False Finder (7 page)

“You have ten minutes, Cora,” Rogan stated but Cora ignored him, instead she was rubbing her hand soothingly over Misty’s back. Only when she heard Rogan’s feet on the steps did she look up and acknowledge him.

“I want to be alone, Rogan,” Cora said, her voice taking on a no nonsense tone which caused him to pause.

“Not going to happen; and you’re wasting your own time talking to me.”

Standing up, Cora untangled herself from Misty’s arms and walked towards where he had paused on the stairs.

“Make—them—leave—Rogan,” she demanded. “There’s no way out of here other than the door we came in through so you don’t need them.”

From the corner of her eye she noticed the men turn towards her, their eyes wide with shock. Obviously they weren’t used to people standing up to their boss—especially a five foot five, blonde, nineteen-year-old female.

“No, they stay.”

Turning to leave, he didn’t even bother waiting for a reply. He thought his final statement spoke for itself. However, Cora wasn’t one to give up and he should have been well aware of that.

Reaching out she grabbed his wrist, yanking him backwards with enough force to bring him stumbling back down a few steps.

There were a few gasps from the men but they were quickly silenced when Rogan turned swiftly, shooting them all a glare before his eyes found Cora’s.

“You’d better remember where you are and who you’re with Cora. This is the last time I will remind you.” His voice was tense but he also lowered his volume so only Cora could hear. He didn’t want the men overhearing the conversation in case he appeared weak.

Cora had other ideas and challenging Rogan in front of his men was only the first step of her plan to escape and bring down his empire.

“Make them leave Rogan or I swear I will raise hell on earth in your home.” Cora matched his tone, stare and posture with confidence. She refused to back down under his gaze and domineering presence, and it was that fact that made Rogan change his mind. He couldn’t help but admire her slightly.

“You have eight minutes. You four follow me.” He gestured to the men, turning on his heels to walk back up the stairs as his angry footfalls got quieter. The men started to follow him but as each one passed Cora they gave her a perplexed stare like they couldn’t believe what she had done.

Cora couldn’t really understand why they were so surprised. Most of Rogan’s staff knew their history and how Cora was not afraid to demand what she wanted so it didn’t make sense for them to appear so confused. Maybe it was the fact he listened with minimal effort and didn’t throw a fit or kill someone like he would usually.

Cora stayed at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for all of the men to disappear and the door to slam shut before she allowed the breath she had been holding subconsciously to release. Aware of the short amount of time she had, and the large amount of information she needed to find out, Cora counted to five before turning to face her best friend. Misty was sitting with her head in her hands as she hunched over on the wooden chair.

Chapter 7

Cora walked over to Misty quickly. Crouching down in front of her, she rested her arms on her legs and her hands encased Misty’s. The gesture encouraged Misty to lift her face and look directly at Cora with sadness.

“Are you hurt at all?” Cora asked, her voice full of concern now that she didn’t have to pretend to be tough.

Misty just shook her head in response, her lip trembling slightly as a single tear made its way down her cheek. Releasing one of her hands, Cora reached up to brush it away with the pad of her thumb.

“Misty, this is important. Have any of his employees done anything to try and hurt you? No matter how small.”

Once again Misty shook her head. “No. Well, I mean besides tying me up and forcing me down here no one has touched me.”

Cora felt the anger inside her building at the way they had treated her. Misty was innocent, and no matter what she had done in the past to Nick, she couldn’t let it happen again. Nick had been different. He had been able to take care of himself, but not Misty. She was fragile, full of life and happiness, even with the way the country had changed. Rogan would break her and Cora knew she would not be able to live with something like that.

“Sarah, why am I here? And why did Rogan call you Cora?” Misty asked in a small voice. She did, however, match Cora’s stare with one as steely of her own.

“Because that’s my real name. We don’t have long enough for that though, Misty, and I need the information you have first. Stupidly, I allowed Rogan’s men to catch me and he’s now blackmailing me with your life. If we have time, I will explain the rest later but, if I have any hope of getting you out of here, I need you to tell me everything. What happened after I left?”

Misty was shaking as Cora spoke, the reality of what her friend was saying scaring her.

“Sar—I mean Cora, don’t let him use me to get you to sign over your life, it’s not right—” she began but Cora cut her off by raising her hand and speaking.

“Misty I don’t have the time and you don’t have all the details. You also don’t know what you’re letting yourself into by saying that. I know what Rogan has planned for you if I refuse and I will not let you go through that when I will still have to give Rogan what he wants. I will get out sometime but you won’t, unless you trust me. Now tell me everything and do it quickly.”

