Ladyfish (29 page)

“He knew that I wanted you.” His hand slid between her legs and he cupped her. “He knew that I was watching you every time you got undressed.”

Oz knew without a doubt that she was going to kill him as he reached behind Finn’s back and began to unfasten the zipper on her wet suit. She wanted to feel his blood on her hands, hot and sticky and red. She didn’t care if that made her a murderer.

“Every time you got in the shower.” He slid the zipper down her back and pulled the thick neoprene off one shoulder. “Could you feel my eyes on you?” He licked her shoulder where it met her neck. “I bet you could. Did you like it?” His hands squeezed roughly at her breasts again, and he bit the back of her neck while he pressed his crotch against her. “I’m betting you did.” He grabbed a handful of her hair and jerked back hard.

Oz had never felt so helpless. She couldn’t control the shaking in her hands, and it was only making it harder for her to break her bonds. She could feel the heat of rage burning her face, and sweat coated her skin. The pain in her head and shoulder were totally forgotten. They were completely irrelevant in her need to destroy Finn’s tormentor.

“I think your bitch likes to watch too. She hasn’t taken her eyes off you, has she?” He laughed as he pulled Finn tighter against his body, his fingers still wrapped in her hair. He tucked his gun into the back of his pants and started to inch her wet suit away from her skin. His eyes never left Oz’s as he slowly bared Finn’s torso, trapping her arms more securely by her sides with the wet suit. Every movement dared Oz to speak, both of them knowing his behavior would only get worse if she did. He pushed the scant fabric of Finn’s bikini top aside and gave Oz a vicious grin.

Oz strained to lift herself out of her chair as more tears slid down Finn’s cheeks when Jack grasped and squeezed her breasts before pulling hard on her nipples. Finn bit her lip, and Oz ached to wipe away the tiny trickle of blood she created.

Jack let go of Finn’s hair and wrapped his fingers around her throat, twisting her head away from his and giving him greater access to her neck. He licked at her flesh and slid his hand inside her wet suit. She squirmed in his grasp and fought to pull away from him. “Now, now, Daniela. No need for that.”

Oz could see his fingers tightening on her throat, cutting off her air. She could see Finn gasping, and she fought harder, twisting and turning in his grasp.

“Bitch!” He pushed her away from him, cupping his crotch. He lashed out and slapped her across the face, grinning as she stumbled. Oz watched helplessly as Finn fell to the floor, coughing as she tried to drag air into her empty lungs. Jack reached for her again, pulled her to her feet like a rag doll, then he crushed her body against him and pressed his lips hard against her own.

The floorboards creaked, and the air became thick with the sickly odor of cologne. Jack froze.

“Put her down, Jack.”

Jack straightened and stepped away from her.

“Cover her up.”

Jack quickly straightened the bikini top and began to slide the wet suit back up her arms, struggling with the damp neoprene every step of the way.

“Where is Decker?”

“He had to change his trousers, sir.”

“Why?”

“She threw up on him, sir.”

William Sterling stepped in front of Finn and looked down at her.

“Does that have anything to do with the blow to her head?”

“I don’t know, sir. She fell in the driveway and I told Decker to pick her up.”

“Fell? Then why does the mark look like a handprint, Jack?”

“She was somewhat reticent to do as she was asked, sir.”

“I see. So you gave her a little persuasion.”

It wasn’t a question, but Jack nodded anyway.

“And you, Daniela, why were you causing Jack so much trouble?”

“He didn’t ask me nicely, Daddy.” Her voice was rough and she was breathing deeply.

Good girl, Finn. Keep them distracted just a little bit longer. I’ve nearly got the cuffs off, baby.
Oz could feel how close the bonds were to releasing. She knew she would already be free if she wasn’t trying to keep her movements from giving her away.

“She seems reasonable enough to me, Jack.” Sterling walked slowly to the bar and poured himself a drink. “I must say, though, your behavior of late has given me cause to question your judgment, Daniela. Do you know why that is?”

“Because I’ve been having cold feet about marrying Pete.”

Oz watched her drop her eyes trying to look contrite.

