Free What He Promises by Hannah Ford Page B

I
was going to do.
    “Where is she?” I asked, making sure to keep my
voice calm.
    “Where is who?”
    “Mikayla.”
    He sat back in his chair as far as he
could.   “She’s where all good girls
go.”
    “And where is that?”
    “ Charlooootttee ,” he
said, his voice sing- songy .   “Why should I tell you anything?   Why are you wasting time thinking about
her?   She is nothing.   She is less than nothing.   Don’t you understand that no one is even
looking for her?   No one even cares
that she disappeared.”
    “I care.”
    He grinned.   “Yes,” he said.   “Yes, I suppose you do.   You care enough to be here.   How did you get away from Cutler?”
    I tried not to show any reaction, but he picked
up on it anyway.
    “Noah doesn’t know you’re here?”   He laughed and laughed, so hard he doubled
over in his chair.   “That is
wonderful.   You saucy little minx,
you.”   
    “Where.   Is.   She.”
    “I don’t know.”
    “You’re lying.”
    “Why would I lie about something like
that?   I have no idea what they’ve
done with her.   According to my
sources, Force has been shut down.   The girls have been taken away.”
    “To where?”
    He leaned forward again, his eyes boring into
mine as he teeth worked at his bottom lip.   “You’re a very special woman, Charlotte.   You came all this way, and yet all you
want to talk about is Mikayla.”
    “What else would I want to talk about?”
    He raised his eyebrows.   “I just assumed that when you came to
see me you’d have all kind of questions, all kinds of queries about why I did
what I did.”
    My stomach clenched and I gripped the bottom of
my chair to keep from screaming.   I
did have questions for him.   I did
want to know more about why he did what he did.   But I also didn’t want him to think he
knew me.
    “Noah already told me,” I said.
    “Noah doesn’t know.”
    “He said it was because of a case.”
    “And you believed him?”
    “It’s not the truth?”
    “No, it is.”   He reached his hand up and began gently
pulling up the bottom of the tape that held the gauze over his eye.   Once it had been separated from his
skin, he began to rub the skin underneath it slowly.   “You’ll have to forgive me for being so
crass,” he said.   “It’s just that
losing one’s eye can be a rather itchy business, especially as it heals.”
    I caught a glimpse of flesh underneath,
puckered and raw.   But I forced
myself not to look away.   I didn’t
want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d gotten under my skin, that
he’d had any effect on me whatsoever.
    “So if it’s the truth, if you did this to Noah
because of a case, then what else would I need to know?”   I pressed.
    “Charlotte,” Professor Worthington said,
sighing.   “You know that any normal
person wouldn’t kill and torture women just because of losing a court case.”
    “So you’re saying there’s something wrong with
you psychologically?”
    “Ding ding ding !” Professor Worthington said, delighted.
    “So what is it?”
    “You think I’m just going to tell you
that?”   He shook his head.   “You are my student, Charlotte.   And I will teach you.   But you will need to do some of the work
yourself.”
    I shook my head.   I’d allowed myself to get caught up in
his vortex of craziness.   I’d come
here to find out about Mikayla, not to get into some crazy conversation with
Professor Worthington about his real or imagined psychological problems.   It was for doctors and a jury to decide
if he was crazy, not me.
    “Where is she?” I demanded.
    “She’s been taken to a safe place.”
    “I don’t believe you.”
    “She’ll be killed, Charlotte.”
    “What?”
    “Yes.   They will kill her.   She’ll
be put out of her misery.”
    “Where is she?” I yelled.
    “I don’t know.”
    “You just said she was in a safe place!”  
    “Charlotte, please, you’re making my head
hurt.”
    “Tell