Page 40 of Evading Darkness

"You said your father has been looking for you for several years now, right? Well, why not use that to our advantage?" Her eyes flash with concern again, but I continue on. "After you came up from the pool house and we had dinner, you were worried that we would give you over to him. I think we should call him and let him think that’s exactly what we plan on doing."

"No. I'm not going back there." The words come out in a shaky breath. All the confidence she had moments ago has now vanished.

"Relax. I told you that you have to trust me. I don't have any intention of giving you over to your father. Why would I want him to get what he wants when he took from me and lied about it? I just want him to think we’re going to turn you over so he’ll meet us, and we can grab him to carry out our revenge."

"I have abetter idea," Kyler says from the corner of the room. "Seb, you're a member of Rogue by blood through your father," he says, looking in my direction. "What if we pull the same card Gabriel pulled on Callie before she ran from him? Tell him that we have his daughter, and we’ll bring her back on the condition that the two of you get married."

"You're out of your mind!" she yells from across the room. If looks could kill, I am pretty sure he would be cold on the floor right now. "It's not enough. He doesn't care about me. You would need to threaten him with something he actually fears losing."

She has a point. "So, we threaten him with going public about Rogue then," I throw out as an option. "We can convince him that Barrett hacked some kind of system that shows the full member list of Rogue. Then we tell him that we will release the list and inner workings of the Society to the public unless he agrees to let me marry Callie."

"I don't think he'll fall for it. Rogue has one of the best hackers in the world. There’s no way he'll believe Barrett was able to find a full member list," Callie tells me.

"Fine, then I’ll remind him that he still owes us a debt, and if he's not willing to satisfy our original payment request, then this will be the only other payment we will accept. He doesn’t know about my connection to Maxton or that you already told us that he killed him. I can casually drop that if he refuses my offer, then the only other way I am willing to satisfy the debt is by killing Callie. He obviously won't let that happen, so either way, wewin. He agrees to my demands, and we move forward with getting our revenge on him."

"You should know he expects my husband to be ruthless and cold so that he can control them."

I grin at the prospect of being ruthless and cold. That’s something I can excel in if need be.

"I can use our connections with the criminal underground to convince him further that he could potentially gain more power by having us marry. It could be a mutually beneficial union. I would gain access to the society, and he would gain access to the Monroe brothers' namesake." Raising an eyebrow in her direction, I wait to see if she thinks this could entice her father enough to do what we want him to.

"That could work actually, but you really need to sell the fact that he would gain something from it," she says.

We discuss a few details, and I actually start feeling good about this whole plan we have concocted.

"Are we ready to make the call?" I announce. The guys nod, and I look over at Callie, who has started pacing back and forth nervously. Her father must have really made things awful for her to generate this type of reaction. "Callie? Are you ready?"

She lets out a sigh. "Ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."

I scroll down to his name and press the call button. The phone rings three times before I hear the click, and his voice comes through.

"Ah, Sebastian, it's been a while. What can I do for you?"

"Gabriel. I’ve given yousome space to do the right thing, but it's been long enough now. I believe you owe us a payment. I don't appreciate people going back on their word."

I hear a light chuckle from him. "Hmmm. Your mistake was not requesting the payment in advance. I think with the Monroe brothers' reputation, you should always collect first."

He doesn’t know that we already have all the information we were looking for. Callie told us Maxton died at the hands of her father. I don't need to hear it from him. When he and I talk about Maxton, it will be the last conversation he ever has.

"Oh, Gabe, you should know that my brothers and I always come out on top. We don't let people take advantage of us, especially nobodies like you." Callie elbows me at that statement. I know the goal is to stroke his ego but fuck that.

"Are you threatening me?" he spits.

"No, I'm not threatening you. I’m simply stating facts. You refused to pay us, so I took matters into my own hands. Say hello to your father, Callie." I hold the phone out, placing it on speaker, but she refuses to speak. I see the fear and panic in her eyes. She is paralyzed. Barrett walks over to her and slaps her hard across the cheek.

"What the fuck was that!" she yells.

"Ah, there she is. She just needed a little motivation," I tell her with a wink.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see her punch him hard in the stomach, and he smiles. It's taking everything in me to not laugh.

"So, you have my daughter," Gabriel replies, doing his best to keep his tone flat, even though I know this must have him fuming.

"Indeed, it seems I do. You know, my brothers say she tastes amazing. I haven't been lucky enough to have a try myself yet."

"She always knew how to spread her legs," he snaps back.

Her body tenses, and I see tears begin to well up in her eyes. That didn't go over like I thought it would. Hearing him speak about her like that pisses me off. He doesn't get to talk to her like that anymore.