Sidney Sheldon’s Mistress of the Game

‘Not any more it ain’t. I gave it all to Lexi.’

Robbie stood up. The room spun like a tumble dryer. Putting a hand to his forehead, he felt the sticky warmth of blood on his fingers.

Peter thought: Has he really repudiated Kate’s will? Can he do that?

Out loud he said, ‘You’re too drunk to see sense now. We’ll talk in the morning.’

‘I won’t be here in the morning.’

Robbie took an unsteady step forwards, squaring up to his father. His eyes glinted with drunken, reckless rage.

Peter’s stomach lurched. Robbie was so close, he could smell the stale alcohol on his breath. I’m afraid of him. I’m afraid of my own son.

‘I’m going to New Orleans. With Dom.’

‘If you leave this house tonight, don’t bother coming back.’

The words were out of Peter’s mouth before he knew they were in his head.

‘Don’t worry. I won’t. Goodbye Dad.’

‘Goodbye Robert.’

Peter watched him stagger out of the room, blood still flowing from the gash on his head. Seconds later he heard the front door slam.

He waited for the guilt to hit him. This is the part where I run after him. Tell him I didn’t mean it. Seconds passed. Then minutes. Peter realized that the feeling swelling inside his chest was not guilt at all.

It was relief.

Switching off the downstairs lights, he tiptoed upstairs to Lexi’s bedroom.

It’ll be just the two of us now, darling. You don’t need your brother. Daddy’ll take care of you.

He wouldn’t wake her. He’d just kneel next to the bed for a moment. Breathe in her sweet, child’s smell. Take comfort from her warm, sleeping, innocent body.

He pushed the bedroom door open slowly. The room was pitch dark. Picking his way towards the bed from memory, gingerly stepping past the toy box and over the discarded clothes, Peter knelt down next to the bed and reached out a loving arm.

A gust of wind blew into his face, catching him by surprise.

He glanced up. The bedroom window was open.

Beneath it, in the dim glow of the moonlight, he stared at the empty bed.

Lexi was gone.

8 (#ulink_63e487ea-87a2-5618-8de3-7766f98d9e62)

The first thing she was aware of was darkness.

Total darkness.

Not the darkness of her bedroom. The thick, cold, suffocating darkness of the grave.

She tried to scream, but no sound came out. Something had been stuffed into her mouth, a bitter-tasting cloth. She couldn’t breathe.

Where am I?

Panic began coiling its way around her heart like a snake. Was she dreaming? She sat up. Her head cracked painfully against something solid and metallic.

A coffin? No! Oh God, please, no!

Daddy!

Again she screamed. Again the cloth choked her, stifling the sound in her throat. Slowly, consciously, she began to inhale through her nose.

Keep calm. You’re alive. Don’t panic.

Air filled her lungs. Relax.

Bedtime stories of her great-great-grandfather, Jamie McGregor, came flooding into her mind. Jamie had been brave and cunning and resourceful. He’d battled sharks and land mines, escaped ship wrecks and fought off assassins. No situation had been too hopeless for him to figure a way out of it.

She tried to think logically.

What happened? How did I get here?

It was no good. She couldn’t remember. Mrs Grainger had put her to bed, and then … and then … darkness. The fear returned like a great crashing wave.

Help me!

Lexi shivered. She realized suddenly that she was freezing cold. She was still wearing the thin cotton nightie she’d gone to bed in. Beneath her back the hard metal floor felt like sheet ice.

Bump.

What was that?

The floor was moving. It vibrated steadily, then every twenty seconds or so it threw her body upwards, like a tossed pancake. Suddenly, it dawned on her: A car. I’m in the trunk of a car. I’ve been kidnapped, and they’re taking me somewhere. To their hideout.

If it hadn’t been happening to her, it would probably have been exciting. Kidnapping was one of Lexi’s favorite games. But this was no game. This was real.

‘Get out.’

The man wore a mask. Not a balaclava mask, like bank robbers wore in the movies. A rubber Halloween mask. It made him look like a corpse.

Too consumed with fear and cold to move, Lexi froze. Her eyes widened with terror.

Another voice. ‘Don’t just stand there man, pick her up. Get her inside before someone shows up.’

The corpse reached into the trunk and grabbed hold of Lexi’s arms. On instinct she fought him, kicking and scratching like a wildcat.