When Family Became a Place I Couldn’t Return To novel Chapter 140

The Watson family didn’t mess around like the police did. The people they brought were mercenaries, the kind who didn’t ask questions and didn’t care about the mess. These guys were from an external Westhaven unit, only called in when things got really serious. Clearly, the Watsons had that kind of pull.

“I’m fine, thanks to you getting here so fast.” Nelly pushed herself up, her movements a little stiff, and reached for her backpack, reclaiming it from the man in front of her. She grabbed the knife out of his hand too, copying what he’d done a moment ago, and pressed the tip against the most vulnerable spot on his neck.

“Here, right? Are you scared now?” Nelly’s voice was quiet, almost a whisper, but it cut through the room. Her eyes sparkled, and in the dim light her features looked almost unreal, so beautiful they stopped you in your tracks. But to the man trembling in front of her, Nelly looked more like an avenging spirit than anything else. He couldn’t even look her in the eyes.

“Please... let me go...”

Nelly gave him a small, sweet smile and tapped his cheek with the flat side of the blade. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to kill anyone. I just need to know where my daughter is. Can you help me out?”

...

Across the street, in another building, a middle-aged man was watching everything unfold through a pair of binoculars. Suddenly, the lights in the room flickered off, and he lost sight of what was happening.

“Something’s off.” His voice was low and rough.

“What is it?” Sheila grabbed the binoculars and looked for herself. Sure enough, the room that Nelly had just been dragged into was now completely dark. She spun around to check on Carrie, still tied to a chair, eyes covered, fast asleep. Carrie had been drugged. There was no way she’d be waking up any time soon.

“I need to go over there.” The man started getting his things together, grabbing a battered shotgun and a knife.

“Wait. Call them first, see what’s happening.” Sheila put a hand out to stop him.

He was shorter than most and hunched from years of hard living, but his body was all muscle and sinew. There was a cold confidence in the way he moved, like someone who’d been through too much to be rattled by anything. This was Selina’s father, Hank.

Hank had always been trouble, a gambler who kept getting into messes even when Selina was little. When he needed money, he’d do anything. That’s how he ended up working his way up in Westhaven’s underworld. Selina’s mom couldn’t take it anymore. She left him, took Selina, and remarried. But having a dad like Hank had left marks on Selina she couldn’t shake.

Hank knew he’d failed as a father. Selina never reached out, and all he could do was send her gifts on holidays, trying to make up for everything he’d done wrong. He never expected Selina to show up one day, asking for his help, telling him she’d been treated unfairly. It was the first time she’d called him “Dad.”

And the woman who’d hurt his daughter was Nelly.

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