis was older and less manageable, well, tragedy would strike the Breckenridge family once more. Travis would succumb to the same mental illness that Eve had been diagnosed with. An unfortunate hereditary trait passed to them from their mother. And then he and Cammie would be alone, and he’d mold her into the perfect daughter.

CHAPTER 34

RUSTY breathed a huge sigh of relief when she heard a noise from the rear of the store. The police would have responded to the alarm she triggered, though they wouldn’t just waltz in the front of the store without knowing what they were walking into.

“I’m up here!” she yelled out. “It’s clear. This is Rusty Kelly. My dad, Frank Kelly, owns this store. I’m tied up behind the register. I’m the only one here.”

She knew they wouldn’t take her at her word, because for all they knew she had a gun to her head and was being forced to call out to them. But maybe it would speed the process along a bit if they at least knew where she was.