Chapter 27

My head is foggy, face pressed up against cold metal. I’m drifting in and out of consciousness, trying to make sense of the last few hours, leaving my woman in the bunker, and running away with a heavy heart through the forest.

I saw the garage and thenthud. Something caught me right in the back. It felt like a pellet, not a bullet. Rubber maybe. It bruised my body. I spun, and several more caught me. I remember a glimpse of several armed men, all wearing masks.

Peeling my eyes open, I see we’re in the back of what must be a van, the walls metal. “M-Michael?” Susan whispers from beside me, her voice small. “Are you awake?”

“Yeah.” My voice is hoarse, and I haven’t been asleep, exactly. It’s more like they’ve dosed me up with something. “Did they inject me when they put me in here?”

“Yes. You were going crazy.”

I vaguely remember thrashing around as four men grappled me toward the van. I threw one against it, thinking I might have a chance. I headbutted another so hard his black mask showed the crimson blood, but there were too many.

“Fuck,” I whisper, banging my head against the van wall, trying to think. There were… I think. I think hard. My head hurts, dammit. There were seven men or maybe eight. This goes beyond anything I understand. This can’t be Luka. It’s too elaborate. I’ve heard rumors about billionaire sadists who arrange complicated schemes like this. Could it be them, maybe?

“Fuck,” I say again, hitting my head against the wall again.

I was supposed to return with Susan. Then Susan would explain that we had never had a relationship. Then we’d live happily ever after. Hopefully, those men didn’t comb the lake house or find the trapdoor. If they missed it, Amelia has a chance.

I clench my fists, thinking of what they’d do to her if they found her. Yet if I’d brought her with me, she’d be in this van with us now. It’s a lose goddamn lose. If she were here, I’d never be able to forgive myself either, god damn it.

When I hit my head against the van again, it stops. I groggily climb to my knees, preparing to spring at the door. Every muscle is primed, but they’re clever. As soon as they open it, bright lights glare at me, and men roar,“We’re armed! We’re armed!”

I put my hands up. One is taller, the other’s a little wider, but they both wear balaclavas, dark combat fatigues. The taller one holds out a cell phone. “How are you doing, Michael?” supposed Luka says in that gravelly voice. “I’ve got a proposition for you.”

“Go ahead,” I snap.

“My men have been searching your premises since we nabbed you. We’ve found a trapdoor that leads to another door of reinforced steel. Real fancy work.”

I open and close my hand, thinking of Amelia.

“It would take some time to knock it down, but it could be done. I’m assuming the girl’s in there? And the mutt?”

I swallow. He doesn’t need me to answer.

“Ah,” Luka says. “Hardly worth the extra effort, honestly, but I don’t do anything for free. So, here is my deal. Convince Susan here to beat you viciously. I’m talking a real whooping. I’m talking, hell, you might not wake up until we’re back in the city. You do that, and I’ll leave the door alone. I swear.”

“Even Luka wouldn’t do this,” I growl. “This is sick.”

“I knew Luka,” Luka goes on, dropping the pretense. His voice becomes higher in pitch, younger, cocky. “He was just one of many people who helped me throughout the years. He talked about you. He was proud of what he did with you. He said it was the only good thing he ever did in his life.”

I turn to Susan. “This is beyond us, Susan. These people are fucked. You have to do it. For Amelia.”

“Ah, yes!” His youthful voice gets excited. “Do it, Susan! He’s abad, badman, as Luka used to say. Beat him bloody.”

“You have no choice,” I tell her.

She narrows her eyes at me in the harsh light. She looks devastated. “What if they’re lying?”

“I don’t want to waste the time or resources on her,” the man yells over the phone. “But like I said, I don’t do anything for free.”

“I’ve met sadists before, kid,” I say, sounding just like Luka used to with me. “You’re nothing special.”

“Oh, if only you knew. I’m extremely unique, but no, you’re trying to bait me.”

“A tech billionaire,” I say bluntly. “The voice tech. The fact you probably found me through The Answer.”

The man snaps, “She hastenseconds to hit you, or I give the order. We’ll get through that door. Don’t worry. The longer it takes, the angrier my men will be. With her. With your mutt. Is that what you want?”

“Susan,” I say urgently.

“I can’t.”

“You have to. Now.”

She lets out a cry. “Please, I can’t! I’ve never hit anybody before! Make him hit me!”

“I slept with Amelia,” I yell as the seconds tick down in my mind.

“Wh-what?”