A hot slap jerked Reyona awake.
The pain sang through her body, clearing her fuzzy head for a moment.
She tried to reach for her stinging face and found out that she couldn't lift her hand.
She started panicking before she realised that her hands were tied to the iron chair she was sitting on.
What?
She blinked hard in the dark room as she tried to remove her hands from the tight bounds.
"When you are done with your drama, let me know." a rough voice said close to her ears.
Reyona jolted and tried to talk.
Her mouth was also tightly gagged and all that came out was just an incoherent muffle.
"I am going to release one of your hands, then you will make the transfer. After that, you will be allowed to see the girl. Nod if you understand me."
Reyona quickly nodded as tears squeezed out of her eyes.
She had never been more terrified in her life.
She had never known that the worst feeling she would have in her life was one she would feel in the presence of a faceless man she couldn't see in a room as pitch-dark as ever.
Had Allysyn been held in this kind of room? Where was she now? Reyona wondered as she felt the cable ties on her right hand give way.
The hands were tied separately to each handle of the chair, so loosening one didn't affect the other.
Reyona's blood chilled as she felt something held to the back of her head before her phone materialised in front of her.
"Take!" the voice snapped close to her ears and she almost dropped the phone in shock.
"Make the transfer. If you dare to press something else on that phone, don't blame me for two deaths."
Two deaths!
Reyona quickly opened her bank app, where thirty million and two hundred dollars sat.
When she wanted to type in thirty million, the voice snapped "Send everything!"
With a keening sound in her throat, Reyona quickly typed in everything while tears blurred her vision.
He collected the phone from her to type in the account, then gave it back to her to type in the PIN.
Reyon shuddered as the rubbery feel of his glove touched her hand as she collected the phone.
The transaction went through almost immediately.
Reyona was expecting that he would bring Allysyn to her and set her free immediately so they could leave.
Instead, he collected her phone again and jerked her hand back to tie her again.
Reyona protested in her throat as she tried to tell him that that was not the agreement.
Her muffled protests went unheeded and when she was not keeping still enough for him to tie her, he placed the cold steel against her head again and said "Move once more and your body will drop."
Reyona stilled immediately, and he tied her hand even more tightly than before.
She tried to see his face as he moved from her back.
All she saw was a silhouette in the dark that was not different from the surrounding darkness.
It wasn't until he opened the door at the far end of where she was before she saw his back.
He was a black-haired man dressed in total black from head to toe.
He went out of the door and shut it behind him.
The slim ray of light that had brought some hope to Reyona plunged into dark gloom again as her hope crashed.
Bitter tears trailed down her face as realisation dawned on her.
This was a big mistake.
***********
Maxwell was just dressing when he heard a knock at his door.
Frowning as he quickly wore his trousers, he wondered who that was.
As he walked, he remembered that he had left his phone on his office desk before seeing those men off with Andrew.
He swore at his forgetfulness, as he knew this was not the time to keep his phone away from him.
The knock came again just before he pulled the door open.
It was the butler.
"What is it?" Maxwell asked tonelessly.
"There is a man outside, sir. The security men tried to send him away, but they said he kept shouting desperately that he had to see you."
Maxwell frowned in confusion. "Why did they try to send him away without asking me?" he asked in a forbidden tone.
"They called you but you were not picking. Also, you once said he should never be allowed anywhere near these grounds again."
Maxwell swore as he instantly knew who it was.
"Where is Junior?" he asked.
"I will find out, sir," the butler answered.
"Do, and keep him there. He is not to come out until I get back in."
He strode past the butler immediately and the latter pulled the door close before following him down the stairs.
Maxwell hoped Reyona was still soundly asleep as he walked out to send the vermin away before Reyona could see him.
Thomas looked even worse in the morning light.
Bloodshot eyes, splotchy skin and bruised face, he stood outside like a lost puppy about to be squashed by the two hefty security men surrounding him like they were looking forward to squashing him like a bug.
"What do you want?" Maxwell asked as he gestured for the men to move back.
"I came to check if she…" Thomas checked his forward movement from Maxwell's menacing stare.
"Please, have you found her?"
"Do you have any useful tips that could help find her?"
"No, I already told you I didn't…"
"Get off my property. Now!" Maxwell snapped.
"Please, let me help with looking for her. Tell me what to do and I will do it."
"You have done enough. You can choose to walk away now or wait to be thrown out. I can assure you that the second choice will be painful."
Thomas looked defeated as he turned away, then he turned back to her. "Have you tried to reach out to Susan too? Maybe she knows something too."
"Do you know how I can reach her?" Maxwell asked.
"No, I was punished because she ran away, and I have never heard from her since…"
"Out!"
"Okay, I am going. I am going now. Please help me find my daughter. She and Junior are all I have left now."
He quickly hurried off as the security men stepped towards him.
Maxwell stalked inside with anger and headed towards his home office to pick up his phone.
He intended to go wake Reyona after that.
That would be enough time for that bastard to have taken his fucking self off his property.
"Where the fuck are you, Susan?" he thought suddenly as his mind went to what Thomas had said.
The thought of the woman driver came to his mind again.