BETH

Who does Klempner remind me of?

It’s irrelevant. I dismiss the thought.

“Hello, again,” he says. “Nice to see you both. I was getting really quite annoyed at the trouble you’ve been causing me, but now you’re back, we can all be friends again.”

He nods to one of our captors. “Un-gag that one.” He points at Charlotte.

With deliberate roughness, the tape is torn from her mouth, leaving her lips bleeding. She licks over her mouth but says nothing, simply staring at Klempner.

He arches brows. “Nothing to say?”

“Like what?” She almost spits the words. “Am I supposed to plead with you? I still don’t know why I’m here.”

“You’re here because you’ve made my life difficult, and now you’re going to…. compensate me, for it.”

“I don’t think that’s it.” Her voice is strident, insistent.

How can she be like this? She should be terrified. Instead, she’s just angry….

“Is that right?”

They’re playing some sort of…. game?

“You said you knew my mother,” she says.

He doesn’t move, except to tilt his head a little. His eyes are flat, lids hooded. After a pause, “So?”

“How did you know her?”

“I told you. She worked for me, with the other whores.”

“I don’t believe you.”

He shrugs, saying nothing.

“What became of her?”

“She died….” His eyes stay cold, but there is… what? An eagerness for her to believe? “…. Heroin overdose.”

“And what do you know about my father, Frank Conners?”

He laughs. “Conners? Your father? Don’t fool yourself. You might have his name, but that’s all. You’re a whore’s brat. Your father could have been anyone….” He pauses. “Could have been me…” he drawls.

She looks as though she has bitten into rotten meat. “Why do you hate me so much?”

“Hate you? Why should I hate you? I don’t know you. You’re nothing.”

She tilts her head. “That’s what I’m asking. You don’t know me.copy right hot novel pub