“No, Daniela, this has nothing to do with that sniveling little faggot. This is about you and her. This fucking bitch!” He kicked out and landed a glancing blow on Oz’s shin.

She sucked air in through her lips and stifled a moan as Decker and the other man came back in the room. They positioned themselves by the door, one on either side, their guns held loosely in their clasped hands. Oz mentally paced the distance to them. She carefully gauged the distance to Jack, weighing and assessing the best way to approach them when she attacked. Deciding who the biggest threat was and how best to eradicate that threat. Would she have to kill Jack to stop him? Did she care? Who did she need to target next? She saw the fight develop in her mind in a split second and knew exactly where each counterattack would come from as well as where she needed to position herself between Finn and danger. Every decision was already made when her binding finally gave way and she sat waiting, biding her time. Every decision except one. If she had to, could she kill Sterling? Could she look him in the eye and pull the trigger, knowing he was Finn’s father? Would Finn ever forgive her if she did?

“You have disgraced me, you disgusting little pervert. I’m just glad your mother isn’t here to see this.”

“Don’t you dare!”

Oz knew the anger had been building in Finn, held back only until the shock wore off a little and simmering until it reached boiling point.
Please, baby, don’t push him too far.
Oz was terrified that her anger would blind Finn to the danger signs.

“Don’t even think about her! You aren’t good enough for that. You aren’t good enough for a lot of things, Father.”

Oz grunted as the blow to Finn’s stomach doubled her over and made her gasp. She took her time getting her breath back, but she straightened her spine and kept speaking.

“You see, Daddy, I know.” She spat the words at him as she took a step closer. “I know every diabolical thing about you. You’re an evil, despicable bastard.”

Oz cringed at the blow that landed across Finn’s face, causing her head to snap to the side, before she spat blood on the ground. The adrenaline in her system probably blocked the worst of the pain, and Oz grinned when Finn took another step forward and he took one back. Her words were quiet, cold, and she was seemingly unafraid.

“I know what you have growing in the bio lab.” She took another step toward him. “And I know what you’re planning to do with it.” She took another step. “I also know that no matter what you do to me today, you will not get away with it.”

The next slap caused her eyes to water, but she took another step, and this time when he backed up another step he hit the edge of a chair and sat down. She leaned down so that her eyes were level with his.

Oz wanted to cheer as she watched Finn stand up to the tyrant who had ruled her.

“I always wanted to make you proud of me, Daddy, because I thought I could be proud to call you my father.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Oz saw Jack step toward them, only to step back with a flick of Sterling’s hand.

“Even though I didn’t like you,” Finn continued. “Even though I hated what I saw you do to the people who worked for us. For you. What you did to me. That you didn’t care that I didn’t love Pete. Or that he didn’t love me. I still wanted you to be proud of me.” She stared at him. “But you’re a monster. You don’t care about anything or anyone but yourself. Your money. Your power. You tortured my mother, and you tortured me for years, with all your mind games. No more.” She stood up and looked down at him. “It ends now. Today. I’m through playing your games, you pathetic little bastard. I know that you killed my mother.”

He stood quickly and wrapped his hands around her throat and squeezed until she went quiet, her eyes bulging and bloodshot. Her cheeks reddened, making the blue tint to her lips stand out further. Oz felt like throwing up, but she knew she couldn’t make her move yet. If he didn’t let go, she’d be forced to move, but she couldn’t take out everyone in the positions they were. She swallowed her bile when he let go of Finn’s throat and she gulped air.

“Are you quite finished, Daniela?” He let go of her throat and slapped her hard across the face, the force of the blow spinning her round. “Good. I do
hate
a woman who doesn’t know when to shut up.” He held her jaw and looked at her. “You don’t know a damn thing, little girl. I didn’t kill your mother. She did it all herself. But do you know what the real kicker is?” He twisted her face from one side to the other. “Do you know I had to bribe the coroner so that I could get the money?”

She nodded. It was all she could do.

“Do you know why that was necessary?”

She tried to shake her head, but his grip was too tight.

