Chapter 9
Hilliard towered over the child. He expected a scared street urchin. He expected tears.
Instead, the little girl glared up at him with eyes that were startlingly green.
"Did you paint my car?" Hilliard asked sternly.
Elia crossed her arms over her chest. "Maybe. It was ugly anyway."
Hilliard blinked. He was taken aback. Most adults couldn't hold his gaze. This three-foot-tall menace was challenging him.
"Where are your parents?" he demanded.
"I don't have parents," Elia said, reciting the line Davy had taught her. "I hatched from an egg."
Hilliard felt the corner of his mouth twitch. He suppressed a smirk. "An egg. Right."
He crouched down so he was at eye level with her.
"Look, kid. You caused fifty thousand dollars in damage. This isn't a joke."
Elia pouted. Her lower lip stuck out. "You have money. Everyone says so. You're the Bad Daddy."
Hilliard froze. The air around him seemed to drop ten degrees.
"What did you call me?" he whispered.
Elia realized she had slipped. She clamped her mouth shut, her eyes widening.
Hilliard leaned closer. He studied her face. The shape of her nose... the stubborn set of her jaw... the arch of her eyebrows.
A headache began to throb in his temples. Why did she look so familiar? It was like looking at a ghost, or a reflection in a funhouse mirror.
Hidden behind the forklift, Cali was hyperventilating. She reached into her clutch and pulled out a tactical pen-a tranquilizer dart launcher Kegan had given her.
She aimed it at Hilliard's neck. If he touches her, I drop him.
Hilliard reached out. "Let me see your pockets. Do you have ID?"
He grabbed Elia's wrist.
Elia panicked. She opened her mouth and chomped down on the fleshy part of his hand.
"Ow!" Hilliard recoiled, yanking his hand back.
"Don't touch me!" Elia screamed.
"Sir!" Two security guards came running around the corner. "We found the breach point!"
Hilliard stood up, rubbing his hand. There were small teeth marks on his skin.
He looked at the girl. She was terrified now.
"Take this child to the car," Hilliard said, his voice cold. "We're going to the police station."
He was bluffing. He just wanted to scare her into revealing who her parents were so he could sue them.
But Elia didn't know that. "No police!" she wailed.
The guard reached for Elia.
"Let her go!"
Cali stepped out from the shadows. She held the pen like a weapon.
Hilliard turned. The masked woman again.
He looked from the woman to the child. The same green eyes. The same defiance.
"So," Hilliard said, a cruel smile touching his lips. "She's yours."
"Let the child go, Holloway," Cali warned. Her voice trembled, betraying her. "She's a minor."
Hilliard stepped between Cali and Elia.
"She's a criminal," Hilliard said. "And you're her accomplice. Get in the car. Both of you."
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