Chapter 21

Teghan found Donnie standing outside of Pappy’s Pizza waiting for her. He didn’t smile, which she thought was odd. “Hi, Donnie.”

“Hi.” He glanced around nervously.

She slightly cocked her head and gave him a curious look. He seemed tense, edgy. “What’s wrong?”

“I need to talk to you. Come with me,” he said, taking hold of her elbow and leading her toward his car.

“Donnie. Stop. You’re scaring me.” She tried to yank free from his grip, but he tightened it.

“I have something for you, Teghan, something I think will help get rid of the pain you feel.” He stopped and faced her. “Please trust me.”

Teghan nodded and willingly followed him despite the dread coiled in her stomach. Last time she had this feeling she’d ignored it and it’d cost her dearly. She stole a glance and Donnie. His knuckles were white he was gripping the steering wheel so tight, his jaw was clenched, and he seemed oblivious to anything other than the road in front of him. “Will you please tell me where we’re going?”

“We’re here,” he said, parking and killing the engine.

“It’s an empty building.” She got out of his car and hesitantly followed him inside. She wished she hadn’t. Teghan cupped her hand over her mouth and gasped. Her father was in the middle of the room, tied to a chair, his bottom lip swollen, and blood trickled down the side of his face.

“Dad?” she muttered. Her first instinct was to rush to his rescue, to untie him, and tend to his wounds. But she didn’t. She remained frozen, stunned, a myriad of emotions raging through her. Hurt. Anger. Betrayal. Love. Fear. Confusion. Teghan looked at Donnie, who proudly boasted a smug smile, and her skin crawled. What the hell was going on?

“He was going to pay me a hundred thousand dollars to stay out of your life,” Donnie said.

That didn’t surprise her as much as she thought it should.

“Don’t forget to tell her you asked for it,” Rob said.

Teghan looked back and forth between her father and her boyfriend. She had no idea what to do.

“It was just a ploy to get you here,” Donnie said.

“Wait,” she said, shaking her head in confusion. Donnie had tricked her father into coming here? Why? So he could tie him up and beat him? It dawned on her that she didn’t know anything about Donnie. What kind of boyfriend did this to his girlfriend’s father? “I don’t understand what’s going on here.”

“I told you he was no good for you, Teghan,” Rob said, fidgeting against his restraints. “Untie me.”

“Shut up, Rob!” Teghan snapped. The room was musty and stunk of mold. It was stifling. “I don’t want any part of this,” she said, turning and rushing for the door.

“Teghan!” Rob shouted.

“Teghan.” Donnie grabbed her wrist before she could get out the door. He spun her to face him and put his hands on her shoulders.

“Let me go,” she said, her tears stripping the conviction from her voice.

“Get your goddamned hands off my daughter,” Rob said.

Good Lord what a friggin’ nightmare.

“Teghan, babe, I did this for you,” Donnie said.

Her eyes widened. “I never asked you to.”

“I know, but we both need answers. This way you can get them and you don’t have to worry about him hurting you again.”

Teghan sliced a look at her father. She did want answers. But was this really the way to go about getting them? It seemed so wrong. “Okay, fine. I’ll ask him, but then you let him go and we forget about this. All of it.”

“Deal.” Donnie hugged her and kissed her forehead.

She swallowed the bile rising in her throat and shook the nervousness from her hands. Everything about this felt wrong. But she had a sinking feeling that if she didn’t do this, that if she didn’t demand answers, Donnie wouldn’t let it go. Teghan stood in front of her father, in front of the man she’d always trusted implicitly, the one man who, above all else, was supposed to protect her and love her unconditionally. The sight of him disgusted her.

“Untie me,” Rob demanded.

He had a lot of nerve to demand anything from her. “Why, Dad? Why’d you do it?”

“I tried to reason with you, Teghan, but you weren’t willing to listen,” Rob said.

“So you drug me and give me an abortion without my knowledge?” she shouted, her anger taking precedent over all other emotion. “Do you know how much you hurt me? You stood there and watched as that sick fuck killed my baby. I called for you, Dad. I cried for you to help me and you just stood there.” Teghan wiped tears from her face with trembling hands.

“Someday you’ll thank me for this,” Rob said.

The calmness he displayed only pissed her off more. She pointed her finger in his face. “I will never forgive you. I will never trust you. And you’ll be lucky if I ever speak to you again.”

“I saved you from ruining your life, which it seems like you’re hell bent on doing anyway.”

Teghan sobbed with disbelief. “God, do you have any idea how crazy you sound? Now answer my damn question so I don’t have to look at you anymore. Why did you do it?”

Rob nodded his head in Donnie’s direction. “Is he really the type of man you want to spend your life with? Is he really father material? Look at what he did to me!” He pulled against his restraints and wobbled in the chair.

She glanced at Donnie. He was standing to her right, arms crossed, a look of satisfaction plastered across his face. Part of her knew her father was right. That irritated her to no end. Donnie wasn’t the man she thought he was. Donnie was too much like Rob and that terrified her. Teghan averted her gaze back to Rob. “You have no room to be passing judgment on him after what you’ve done.”

“Yeah,” Donnie said, walking over to stand beside Teghan. “You never even took the time to get to know me.”

“I’ve seen enough to know.” Rob glared at Donnie.

“I love Teghan more than anything else in this world and I will not let you take her from me,” Donnie said, pulling a knife from his pant leg and pressing it to Rob’s throat.