At Cora’s words Misty seemed to pick up. Her posture became straighter and she was filled with the confidence that was radiating from Cora.

“Okay, well nothing happened for about two hours after you left, I just continued reading. Then these weird noises started coming from the hall. At first I ignored them, they freaked me out and I didn’t want to look in case it was someone dangerous.”

Cora squeezed her leg encouragingly, silently communicating with her to continue.

“It didn’t stop though, and you know me.” She tried to smile weakly but it didn’t reach her eyes like normal. “I was too curious so I opened the door. I kept the chain on and only peered out but even that was too much. Two men burst into the flat. They literally ripped the chain from the door and sent me flying back with it. I didn’t have time to run before they were on me.”

Misty sighed and rubbed her wrists as if in memory.

“They used those plastic electrical ties on my hands and they forced me out the door. You’ll never guess who was out in the hall.”

Cora had her suspicions and instead of replying she let Misty continue, waiting to see if hunch was right.

“Sam. He led Rogan’s men right to our flat and he didn’t even look remorseful as they led me past him. I don’t even know how he found out where we lived. I promise I didn’t tell anyone.” A bit of the old Misty came back to life as she screwed up her face and her pitch reached one that only dogs could hear.

“I believe you and I swear I will make him pay for this, Misty. Once I’ve got you out of here they will be next. Him and Jaz.” Cora’s words were curt and to the point, her mind already made up about what she was going to do. “What happened then?”

“They bundled me in a car and drove me here. I tried not to think about what was going on but I knew it had something to do with what you told me this morning. Why is Sam doing this?” Misty whined.

“Because Rogan is offering him a lot of money and if he doesn’t it’ll be his life that’s in danger. Sam might as well have signed his life over to Rogan when he agreed to give information for money. If he doesn’t come up with the goods now, Rogan will make him pay. He’ll never be free but I’ll solve that problem for him,” Cora said, her mind already reeling with possibilities.

“Did anyone say anything to you about what’s going on? Anything I should know?”

Misty shook her head. “Hardly anyone has spoken to me. Cora, I don’t want you exchanging yourself for me.” She was shaking her head as if it would magically make everything okay.

“Misty, I’m not going to leave you here. You won’t be able to handle it.”

“But you’ve been running from this your whole life you—”

“Exactly. It is my problem, not yours.”

“But—”

Every time Misty started to speak Cora cut her words off with either a glare or by speaking over her.

“No buts, you have to trust me. Rogan has this whole thing planned out and for once, I can’t win. It’s either I sign willingly and you’re safe, or I’m forced to sign and he orders his men to hurt you.”

Cora chose her words carefully. She didn’t want to reveal the true extent of what Rogan’s men would do to her but neither did she want to make it seem like an idle threat.

“I can’t get out of this Misty, not this time but it doesn’t mean I won’t try. Just because I sign a piece of paper it doesn’t mean anything, okay? Once you are safe, I will get out, trust me, I will.”

Before Misty could reply the sound of the metal door at the top of the stairs being thrown open caused her to jump and retreat back inside her shell.

“Trust me all right? Promise me that Misty, that you will let me handle things and not counter any of my decisions.”

“Time’s up, get a move on, Cora. You’re just stalling the inevitable now,” Rogan shouted from the top of the stairs. He wasn’t even bothering to fetch her.

Cora ignored him, staying crouched in front of Misty until she saw her head nod slightly in agreement to her words.

“Thank you. I will get you out of here, I swear and then I’ll get myself out, all right?” Cora leaned over, giving her best friend one last hug before pulling up her icy defences in preparation to battle with Rogan once more.

“CORA! If you want Misty to remain safe, you will move your ass right now and get up these steps.”

Cora was already half way up when his second warning came. Her footsteps were so quiet that he hadn’t heard them and he wasn’t looking in her direction as she approached. Clearing her throat to get his attention, she watched as his head spun towards her—full of anger and annoyance.

Rolling her eyes, she continued on past him and into the corridor. “What are you? My father?” she said sarcastically as she made her way back to his office by herself as he locked up the basement. She saw no point in trying to escape, not while he had Misty.

Collapsing on the sofa, Cora watched as Rogan shut the door behind them and made his way over to the desk. His face transformed into anger as he got the first close-up look of Cora’s art work carved into his expensive desk, but he quickly covered it. Picking up the piece of paper that was her contract, he walked back over to her.

“So what will it be? Are you going to sign it or are my men going to have a lot of fun with your friend?” Rogan held out the paper and pen expectantly.

Cora huffed in annoyance. “I will sign it.”

