Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 128488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
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.
Vitucci sighed. “I needed the computer he’d logged in on, and so I paid him a visit. Afterward, I couldn’t risk that Dow would give my name to the police or perhaps go to them to confess what he’d done. I killed him, yes, but the organization would have done much, much worse. You two don’t have to imagine the ways in which they might have exacted revenge once they located the man who hacked their elaborate game.”
A chill went down Noelle’s spine. No, she didn’t have to imagine. But she also didn’t want to think that this man had done Dow a favor by swiftly taking his life.
“When your father had a heart attack, I went to his home and took his laptop and the photos. And when I understood exactly what the situation was, I paid a visit to the man who would be the sponsor I needed to play—Fontane. They don’t just let any old chump join in, after all.” He smiled, and it appeared as serene as his other smiles.
“A sponsor?” Evan asked. “My father? But why? He vouched for you because you had evidence against him?”
“No. He vouched for me because I’d done him a favor in the past and I had an in with the Reno PD and plenty of access. I’d hidden evidence in the case against Noelle’s father. I’d let him pay me off.”
“What?” Noelle breathed. “I thought you were helping my father. Why? Why would you hide evidence for . . . Fontane?”
“I was helping myself, Noelle.”
“But . . . if you had evidence against him, you could have used it to have him arrested.”
“I could have, but exposing Fontane would have meant exposing myself. And I had a bigger goal in mind.”
She thought she might scream. A game. It was all a game, and he was playing a different one, but he was playing one nonetheless.
“I explained to Fontane how I’d come upon the information about the game in a session with Mr. Meyer,” Vitucci went on. “I told him I’d not only take a payout as I’d done before but that I’d like to play. It had appealed to me. By that time, Dow and Mr. Meyer were both dead anyway. All cleaned up. Or so they thought. And so it came to be that I was there to help you both free yourselves, just another compromised player in their vast web.”
Evan raked a hand through his hair. “How do we find these fucking monsters?” he asked. “All of them. I have friends on the police force—”
“I do as well, Evan. Didn’t you hear me? I’m your friend on the police force. And yet, I’ve done so many favors over the years to prove my false loyalty. I’ve made files disappear, hid evidence. All toward an ultimate end, but even so.” He shrugged. “If I have trust issues as far as the authorities are concerned, you’ll kindly understand why.” The professor glanced at his watch one more time and then signaled to a remote sitting on his desk. “If you could do me one final favor, Evan.”
Again, Evan hesitated, but then rose, walking to the desk and leaning in. He picked up the remote. “There,” Vitucci said, pressing some buttons on the open laptop sitting on the side of his desk and then nodding to a television screen on the opposite wall from where they sat. “Turn it on, please.”