“She didn’t leave me a body. Very selfish of her. She didn’t even leave a note. I had to print one off.” His spittle hit Finn’s face. “But the real kick in the teeth, the real truth is that she isn’t dead. I didn’t kill her. She left. She faked her own death to get away from us. You and me, little girl. She didn’t want anything to do with either of us. She wanted her own whore.” He grinned as the shock of his words was clear on Finn’s face. “That’s it. Even after everything I’ve done for you, you still turned out just like her. A fucking pervert.” He pushed her away from him and laughed when she hit the floor. “You’re right about one thing, though. It does end today. Jack.”

Jack looked at him expectantly.

“Kill her.”

Jack raised the gun and leveled it at Finn’s head.

“Not in here, you fucking idiot. Take them both outside, take the boat, and toss them over the side. For fuck’s sake, do I have to do everything myself?” He stepped toward Jack and backhanded him across the face.

Oz threw herself from her seat into Jack’s body, her good arm outstretched, snatching at the weapon and then using her momentum to spin away from him and twist the gun from his grasp, finishing with him in front of her. She struck the butt of the weapon down on the back of his skull, and he crashed to the floor as she leveled the weapon at Decker.

“Put your weapons down. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Decker lifted his arm, his finger on the trigger.

Oz’s shot was clean and lethal, hitting him straight between the eyes.

She barely had to move to bring the third man into her sights. “It doesn’t have to be like this. Just put the gun down.” His gun was already aimed at her chest, but the man’s hand was shaking, his face was pale, and sweat was trickling into his eyes. “Just put it down and you can walk away from this alive.” She watched out of the corner of her eye as Sterling started to move. He was trying to inch toward Finn, intent on using her as a shield.
Fucking idiot doesn’t know how good a shot I am.
She watched as he moved his hand higher. Not being able to tell where he was going to fire, and running out of time, Oz squeezed the trigger.

“For fuck’s sake,” Oz yelled as she spun and crossed the room in two strides before pressing the burning barrel of the gun to William Sterling’s head. The gun felt so good in her hand. It was an extension of her body. Pulling the trigger would be as easy as breathing. She looked at him and knew that pulling the trigger would put an end to so many possibilities. The pain he had caused and the suffering he was willing to cause made it so hard to keep the pressure low enough to stop the gun from going off.

The only possibility she feared in pulling the trigger was Finn’s reaction. How would she feel about her if she killed her father? She didn’t know if Finn was ready to accept his part in all of this madness yet, despite the fact that he had just ordered her death. She wanted to free them all of this monster, but knew Finn would never forgive her for it. But she wanted to. She wanted to kill him for all the ways he had hurt Finn. She wanted to kill him for Pete. She wanted to kill him for all the innocent lives he was prepared to squander for money. Her hand shook as she battled her own instincts, and she realized once again how easy it was for her to turn killer again. She dreaded seeing Finn’s face, fearing that all she would see would be the disgust and hatred she felt for herself, but she had to know. She needed to see that Finn was okay, if nothing else, so she slowly turned to look at her.

Finn’s eyes were huge as she looked around the room, clearly amazed at the position they were in now. “How?”

“Training. Baby, are you okay?” She flicked her eyes back to Sterling. “Finn? Baby, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think so. How did you get the ties off?”

“Trade secret I’m afraid. You impressed?”

“Hell, yeah.”

“Oh, for God’s sake, please shoot me.” Sterling rolled his eyes.

“Don’t tempt me.”

Sterling’s face paled as she stared at him.

“I have about a billion reasons to take you down, right here, right now. And you know what? I’d probably get a medal for it.”

She circled around until she stood in front of the chair and aimed the gun at his chest. She crouched and rifled through Jack’s pockets until she found more cable ties and a knife, the gun never wavering from Sterling’s heart. She quickly cut the tie that bound Finn’s wrists and placed a tender kiss to her temple as she handed her a couple of the plastic ties. “Put those on your dad. Fasten them with his hands behind his back.”

Finn did as instructed, and when his wrists were secured she pushed him into a seat and then took it upon herself to secure his ankles too. He stared at her with pure hatred in his eyes but didn’t say anything.

Oz lowered the gun and pulled Finn into her arms. She kept her eyes fixed on Sterling as she held Finn tight.

“Baby, we need to call Charlie.”