Chapter 24
808words
The week following the confrontation felt strangely peaceful.
Liam had vanished from the headlines, replaced by the news of the Glaciers' bankruptcy filing.
Marcus Kane was under investigation for racketeering, and Sophia Cruz had been spotted at a low-rent motel, her "Billionaire Dream" having evaporated into a cloud of lawsuits.
I was finishing up a late shift at the Titans' clinic. Noah was in a board meeting, and I had promised to wait for him in the lobby.
"Dr. Vance? There's a delivery for you at the side entrance. A medical cooler from the lab."
I looked up from my tablet. The security guard was new, or at least, I didn't recognize him. He wore the standard Titan security uniform, but he kept his hat low.
"The lab? I wasn't expecting anything tonight," I said, frowning.
"It's marked urgent, Ma'am. Something about the Sterling Protocol samples?"
The name made me pause. The Sterling Protocol was the data I had wiped. If someone had samples, I needed to know. It was a bait I couldn't ignore.
"Fine. Lead the way," I said.
I followed him down the long, sterile hallway toward the loading dock. My instincts were screaming, but the Titan's facility was supposed to be the most secure building in Boston.
As soon as we stepped into the shadows of the loading bay, I realized my mistake.
The "guard" didn't open a cooler. He turned around, and I saw a flash of silver in his hand. A taser.
"Don't scream, Doctor. Think of the baby."
The voice wasn't the guard's. It came from the back of a parked black van.
Marcus Kane stepped out of the shadows. He looked like a man who hadn't slept in a month. His expensive suit was wrinkled, his eyes bloodshot with desperation. Beside him was Sophia, her face gaunt, her eyes wide with a manic, flickering light.
"Marcus?" I gasped, backing away, but the fake guard blocked my path. "What is this?"
"This is a business transaction, Elena," Marcus hissed. "Your fiancé destroyed my team. He froze my accounts. He took everything. Now, I'm taking his most valuable asset."
"You won't get away with this," I said, my hand instinctively protecting my stomach. "Noah will find you."
"Oh, he'll find us," Sophia giggled, a high, chilling sound. She held a syringe in her hand. "But by the time he does, he'll be willing to sign over every cent he owns to keep his precious doctor and his little 'heir' alive."
She lunged forward. I tried to dodge, but the fake guard grabbed my broken arm, twisting it. I cried out in pain as the needle sank into my neck.
"Sleep tight, sweetie," Sophia whispered in my ear.
The world turned to grey.
Liam's POV
I woke up in the dark.
My head was pounding, and my mouth tasted like copper. I tried to move my hands, but they were bound behind my back with heavy plastic ties. My legs were tied to the legs of a wooden chair.
"Look who's awake," a voice sneered.
I squinted against the dim light of a single hanging bulb. I was in a warehouse. It smelled of salt and rotting wood, the Boston docks.
Marcus Kane was standing in front of me, holding my phone.
"Marcus?" I rasped. "What... why am I here?"
"Because you're the perfect bait, Liam," Marcus spat, kicking my shin. I groaned in pain. "I sent Elena a text from your phone. Told her you were suicidal. Told her you were at the docks and needed to say goodbye. She's so 'tough' and 'loyal,' I knew she'd come running."
"You... you used me to get to her?" I felt a surge of horror. "Marcus, she's pregnant! Leave her alone!"
"Shut up!" Marcus barked.
The heavy sliding door of the warehouse opened. The black van backed in.
I watched, paralyzed, as the fake guard dragged a limp, unconscious Elena out of the van. Her head was lolling to the side, her face pale under the flickering bulb.
"Elena!" I screamed, straining against my ties.
Sophia stepped out behind her, looking at Elena with a look of pure, unadulterated hatred.
"Tie her to the other chair," Marcus commanded. "And call Blackwood. Tell him the price for his family is one hundred million dollars and a private jet to the Caymans."
"You're dead, Marcus," I whispered, my voice shaking. "Noah will kill you."
"Maybe," Marcus shrugged, checking his watch. "But I'll be rich and gone before he even gets the coordinates. And if he doesn't? Well, Sophia has a very special plan for the doctor."
He looked at Sophia, who was stroking a long, sharp paring knife against Elena's cheek.
"She took my life," Sophia whispered, her eyes glazed over. "I'm going to take hers. Starting with the little heart beating inside her."
