Dangerous Beauty: Part Three: This is War by Michelle Hardin Read Free Book Online

Not only will I kill her, I will do it in the exact same fashion that your Silas killed my mother … right here, in front of you.”
    “You sick son of a—”
    Nathan turned to the door. “Bring the woman back in here …”
    “Wait!” Vladek shouted.
    Bringing his gaze back to Vladek, Nathan nodded for him to speak.
    “If I talk, Gwen will be safe?”
    “You have my word, Vladek.”
    Seeming to trust Nathan, Vladek finally talked. “Your wife was given over to Silas by her half-brother, Cole, and Lucretzia, her half-sister. They are Silas’s two oldest children, and the first children he kept. Years ago, after Silas—”
    “I don’t want to know this shit,” Nathan snapped. “Tell me where he’s keeping my wife!”
    “You need to have patience,” Vladek shouted. “This is information you need to know. If your wife’s going to be safe, then they all need to be dead!”
    After Nathan went silent, Vladek continued. “Years ago, Silas intercepted a hit job. It had been ordered by one of your father’s guys. He let those men kill Robert and planned to take Cecilia and bring her home, hoping it would bring Anastacia Stone back to him. He and Robert had recently had a falling out after Silas found out that Robert and Anastacia Stone were intimate. I was there. I heard everything Robert had told him. He’d said that they were tired of hiding from him, and if it was war Silas wanted, then that was what he’d get. Robert wasn’t supposed to be home that night, but he was. Silas had planned on going in and just taking Cecilia; she wouldn’t have known anyway. He used to visit her all of the time … until Robert cut his face after he’d had a big fight with the child. Robert and Silas did the back and forth thing for years. Neither of them wanted to kill the other, so the cycle just continued. Anyway, after the hit job, Silas was going to take Cecilia and lock her up until he prepared their family home, but his plans were deferred when Cecilia threw in an unexpected twist that Silas wasn’t expecting. He didn’t really know how to react, so he made a new plan. About a year later he called for Lucretzia and Cole to do a mission for him. They were both eager to please him, so he sent them in. He got Cole an apartment and everything he needed in an American area called St. Louis. He lived in America under the name Henry Bradford. Lucretzia was to keep an eye on Cecilia from a distance. Cole was just supposed to befriend her, helping her to kick a drug addiction she’d developed until Silas was ready for them to bring her home. When they’d first found her, she had been sleeping in a church and was high. It took him a full year to get her clean, and somehow during that time, their relationship slipped into a not so appropriate area. It was Cole’s fault, not your wife’s. She was vulnerable and she believed him to be someone he wasn’t. He fell in love with her, completely forgetting that she was his sister. He had sex with the girl anytime she would let him do it. Lucretzia figured out what Cole was doing and called Silas to come and get the girl. Unfortunately, when Silas came two days later, Cole was alone and Cecilia was gone. They didn’t find her again until a few weeks ago. Word came in that Anastacia had found her daughter and Silas lost it.”
    “Where is he keeping her?” Nathan asked.
    “Cole and Lucretzia stole some of Silas’s tools and went after her with a few other exiled Steeles. They were all hoping to get back in Silas’s good graces by giving him what he wanted, even though they resent Cecilia and Anastacia for being the family Silas loves.”
    “What does he want with my wife?”
    Vladek shrugged. “For the four days she was there, he just stared at her. He watched her, and spoke of nothing but her beauty and perfection. In the end though, he wants his wife and daughter back.”
    Nathan frowned. “Where did he take her now ?” Nathan had caught when the man said, ‘ For the