Chapter 39 Chapter Thirty-eight
ARA
A deep well of anger rose and filled up inside me at the sight of Millie and Mollie hanging from the shoulders of the oversized men standing on each side of Madison.
“Put them down! They have nothing to do with any of your silly games, Madison. Let them go!" I was already walking towards them, desperate to make Madison listen.
“Ah ah ah, stay put, or I'll order them to shoot you in the leg." Madison said, her voice slicing through the darkness.
I froze, my eyes widening at the threat.
“What do you want, Madison? What did you do to my sisters? Why are you doing this?” It was a waste of time, bothering with any of these questions because I already knew the answers.
But I wanted to buy myself more time. To think about my choices. If I kept her talking, perhaps I would be able to think of a plan.
“What I want is simple. I want the very thing you stole from me.” Her eyes twinkled with malice.
"I didn't steal anything from you, Madison. We both know that.” I said indignantly.
“The sound of your voice irritates me, especially when you're lying. You took Thayne from me. Thayne was mine until you appeared out of nowhere, you slut.” She spat, her features contorting with disgust and anger.
I forced myself to remain calm. I would blow my chance at outsmarting her if I let her get to me.
“Just let my sisters go. It's me you want. What did you do to them? Please, let them go." I pleaded, hating the way my stomach twisted at the sound of the desperation in my voice.
“I love watching you beg, I should have done this sooner. About your sisters, they're my bargaining tools, so unfortunately, I can't let them go.” She pretended to feel sorry, but then she frowned and her features morphed into an angry scowl.
“You drugged them, didn't you? I promise, if you injected them with anything poisonous, I will rip out your tongue -”
"Empty threats, Ara. You're a pathetic loser who can't even convince social media to like you. I would have made the perfect partner for Thayne. We would have become a formidable partner. But you just had to come in and ruin my plans!” Madison was convinced I'd forced my way into Thayne's life.
She was playing the victim, trying to make it seem she'd been the one who was hurt whereas she'd nearly killed me in that accident she orchestrated.
Not to forget, she'd conspired with Thayne's father to drug me in that godforsaken hospital.
She wanted to play this game? All right then. I would let her have it.
"I want you to penetrate Thayne's heart, play the weak girl, and get me the original copy of the signed deal.”
So this was what she wanted? Of course! She wanted to help Mr. Slade Senior override his son.
“I don't know where it is, Madison. I don't have access to any of Thayne's corporate life.
She gave a mocking laugh that sounded more like a screech. All the while, my eyes were focused on my sisters. They were so still, unmoving. It scared me. What if Madison injected them with that same paralysing drug?
“You didn't hear me, bitch? Penetrate his heart, make him think you're weak, ask him for a tour of Slade Corps headquarters and get me the fucking original copy of the signed deal.” She snarled, a feral sound that had no business coming from somebody like her.
On screen, she always looked so put together, a flawless goddess. In reality, she was a goddamn witch but without her broom to fly with.
In this moment, all she needed was a broom and she would complete the look.
"What if he doesn't take me to headquarters? What if the signed copy isn't there?” His father had told him in Liliana's ward yesterday that the copy was missing.
My assumption had immediately been that Thayne's father had gotten rid of it so he could frustrate his son.
But if Madison was now asking for the original copy, wouldn't that mean that the actual original copy was still existing and Thayne's father wasn't even aware?
"I have a little bird who tweets back to me occasionally. It's there. All you have to do is find it and give me word immediately you do. You have only a week, Ara. A minute after that and you can kiss your sisters goodbye.” She gave me a dark smile, and I wanted to slap it off her stupid face.
I ignored the urge to lunge at her and dig out her eyes, digging my nails into my palms until they carved half crescent moon marks into my skin.
I would not let Madison make me lose composure. I would never give her the impression that she was winning.
“Giving it to Thayne's father won't give you a ticket into the Slade's world, Madison. He'll discard you like tissue.” I said, meeting her gaze without breaking it for even a second.
"Not if I discard him first. He's old cargo, God forbid I end up with him. He's not the real prize, just so you know." She sneered.
He wasn't the real prize? Did she want -
Something smacked me in the back of the head from behind and I fell, my eyes instantly shutting out the view of my Madison smiling condescendingly at me from where she stood.
‘The wedding….’ I said to the darkness as I let it swallow me.
Waking up felt like being pulled out from a swamp after being stuck in it for so long.
Wait… Why was everywhere so dark? Why was I on the ground? Why were there insects crawling over me?
I should call for Claudia…
Those thoughts vanished, replaced with fragments of what had happened after I left the penthouse.
I was in the back of a delivery vehicle.
I met with Madison. I saw my sisters.
I'd been talking with Madison… She said something about Thayne's father not being the real prize, then something hit the back of my head and I fell.
I dared to lift my head up and something that felt like a spider fell and landed on my face
I brushed it away quickly. My head was pounding, and my eyes felt like beach sand had been poured into them.
No, no, no. I dragged myself up, wincing at the sharp pain that flared in my left hip.
The sound of crickets chirping escorted me out of the old gallery house. I tripped a few times, my vision blurry as I tried to make my way out.
It didn't help that I was limping, unable to put all my weight on both legs.
‘Today is your wedding.’ The voice in my head whispered. I froze, pressing a palm to my chest to keep the dread from climbing up to my heart.
My wedding. It echoed in my head until it was all I could hear.
I ran the rest of the way out and was greeted with devastating silence and darkness. It was night, just like it'd been when I first came.
I'd been unconscious for hours, which meant I had missed my own wedding.