Dane

His father huffed a laugh. "Liar."

​​

"I'm not lying."

His father stood straight and walked around the desk to sit down as he spoke. "You've made your position on my work, an your desire to stay out of it, for years, Dane. You want me to believe you've just had a complete change of heart? Your wife may be naïve about your ability to deceive, Dane, but I am not."

"I told you, I'm not lying."

His father sat back in his chair, eyes a cold blue that left Dane chilled. "So, you want me to believe that you believe you can walk in here, make some gesture of goodwill, and I'll just…what? Let her walk out? And you're the one who has to get her out safely, of course. C'mon, Dane."

Dane glared at him. "I'm proposing an exchange—and giving in to what you've said all along. You were right. I was wrong. Is that what you need to hear?"

"I'm well aware of your hero complex, Dane. While I commend the noble gesture you make by sitting here—with me!—ready to sacrifice for your precious wife, I do not for one second believe you don't come without a plan."

"Of course I have a plan. I'm not here to be sacrificed to your ego. But it is this simple: She leaves—safely, and alive—and I stay. And I don't go back."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because I'm guessing you've already figured out that I love her more than I'm afraid of you. Which is why she's here. Tell me, Dad, did you go get her yourself when Tish failed? That must have grated. You should have asked me, Dad, I could have told you that Tish was far too neurotic to handle the kind of careful manipulation that strategy needed."

"Look at my son, all grown up and being a man. Handling his shit," his father said softly. "It's Talia all over again." The words, and the soft voice that spoke them made Dane's head scream with the implied threat.

"This is nothing like Talia. I'm coming to you, this time. Not trying to make you work for me. You did this, Dad. You gave me the password. You left the door open. Because you knew the day would come. I tried to ignore it. Tried to beat you. And I couldn't. You win. You were right—I should have taken this route years ago. Then Lila wouldn't have had to go through this. But I got a little full of myself agan. Thought I could beat you. But I couldn't. Live and learn. So, I'm ending it this time."

His father raised that eyebrow again, but Dane pushed on. "I'm not twenty-two anymore, Dad. I'm giving up—I'll join you. Help you. Work for you. As long as you let her go. Safe. And alive."

Their eyes caught and held. His father's narrowed. "And… I'm supposed to just take your word for this?"

Dane shrugs. "Like I said, I lost. I've realized that. It's all boiled down to this, Dad. Either Lila dies, or I give up. I'm not going to be the reason that happens—the irony is, I warned her about this. I avoided her for a long time. I guess deep down I knew. Maybe I was subconsciously wanting to push you to it, I don't know. All I know is, I'll do this one good thing before I give up. Because that's what you've said all along, right? That I'm just like you. And you know what? I'm tired of fighting it."

"Just like that, huh? After over a decade of telling me that you aren't a monster, and I'm the madman, now you're just… accepting your own darkness?" his father asked skeptically.

Dane held his gaze. "You warned me when I was young and I didn't appreciate what you were saying: Women make you weak. Well, you're right. But now, for the first time in my life, the two driving forces in my head want the same thing: Lila needs to get out of here, and I need to stop fighting who I am.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to sit in a room full of people who are normal and know that they don't have the sick things running around in their heads that you do? That if they knew what you thought about, what you liked, they'd call the Police? People are… clueless, Dad. Sometimes it's so obvious I want to stab someone for no reason, just to see what these fuckwits will do. I'm so sick of fighting what's inside me. No matter what I did, no matter how careful I was, I could never stop fighting with people. Could never stop terrifying people. Couldn't stop seeing the angle—and using it. I manipulate people like breathing—just in the last twenty-four hours I've lied to everyone who could have helped me get Lila out of here without coming myself. And it was fun. And to be honest? I kind of wanted them to figure out what I was doing. I wanted to hit something, to hurt someone—I would have used violence to get here if I'd needed to. I'm not scared of it. I never have been."

"No, you never were afraid of pain," he said carefully. "At least, not other people's."

Dane's stomach churned with nausea and he started to sweat. "So… you win. I'm in hell. Lila is… more important than anything else to me. So if I have to give up to save her, then I might as well stop making myself miserable in other ways. So that's it, Dad. No plot. No trick. You give up Lila. You let her go—safely. And I'll stay. I'll do what I was always trained to do."

"It's a ploy."

"No. It's not."

"Dane, I know you've been talking to the Police."

"Dane didn't even blink. "Then you also know I manipulated them into letting me speak with Tish yesterday, and I didn't give up my plan. I was supposed to meet them at nine this morning. And, look where I am." He shrugged. "I'm done."

His father's lips tightened and he stared at Dane, but Dane didn't flinch. And didn't look away.

"I'll think about it," his father said flatly.

"Better think fast. Because if she's not getting out of here, you'll have to kill me. And to be honest, it might be kind of fun to see how long I can hold out against your goons." He turned his head then, and smiled at the security guy behind him. The man didn't move or look at him, but Dane felt him shift.

"Because, as we already established, I'm not stupid, Dane, I need some time to make sure this isn't just a distraction tactic from you—something to keep me occupied while you get reinforcements inside."

"You can take as long as you want, ask whoever you want. You're going to find out I'm here alone and the only person who even knows I was thinking about coming was Chris—but I don't think even he really believed me. And he was so greedy to get his hands on the business, he didn't even fight me on it. I'm alone, Dad. No reinforcements. So take your time. Explore. Ask your questions. But you show me Lila. You let me see she's alive. I don't lift a finger for you until I know that for sure."

His father rubbed his chin with one hand, examining Dane closely. "I'll think about it," he repeated.

It was a split-second too late that Dane realized it was a signal. He whipped his head around too late—and couldn't bring his arms up to block the blow from the man behind him that felled him like a tree.

Everything went black.

*****

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