Chapter 153 Trapped
Ronan De Luca was the only one who stepped down from the chopper before it lifted back into the air and rounded the sky.
“She’s not here,” Val growled beside him, but Kael held up his hand to calm him down and motioned him to go according to his plan.
Huffing angrily, Val complied and took the speedboat to a safe distance right after Kael sets foot on the island.
Something is definitely wrong.
His shoes sunk into the sand and the soft waves crashing on the shore somehow counterfeit the tension burgeoning in the atmosphere.
The armed men immediately went to surround him, pointing the nozzles on their guns, keeping their fingers on the trigger.
“Where is she?” Kael didn’t hesitate to ask soon as he came face to face with Ronan.
“Back in the palace. Living like a princess.” He shrugs and pushed his hand down to his pocket.
Lilia’s absence is quite understandable, knowing that the De Luca know how to play their card, but what he wasn’t expecting not to see is the old man. “Vittorio…”
“Oh, he didn’t know we’re going to meet today.” Ronan promptly interjected carelessly before Kael could even finish what he was going to say.
“What?” That stunned Kael. He didn’t think this bastard had the guts to double-crosse the old man that treated him as his own son.
“I was the one who received your request for this meeting, and I decided not to tell them.”
“What do you want?”
Rage started to boil in him, but he kept it at bay knowing too well that he was outnumbered and guns were pointed at his head.
“You see, you’re my problem. Lilia is too dumbly in love with you and refuses to marry me.”
Kael wanted to laugh at his statement. His tongue itches to tell the bastard that he can no longer marry Lilia because she was already married to him. But, he couldn’t tell him that. Ronan wouldn’t blink into ordering his man to plant the bullets on his head, putting Lilia and his unborn child into a more dangerous situation.
He had to make this bastard talk and know his intentions.
“Why do you want to marry her? Aren’t you a De Luca already?”
“I am, by name, but not by blood. It was supposed to be my inheritance, but then the little bitch came, and now it was all gone.”
Now he understands his motives. When money speaks, the loyalty of a man can be questionable. But he knows Lilia, and probably, she didn’t want to be an heir to the wealth that comes from black blood.
“She didn’t want the money. You can take it all if you want.”
Kael’s face deepened into a scowl when Ronan laughed maniacally. “Where’s the fun in that?”
And he’s a psycho as well.
“So what now? You’re going to kill me?”
It wasn’t an invitation, but now that he knows this fucktard wants to have some fun, might as well play with it.
“No, not yet.” His laughter died down and he sauntered closer to him. “I want you to come with us.”
“And if I don’t?” He shot him a sharp glare, prodding a little and making him bleed with the information he needed.
“I have men in the palace. Those who pledge their loyalty to me, believing that I am the rightful heir of the De Luca fortune and not your little bitch. They wouldn’t care about the old man and Lilia. One call, they know what to do.”
Of course, he does. Kael thought grimly, and it took him an innumerable amount of self-control not to snap and break the bastard’s neck for calling his wife a bitch for a second time. But Kael could only grind his molars in contempt and grouse.
“What assurances do I have that you’re not going to hurt her?”
Ronan only gave him a fleeting look and held up his index, gesticulating him not to make any sound. For a moment, Kael panicked a bit when Ronan pulled out his phone and pressed it on his ear. A picture in his mind depicted Lilia being tied up in a chair and battered sends a cold rush of dread to his spine. Yet, he couldn’t do anything else but listen, for now.
“Linda, let me speak to Lilia,” Ronan demanded over the phone and then put it on a loudspeaker. After a while, an exasperated voice echoed.
“What?”
Kael kept his gaze over the phone as Ronan conversed with Lilia through the line. “How’s your morning, cara?”
“It was beautiful, and then I heard your voice and it was all ruined. What do you want?”
She sounded definitely annoyed, but for some relief on his part, Lilia was seemingly sound and safe and away from any harm. Only then, did the dread that lingered on his chest dissipate.
“Nothing, bye.”
With that, Ronan ended the call and slid back his phone into the pocket of his pants.
“Is that enough?” He queried, raising an eyebrow.
Kael pondered over it for a moment. If he refuses, he knows what will happen to Lilia. She might sound well over the phone call, but it was only temporary. He could send a signal to Val and deploy the helicopters for his backup, but seeing that Lilia wasn’t here, surely Ronan would be fast enough to relay an order to kill his wife. He can endure what he’ll do to him, but he won’t live knowing if something bad will happen to his wife and his unborn child.
“Fine, I’m coming.” Kael conceded, casting a quick glance at the small speedboat bobbing up and down from the distance.
He could explain everything to Val when all of these are over.
“Tsk. Love makes strong men weak. Good thing I’m smart enough to avoid it.” Ronan jaunted and clicked his fingers. The armed man swarmed around him, yanking his hands behind and cuffed him around.
Lilia has to wait a little longer than he had promised.