A smug grin licked his face at her surrender when she took the contract. He had been waiting years for the moment to reveal itself and finally he had another False Finder to help him grow his empire. He had also succeeded in gaining the upper hand and beating her, which was just as thrilling.

“But on a few conditions. If you don’t agree to them then I will never sign this.”

His face fell back into his irritated frown as she continued and he folded his arms, waiting for her to list her demands.

“And how are you in a position to negotiate with me? I have your friend, I have you and you are in the middle of my empire, surrounded by my men who have orders to restrain you under the pain of death.”

Cora’s brain was hurriedly trying to come up with something she could use against him and just as he had finished speaking it came to her.

“Because if you don’t agree, then you won’t be able to trust me. I will sign that piece of paper whether you listen to me or not. However, if you refuse to write my demands into this contract, then you will not be able to tell whether I give you correct readings or not. Sometimes I will, and sometimes I won’t so it will be like you don’t even own a False Finder.”

Cora knew why he wanted her so badly and finally she had a way to use it against him. She also knew that words were just that—they meant nothing—so by insisting it be written into her contract she knew Rogan would stick to it. He may have been the leader of a criminal organisation but he was true to his words and in Cora’s opinion, and that was his only admirable quality.

“What are the demands?” His voice was tense with controlled anger once again as Cora slowly turned the tables on him. He had to give her credit though, she was smart and she could handle herself. Not even a six foot six, muscled male stood up to Rogan, but there was Cora fighting tooth and nail for what she wanted—and she always had.

It was one of the reasons Rogan had a soft spot for her and let her get away with so much more than his men—that, and the fact she was female.

“The first is that if I sign this, Misty goes free and you are never to bother her again. The second is you are to leave all of my friends alone indefinitely. You do not involve them in anything unless they come to you willingly and ask for a job. Thirdly, you do not own me. I will work for you and read whoever you want but I will not be subjected to your orders like your men. You know me, I will fight back.”

Cora held up her fingers as she spoke, counting her demands off as she said them.

“Fourth, I want to stay in my own flat, attend university and live my life like normal. I’m not waiting on you. Fifth—” she was about to continue when Rogan cut her off abruptly.

“There seems to be a lot of these,” he said impatiently.

Cora had learnt from him in the past that you ask for everything and then negotiate down to the few you really want; that way made it look like she was conceding to more than she wanted. She wasn’t stupid and she was making sure she addressed everything that was important to her. There was no way Rogan was going to agree to everything but she would be damned if she wasn’t going to try and squeeze as much out of him as physically possible while she had the chance.

“Fifth, I want a pay check and I want it to be more than the average wage you give your men.”

There was a moment of silence as Rogan waited to see if that was everything she wanted. When she only stared at him with a questioning look, he believed that was it.

“Okay. Here’s what I’ll give you: Firstly, I’ll pay you a higher wage if you want it that badly. Secondly, Misty will stay safe and unharmed as long as you co-operate and perform correctly. Thirdly, you stay here until I trust you not to vanish or pull some kind of escape stunt. I need you here twenty-four seven as I never know when I’ll need you, so university is out of the question. Fourthly, you don’t have any more friends so I have no one else to go after. Finally, by signing that contract you agree to obey me. I have never treated you like a normal employee but you will listen to me if I order you to do something.”

“No deal. Misty goes free and you will never bother her again. I accept all the other terms but that one I reject.” Cora crossed her legs, resting the contract on her lap and Rogan was about to speak when the door to his office opened.

“What the hell are you doing? You know you don’t interrupt me when I’m working, Kirby!” Rogan roared, instantly turning away from Cora and walking swiftly with as little strides as possible to meet the black-haired man who was the spitting image of Rogan, except a little chubbier and shorter.

“I just needed to get something,” he spat back, pushing past Rogan and moving over to his desk. As he walked the length of the room his eyes never left Cora’s. They were full of malice, sending a shiver down her spine. It was one thing being looked at like that by Rogan—she knew him and they had a weird relationship whereby they insulted and tried to better the other. However, coming from someone she had never seen or met freaked her out a little.

“Kirby—leave—now.” Rogan’s voice had dropped into a warning as he pointed at the door.

“Hey, nice artwork, Dad. Didn’t know you were such a girl when it came to drawing,” Kirby teased, his face set in a grim smile as he waited for Rogan’s reaction.

Meanwhile Cora’s head was spinning with the revelation.

Rogan has a son? Since when? He looks older than me so…I can’t believe Rogan is a Dad
, she thought as Kirby flicked through a wad of paper, looking for something in particular.