Chapter 89 Chapter Eighty-eight
ARA
“No!” I screamed, my throat shredding with the force of it. “I’m not getting married to you.”
“You’re crossing your boundaries, father.” Thayne fired back instantly, his voice cutting through the room like a blade.
He lifted his head despite the chains biting into his wrists, his green eyes blazing with a promise so violent it made the air tremble.
Slade Senior laughed, a slow ugly sound that caused my stomach to churn. “You don’t get a say in this, boy. You forfeited that right the day you became disposable.”
Thayne smiled then. It wasn’t warm. It wasn’t sane. It was downright malicious.
“Touch her,” he said softly, dangerously, “and I swear I’ll make sure you die knowing you chose wrong.”
“Watch me, then,” Slade Senior shot back.
He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. He simply turned and flicked his fingers at his men like he was dismissing insects.
“Take her.”
Hands closed around my chains instantly. Rough, merciless hands.
I was yanked off the floor so hard my shoulders screamed in protest, metal biting into my wrists as my feet barely touched the ground.
My father watched from the side, his lips curling upward, eyes gleaming with sick satisfaction.
“Don’t do this!” I cried, panic tearing through me as they dragged me forward. “You said you wanted me. Wasn’t that what you said? I’m right here. Don’t do this, please!”
The chains clanked loudly with every step they forced me to take.
Thayne exploded.
“STOP.”
The word ripped out of him, raw and feral. He surged forward despite the chains, his muscles straining, veins standing out in his neck as if sheer will alone might break steel.
“Touch her again,” he snarled in a breath so ragged that we all felt it in the room, “and I will tear this place apart with my bare hands.”
One of the men tightened his grip on my chain instead, jerking it deliberately.
I cried out as pain shot through my arms.
Slade Senior tilted his head, studying Thayne like a scientist watching a specimen finally react.
“Look at that,” he mused. “So he does care about her. This isn't just an arrangement between you two, is it? He loves her.”
My father chuckled softly. “I told you she was the key.”
Rage burned through Thayne’s eyes. “You don’t get to use her,” he growled. “She’s not a bargaining chip. She’s not currency.”
“She’s leverage,” Slade Senior corrected calmly. “And leverage is everything.”
They dragged me closer to the door, closer to being taken away from him.
“No,” I sobbed, fighting uselessly against the chains, terror choking me. “Thayne!”
He went utterly still. And that was when I knew something had snapped.
“Let her go,” he said again, but this time, his voice was quiet. Controlled. Deadly.
Slade Senior smiled. “Or what?”
Thayne lifted his gaze slowly, locking eyes with his father.
“Or I stop playing your game,” he said. “And start ending it.”
The men hesitated, just for a second. And in that second, the room shifted, like the calm before something catastrophic broke loose.
“Don’t listen to him, he’s full of bragging,” Slade Senior snorted.
But his laugh came a beat too late, because suddenly, a loud beeping sound rent the air.
It grew louder, sharper, urgent. The men holding me froze, their grips tightening as instinct kicked in. One of them cursed under his breath and turned fully toward Thayne.
My heart slammed against my ribs. Thayne stood there, bloodied, chained and bruised, but unbroken.
He looked like a wounded Adonis, yes, but gods were most dangerous when cornered.
A remote sat loose in his palm casually, like this wasn’t the moment everything would detonate.
“You really think I’d let you take my woman away?” he said quietly.
Every eye in the room snapped to him. “You really think I’m that weak?” His gaze burned straight through his father. “You underestimate me. You always have.”
Slade Senior scoffed. “Empty threats—”
There was a deafening click. The lights died, and pitch black swallowed the room.
Chaos erupted instantly. Gunshots cracked through the darkness. Men shouted, and someone screamed as a body hit the floor hard.
The beeping sound stopped, but then, emergency lights flared red. And the room exploded into motion.
How did Thayne arrange this?
Steel doors slammed down at every exit with thunderous force. One crushed a man’s arm, his howl tearing through the air as blood sprayed the floor.
“What did you do?” Slade Senior roared.
Thayne smiled. His smile was cold. Beautiful. Terrifying.
“I locked us in,” he said, flexing his biceps. “And I activated the counter-strike.”
My father’s face finally changed. Just slightly.
“Munroe!” he barked. But Munroe didn’t answer, because Munroe was on the ground.
A dark shape moved fast through the flashing red lights. A blade glinted in the dark, but another man went down, choking on blood.
My chains were suddenly yanked again as panic took hold of the men holding me.
“Move!” one shouted.
It was too late. Thayne pulled hard against his restraints, and this time they gave.
Metal screamed, and the chains snapped free. He surged forward like a storm unleashed.
The first man never saw it coming. Thayne ripped the chain from my wrist and wrapped it around his throat, twisting once, clean, efficient.
The second raised his gun. ‘Bang’ went the sound. The bullet hit the wall inches from my head.
Thayne slammed into him, driving him down
His fists pounded the man relentlessly.
“GET HER OUT!” my father shouted.
I stumbled back, clutching my stomach as another man lunged for me.
“No!” Thayne roared. He moved faster than I’d ever seen.
The man barely had time to register fear before Thayne crushed his windpipe with one savage blow.
Silence fell for a moment. Thayne turned to me.
His chest heaved. Blood streaked his jaw, painting it red. His eyes found mine like a lifeline.
“Come to me,” he said.
I didn't even think twice or hesitate. I ran. Straight into his arms.
He caught me hard, one hand cradling my head, the other pressed firmly over my stomach like he was shielding everything that mattered.
My father backed away slowly, fury twisting his features.
“This isn’t over,” he hissed.
Thayne lifted his head, his eyes burning with promise.
“No,” he echoed. “It’s just begun.”