“Donnie!” Teghan screamed. She blinked rapidly several times. She had to be dreaming. Rob’s face had gone pale and the look in his eyes was one Teghan had only seen once before when Trevor had severely injured himself playing basketball and the prognosis was grim. It was the look of fear. “Donnie, please, put the knife down.”

“He won’t stop, Teghan,” Donnie said calmly.

She slowly and gingerly put her hand on his hand that held the knife. “Please, Donnie. I’m begging you not to do this.”

“Why?” Donnie looked at her and a chill worked down her spine. “He’ll never leave us alone.”

That was probably true, but Rob was still her father and a very small part of her will always be Daddy’s Little Girl. Unlike Rob, she had a conscience and she couldn’t stand by and watch Donnie kill her father. She turned to Rob, eyes pleading. “Yes, you will, won’t you Dad?” Teghan gently moved Donnie’s hand, and the knife, from her father’s throat, keeping her gaze locked with Rob’s. Hoping, imploring, pleading with her eyes for him to, for once in his life, do the right thing.

“On one condition,” Rob said with a faint smile.

Things kept getting more surreal by the moment. Even now, in this situation, her father was trying to negotiate. Unbelievable. “What?” she said.

“You have to move home for the summer.”

“Absolutely not,” Donnie said, dropping the knife to the floor and gripping her shoulders. “Teghan, you can’t be seriously considering this.”

What choice did she have? If she didn’t do exactly as her father wanted, he’d go after Donnie. And after what Rob did to her, she cringed at the thought of what he’d do to Donnie. She pulled Donnie away from her father and lowered her voice. “I don’t have a choice.”

“Yes you do, babe. We can end this now,” he said.

“Are you suggesting we kill my father?”

He simply stared at her.

“No. No,” she said, shaking her head. “If you love me like you say you do, then you can’t do that. Please, Donnie. Stop this right now.” Tears blurred her vision and clogged her throat.

“I don’t want to lose you, Teghan.”

She cupped his face with her trembling hands and smiled weakly. “You won’t. I promise. But I need you to promise me that you won’t hurt my father.”

“I’m not going to pretend I understand why you care so much after what he did to you, but I’ll let it go. For you. I’d do anything for you,” he said, giving her lips a soft kiss.

Teghan wanted to vomit. “Thank you.”

“So what’s it going to be, Teghan?” Rob asked.

Turning to Rob, she said, “I’ll untie you, and I’ll move home for the summer, but if you so much as hint at doing anything to Donnie, I will disappear so fast you’ll never find me.” She picked up the knife and put the blade against the ropes that bound his hands. “Understand?”

“Perfectly.” Teghan cut the ropes and Rob rubbed at his wrists. “Maybe you two do deserve each other,” he said before straightening his tie and walking out of the warehouse.

So that’s what it felt like to make a deal with the devil.

“Are you okay?” Donnie asked, his voice returning to its normal, soothing, loving tone.

Teghan was numb. Her brain was unable to comprehend everything that had just happened. Her heart shattered like glass in her chest, sharp, jagged pieces cutting her every time she took a breath. “Just take me back to my car.”

***

Rob flicked his tongue over his swollen bottom lip. That son of a bitch had a lot of balls lying to him, tricking him, tying him up, punching him, and threatening him. The bastard would pay. That would mean his daughter would pay, too, and he felt slightly guilty about that. She’d been through enough, but then again, she’d had no problems putting her two cents in about everything. He was slightly disappointed that Teghan thought he’d be true to his word. Oh well, she’d learn soon enough.

“Jim?” Rob called as soon as he opened the door to Jim Darden’s office.

“Back here,” Jim called from the conference room. “Looks like you had an interesting evening.”

“My daughter’s piece of shit boyfriend decided to play hero tonight,” Rob said, looking around the room at half a dozen strange faces. “Who’re they?”

“Have a seat, Rob. We need to talk.”

That was never good. He pulled out a chair and sat. “What is it, Jim?”

“The men at this table are from Midnight Rebels, Inc., a highly specialized team of investigators and bodyguards. Most of them have military or law enforcement backgrounds. CIA, FBI, Secret Service, SEALs, Marines, I think you get the point. The gentleman to your right is Captain Martin Rowe, the founder and leader of MRI,” Jim explained.

“Mr. Jacobs.” Captain Rowe nodded. “Jim called us in because he’s having some difficulty getting the information you need. We can help, but first you need to tell us everything.”

Rob scowled. Did these people really expect him to divulge all the sordid details of his life to them? They were complete strangers for Christ’s sake.

“We have no other choice,” Jim said. “You can trust these men. Secrecy is their life.”

“Teghan was born with a fraternal twin brother and for reasons I refuse to discuss, I gave him up for adoption. I have reason to believe that my daughter’s boyfriend, Donnie Marks is her twin brother,” Rob said.

A collective gasp filled the room. All eyes were on Rob, imploring, waiting, expecting him to say more. He remained silent, stoic.

“And you need us to verify your suspicions?” Captain Rowe asked.

“Yes. And I want him out of my daughter’s life. Permanently.”

“We don’t do murder, Mr. Jacobs,” Captain Rowe said.

Rob snorted. “If I wanted the kid dead I’d do it myself. I just want answers—concrete proof of who he is. And I want him out of my daughter’s life.”

“Then let’s discuss how we can go about doing this,” Captain Rowe said.

Two hours later, Rob left Jim’s office feeling more optimistic than he had since this nightmare had begun. Donnie would be handled. Teghan would be safe. And Rob’s secrets were safe. He’d never have to tell Rachel or his kids what he’d done.