Bloodline [h.s.]

twenty-five.

Peter Gallagher and I spent the following day trying to convince his father to confess to his crimes to get Bridget back. His utter disregard for his own daughter's life was as astounding as it was disgusting.

"There has to be another way to save her," Alec tried assuring us, "I can track down these people. It could be Kelsey's husband trying to get revenge."

Already trying to frame another innocent man. Nice.

"How are you going to do that? Nick has already been looking for days. If he hasn't found anything, how would you?" I said. Nick's genius was unmatched where technology was concerned. Alec knew that as well as I did.

"They are going to kill her if you don't confess." Peter snapped at his father.

"Confess to what? I'm not going to prison for crimes I did not commit, Peter. I didn't kill Kelsey."

The irony of it all was painful. I gritted my teeth to stop myself from lunging at him.

"Bridget seemed to think so." My tongue slipped before my hands could.

The statement silenced the room. Alec and Peter froze to turn the attention to me. I fucked up.

"Excuse me?" Alec said. He immediately turned around to face me, eyes nearly bugging out of his head. There was no backtracking at this point.

"Bridget came to my door in tears the night Kelsey was murdered and said, 'my dad killed someone.' She told me she heard you arguing with Kelsey at your house an hour before she was killed. She heard you threaten her life. She also made me swear never tell anyone because, ironically, she still wanted to protect you. She thought that, whatever you did, no matter how bad, it was to protect your family. Clearly, Bridget was wrong because you do not seem to care much about protecting her, do you?"

Peter looked at his father horrified. If he only knew, this was only one of many horrors his father orchestrated. If Alec's glare was a weapon, I would be dead right about now.

"You killed Kelsey, Dad?"

"No, Bridget was mistaken. She had to have misheard me." His voice was calm, but his eyes had fire in them.

"How–"

Peter was interrupted by his phone. After talking for a few minutes, he was left with a distraught look on his face.

"We need to get to the hospital. Something is happening with Megan. Mom is freaking out."

"Let's go," Alec said, "and, Jacob, if you mention this to anyone, I swear I—"

"Relax, Alec. I swore to Bridget to keep your secret to honour her wishes to protect you, and I only brought it up to protect her." I promised, "I'm going to see if Nick has found anything to help us track her down. You should go be with Megan."

I left immediately to go see Kai. Bridget and Nate were back in chairs with their arms and legs tied. Bridget looked dazed and exhausted while Nate was just irritated out of his mind, shooting daggers at us through the two way mirror. I noticed more bruises on Bridget's arms, but I couldn't say anything if I wanted her released.

"We need to let her go today, right now." I said firmly.

"Why? We haven't gotten a confession from Alec yet. That is the whole point." Kai said nonchalantly and went back to work.

"You aren't actually going to kill her if he doesn't confess."

"I always keep my promises." Kai said in his way of saying yes. My teeth dug into the inside of my cheek as I fought down the burning desire to shatter his skull against the cement brick behind me.