Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless by Noire, Kiki Swinson Page A

over to wolves. I had just become an accessory to murder as well. Any way this whole thing turned out, I would be guilty of something.
    I finally put my car into drive and headed to the planned rendezvous spot. I prayed all the way there that God would forgive me for this, and most of all that my father would make it out of this shit alive and well. Even if they took my life in exchange for his.

7
     
    My Worst Mistake
     
    W hen I walked into the warehouse that Eric had chosen to hold my father in, I felt cold all over my body. I saw that they still had the bag over his head, secured around his neck with thick, silver duct tape. They also had his hands tied together in front of him and his ankles bound with the same type of tape. He lay on his side on the floor. He was shivering like he was either cold or very afraid. That shit broke my heart. My father was mumbling through the bag but I couldn’t understand him. The sight of him bound up like an animal made me sick to my stomach, but I took comfort in the fact that he wasn’t injured. I knew this was going to be over very soon.
    When Eric noticed me standing in the room, he rushed over to me and grabbed me roughly by the arm. I was numb and emotionless at that point. I didn’t even flinch or say ouch, I just let him wrangle me up like I was his child.
    “What the fuck took you so long to get here?” Eric whispered harshly.
    I wrestled my arm away from him and rolled my eyes. He had some fucking nerve questioning me. “You didn’t say anything about murdering the assistant. You promised me nobody would get hurt,” I gritted, standing up to Eric. I had my face drawn into a frown just like he did. I wanted him to see my dissatisfaction with his bullshit.
    Eric pushed me backward out of the room where they were holding my father. He grabbed my face and squeezed it. “Now you listen to me, rich girl. Either you go along with this and save your father’s life, or you watch him suffer and maybe die if I don’t get what I want,” he said through clenched teeth. “Now get on that fucking phone and call the people you need to call. If not, neither one of y’all will make it the fuck out of here alive,” he continued, fire flashing in his eyes.
    I followed Eric to a small room that had a little black device on a table with a telephone. “Use this to disguise your voice,” he said, tossing the little speaker-looking device over to me.
    My hands were trembling so bad I could barely figure out how to use the damn thing. It baffled me where Eric got all of this shit from—a warehouse type place, a voice disguiser. It was immediately apparent to me that he was working with somebody obviously more powerful than himself.
    Finally, I connected the device to the phone and dialed my mother’s cell phone number. When she picked up, I could hear distress in her voice. She must’ve known about my father’s kidnapping and maybe even about Ms. Everett’s senseless murder by then. “Hello,” she said on the other end of the phone.
    I opened my mouth but nothing came out. I wanted to curse her, tell her this was all her fault for what she had convinced my father to do to me. I wanted to just let loose on her, but I couldn’t speak. I was completely at a loss for words, because I knew I had made the worst mistake ever.
    “Hello!” my mother yelled again, this time with more urgency in her tone.
    Eric snatched the phone from me and glared at me evilly. He pushed me aside forcefully. I guess I was of no use to him or anyone else for that matter. I was a useless piece of shit just like Eric had been telling me for the past couple of weeks. I put my head down on the table. I felt like I wanted to die.
    “Hello, rich bitch,” Eric snarled. I could hear my mother screaming for Eric to identify himself. “Don’t worry about who this is, bitch. You see that dead black bitch in your husband’s office? Well, take that as a sign of what’s to come. We have your husband, and you