Chapter 83 Chapter Eighty-two
ARA
The phone kept vibrating on the desk. Each buzz felt like a countdown before a deadly bomb exploded.
The man’s finger tightened slightly on the trigger, just enough to let me know this wasn’t a bluff.
His eyes never left my face, not even when the voices outside grew louder, urgent, sharp, and unmistakably Thayne’s.
My heart slammed hard against my ribs.
“Answer it,” the man said quietly. “Don’t make me shoot.”
I swallowed audibly and picked up the phone.
The line clicked instantly.
For a heartbeat, there was only silence. Then—
“My daughter,” my father’s voice purred. “Finally, after more than two decades, we get to speak over the phone.”
Every muscle in my body went rigid.
How was this man my father? He didn't sound like a man at all, he sounded like a monster.
“I saw the video,” I said, forcing my voice to be steady. “Release Sasha and stop whatever game you're playing.”
He gave a low, amused, chuckle. “Straight to business, just like your mother.”
“Don't you dare mention her! What do you want, you sick psycho?” I yelled.
“So dramatic,” he remarked in a bored tone. “I want my daughter home, is that too much to ask?” He asked.
“I’m not your anything,” I screamed. “I never was.”
Rage surged hot and blinding. I hurled the phone across the room, and it shattered against the wall with a sharp crack.
The man didn’t flinch.
The gun went off.
The bullet tore through the air just inches above my head and buried itself into the wall behind me with a violent crack.
I gasped, the sound ripping out of me as I ducked instinctively, my heart slamming so hard it felt like it might break through my ribs.
“Wrong answer,” he said calmly.
Dust rained down from the ceiling. My ears rang, sharp and disorienting, my breath coming out in jagged bursts as I fought the urge to curl into myself.
I looked up slowly.
The gun was still trained on me. Steady. Unshaken.
“That,” he continued, taking a single step closer, “was your warning.”
My fingers curled into fists at my sides, nails biting into my palms. Fear trembled through me, but underneath it, anger simmered. Cold. Focused.
“You think scaring me will make me cooperate?” I asked hoarsely.
He tilted his head, studying me. “No,” he said. “I think reminding you how fragile everyone else is will.”
My stomach dropped.
“Sasha,” he added softly. “Your sisters. Even Thayne.”
He let the names hang between us like loaded weapons.
“You’re going to walk out of this room with me,” he said. “You’re going to smile for the cameras when necessary. And you’re going to do exactly what your father asks.”
I swallowed hard. “And if I don’t?”
His finger flexed on the trigger.
“Then the next bullet won’t miss.”
Footsteps thundered somewhere down the corridor, too far. Not close enough. I lifted my chin, forcing my spine straight despite the terror clawing at me.
“You underestimate me,” I said quietly.
For the first time, something flickered across his face. Interest.
And that was when I knew…. I wasn’t getting out of this by being obedient. I was getting out by being dangerous. I had to bring him down.
His eyes narrowed slightly, like I’d just spoken a language he hadn’t expected me to know.
“Dangerous?” he echoed, almost amused. “You?”
I didn’t answer him.
I shifted my weight instead, just enough to look unsteady. Just enough to sell fear over defiance.
My breath came faster, my shoulders trembling, gaze darting to the door, the window, anywhere but his face.
Predators relaxed when they thought the fight was gone.
“Good,” he said softly. “That’s better. I don’t enjoy unnecessary resistance.”
He stepped closer. And closer.
The gun stayed trained on me, but his attention slipped, just a fraction, as his free hand reached out, fingers closing around my wrist to drag me toward the door.
That was the mistake. I twisted sharply, using the sudden movement to bring my knee up hard between his legs.
He grunted, surprise breaking his composure as his grip loosened.
I didn’t hesitate. I slammed my elbow into his wrist. The gun clattered to the floor, and we both moved at once.
He lunged for the weapon. I kicked it away, my heart pounding so violently it blurred my vision.
He cursed under his breath and shoved me back, my shoulder hitting the wall with a dull thud that knocked the air from my lungs.
Pain flared white-hot, but I pushed through it, scrambling sideways as his hand closed around my throat.
“Stupid girl,” he snarled. “You think this ends well for you?”
Spots danced in my vision as his fingers tightened. I clawed at his wrist, my nails digging into skin, desperation fueling every movement.
Then, I heard voices. They were closer now, and shouting.
His head snapped toward the door. I used the split second.
I drove my knee up again, this time into his ribs, and felt something give. He staggered back with a sharp cry, and I shoved past him, bursting into the hallway.
“Thayne!” I screamed.
Footsteps thundered toward me from the far end, heavy, furious, unmistakable.
The fake security recovered quickly, bolting after me, but he didn’t get far.
Thayne came around the corner like a force of nature.
Everything happened in seconds.
Thayne landed the first punch. It was brutal and precise.
The man went down hard, skidding across the polished floor.
Thayne was on him instantly, hauling him up by the collar and slamming him against the wall, his forearm pressing into his throat.
“Who sent you?” Thayne demanded, his voice low and lethal.
The man laughed, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.
“Ask your slut.”
Thayne’s jaw clenched.
Security flooded the hallway, weapons raised, shouting commands. The man was dragged from Thayne’s grip and restrained, still smiling like he’d won something.
Thayne turned to me. “What does he mean?”
I hesitated, scrambling in my head for the right words with which to explain to him.
“Her father sent her a note, did she tell you? You would have been able to stop me from bringing in reinforcement if she had told you.” The man laughed like a lunatic.
“You've been communicating with your father? He sent you a note and you didn't think to tell me?” Thayne asked in a fierce voice. I stood there, unable to defend myself. I was too shocked to make a sound.
I was screwed. The look in Thayne's eyes told me he would never trust me again.