Page 109 of A Captive Situation

Apparently it was genetic.

He went quiet.

“You think I give a shit about her family? Idon’t. Her or them, it’sher. Kill every single one of them. I’ll give you the address where Tristian West is hiding three of those family members. I’ll give them on a platter to you, but here’s my counteroffer. You wipe out her family, you think of putting her name back on that list, and I will butcher your woman. I will cut her up into pieces and ship every single piece to you, one by one. Gift-wrapped.”

He was breathing hard on his end.

I added, “You fucked up, Lane. You think you know me? You have no fucking clue who I actually am. I’m not the rest ofourpathetic family and I amdonetaking orders. I am done taking threats. I care about two people in my life and one of them is dead. I’m not a good guy. I’ve never been a good guy. So go ahead and wipe out Sawyer’s family. I don’t give one fuck about them. You want your woman? You do what I say and only what I say because I think at the end of this negotiation, your obsession with Blake Green is more than whatever feelings you think I have about my woman’s family. Call me when you’re done, because if you do what you’re threatening, you can put your toy back together by connecting all her body parts.”

I ended the call, my heart fucking racing.

Goddamn.

Goddamn.

A choked sob had me whirling around.

My heart splintered.

Sawyer was in the doorway.

She’d opened it a crack. Now pale. Horror in her eyes. Her bottom lip was trembling. She was pressing a hand to her mouth. It curled into a fist and she kept pressing it harder and harder.

Fuck.

“Sawyer.” I took a step toward her.

She jumped back as if I’d slapped her, holding out a hand. “No.”

Her voice cracked, sounding like a wounded animal.

I flinched. Shit.

“No.” She said it again, savagely, a wildness coming over her. Her eyes grew panicked. Her mouth strained at the ends. She began looking around her, a desperate frenzy seeping into the air.

“It’s not what you think,” I grated out. Low. Rough. I’d messed up. I thought the door was closed. “I didn’t mean what you heard—”

“You said it!” she raged at me, her motion reversing. She flew at me instead, one arm in the air as if to strike me.

I braced, my hands lifting to catch her, but my phone rang. It stopped everything.

She froze, a choked gurgle slipping out as she saw Creighton’s name on the screen. Her eyes closed. Her body wavered on her feet.

Grim, so fucking grim, I accepted the call and put him on speaker. “Did you make a decision?”

His tone was like ice. “Your names have been removed from the list. Bring Blake to the coordinates I send in one hour and your names will remain off that list.”

No emotion. I couldn’t think anything. I couldn’t feel anything. This was how this fucking world worked. Collateral. Trades. Negotiations. Deals. These types of cruel arrangements. It was a dirty business, but it’s what I’d endured all my life. I survived it, walking the line between two sides of the same coin. Law and crime. I walked away from a bloodbath only needing to keep returning to one, over and over again.

This was it. This was the end.

I was done after this.

Sawyer was watching me, a plea in her eyes. There was a softness in her, one I couldn’t indulge and one I shouldn’t be around. I’d make it worse.

I made her like me.

She had a light in her. It’d been there, only dulled, when I met her on that subway train. Every day it grew, no matter the threat against her. It was still there. Getting bigger. Bolder. Healthier. Life had come backto her cheeks, giving her color. It made her glow until she overheard this call. I’d snuffed it out so easily.

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