The words pierced her heart even though she and Evan had already figured out that her father had been responsible for Evan’s abduction. But to have it confirmed seared her soul. Her father had set Evan up as a victim in one of their brutal games. “You didn’t know about the games then,” she said. “When my father told you he’d discovered something . . . you hoped it would lead to Evan’s father, to . . . Fontane . . . and the others. It was a stroke of luck, your chance to avenge your mother’s and sister’s deaths.”
“Very good, little rabbit. But I wouldn’t attribute it to luck. I’d positioned myself well. But it was my chance, yes. I’d waited a long, long time. They’d moved their lust for blood sport here, and I had finally been presented with an in.”
Evan released a breath. “Did you kill Dow Maginn?”
“Of course. You had been abducted,” he said to Evan. “Mr. Meyer saw you in the cage and immediately regretted what he had done. His hatred had gotten the best of him. He sold that ring hoping he could buy your freedom, but, of course, that’s not the way the game is played. And even if it was, ten thousand dollars is petty cash to those men. Mind you, I only pieced all those details together later. I see you’re not shocked, which means you’ve deduced some of it too.”
Noelle nodded, even while tears burned the backs of her eyes.
“Fontane logged in and expected to see a stranger in a cage at the start of another game and instead saw his own son. He went to the big bosses, or the midlevel bosses, you might say. The originals are highly insulated and only emerge once a year. They told him the game was already started, bets had been made, money put on the line. They were even angry he had the audacity to assume who ruled the game. Fontane’s father was long dead, and he had been nothing but a mere boy when they’d immigrated to the United States. I imagine the fact that he’d gotten himself embroiled in a high-profile investigation and trial didn’t ingratiate him to those men. No, Evan was staying, his captivity was underway, and the first days of darkness while the players placed their initial bets had commenced. Some captives screamed and begged during that time, chewed at their hair, banged their heads. All things that helped players determine how much money they’d first put on the line. How could they admit to these men that a mistake had been made? That a nobody had hacked in and put them all at risk? Trust in the system would be gravely compromised, and to play such a game, trust in the system is paramount. The players wondered, of course, at the contestant who was chosen, the son of a player. But that, too, turned out to be a boon, as it was assumed to be payback for some transgression. And so it acted as a warning and naturally helped tighten internal security. As some reconciliation to your father, however, they did allow him a request: to match Evan with the contestant of his choice. Fontane chose Noelle.”
She brought her hand to her mouth, holding back her tears. Oh God, oh God. It was the very definition of evil.
Her head swam, her muscles ached from holding them so tight. And the only reason she wasn’t slumping over with the weight of her grief was because Evan was holding her up. His solid body. The love and support she could feel emanating from him.
Of all the crushing horrors she’d experienced, the knowledge of what her father had done almost broke her. Instead of reporting what he’d found, he had Dow put Evan’s name in as the next contestant. Change a name. And an abduction location. The low-level muscle who’d nabbed Evan would have no clue. They were simply following the orders they’d been given, and as far as they knew, the abduction had gone smoothly. The players would only find out that something had gone awry when they logged in to play.
Had it been simple for Dow to hack their site? Was it easy for someone who’d once hacked the electric company? Or had he found it a challenge? Either way, he’d been successful. She closed her eyes, visions swimming before her. Her father seeing Evan on screen, trying desperately to reach Dow, hocking the only thing he had of value to try and bail Evan out of that cage if possible, to have some financial leverage to fix what he’d done, and then dying of a heart attack when he found out that his own daughter was there too. Because of him. Because of what his actions had led to.
An eye for an eye.
Two men so bent on revenge that they sacrificed the other’s child.
“Why did you have to kill Dow?” she asked. Her voice sounded monotone. Was she going into shock? Maybe. But the emotional numbness was a blessing.