Page 89 of Unleash Hades
“Yes, I… I remember.” That was Calissandra’s voice. I almost leapt onto Alastair’s phone.
“I became a doctor because that was the oath. Except it was more than that. It was to donoharm.” Chloe was rambling, and I didn’t get the fucking point. “I thought that maybe you’d care about me more if I exceeded your expectations, you see?”
I saw what Alastair was doing. He was tracing the signal from Chloe’s phone, and had narrowed it down to a county. A few more minutes, and he could get an address. Was that why Chloe was blabbering on and on?
“Hurry up!” A voice that sounded more distant to the microphone came through, barely audible. Dick Davenport.
I thought I heard the faint sound of a metal click. A gun. I would bet my salary that he had a gun pointed right atMa Petite Granate.
“Chloe, I need you to transfer those shares now. I need you to verbally send that information to the office, and ask for…”
“I know how to do it but… I need to know why. They’ll ask me for a reason.” Chloe’s unsteady voice frightened me. She was giving too much away. And I had a suspicion that Cali was on speakerphone. That bastard wouldn't let her have a conversationwithout his supervision. “Give me a reason that’s good enough for me to give up my inheritance, and Asa’s inheritance?”
She was stalling. She must have been. In all the years I had known Chloe, she had never given a shit about her shares in Laurent Media. She was a doctor. I was almost certain that her Will stipulated that those shares would go back to the company so that she would not burden her child with it.
The shares only mattered to Calissandra.
“Tell them that we’re consolidating,” Calissandra said, slowly. “That we think it’s best that the man in charge of the media controls the shares. After all, what do you and I really know about running a company? I’m a boots on the ground journalist. You’re a doctor. We have no idea how to run a board room.”
Those weren’t her words. Those were the words of the man who had a gun to her head. I hoped that was just a metaphor, but it was likely very, very real.
“Fine. You have always been a self-absorbed, selfish creature. You and your husband both.” Chloe’s voice was riddled with blunted malice. I wanted to reach through Alastair’s phone and choke her ungrateful throat. These could be her last words to her sister, and this is what she chose? “But…” the word hung in the air, as she bought us a few more seconds. “Romulus is a good boy. And I think Asa likes Remus. So if they ever want to come to Switzerland, then… they could come stay with us.”
She was speaking unnaturally slow. So slow that it was almost annoying.
“I’ll talk to Asa about the loss of his inheritance, then I will call the Laurent offices–”
“No!” Calissandra said, terror in her voice apparent, even through her even tone. “Call them now. Then they’ll call me, and I will be able to give Richard my voting shares.”
Calissandra was in a rush. The boys were probably in immediate danger. Chloe’s gamble wasn’t panning out.
“We’ll be waiting for their call, and… Chloe?”
“Yes? What is it? What…” Chloe was trying to extend the conversation. More time meant that our systems could narrow down further on Cali’s signal.
More time. More time. We needed more time.
“Unleash Hades.” The line went dead.
“Putain!” Chloe screamed.
“Merde!” I echoed after, and followed up with a slew of French curse words.
Unleash Hades. She was calling me. I was her last line of defense, and I could do nothing. I had sworn to her that I would be there. That I would save her. I said I would protect her! What the hell had I done?
“Was that long enough, Alastair? Can you find out where she is?” Chloe stayed on the line, and I could hear that she was on the brink of tears.
“No,” Alastair said. “We narrowed them down to a county, but there’s still a ten-mile radius that they could be in. It’s somewhere in Bedford. Seem familiar to you?”
“No,” Chloe’s voice was riddled with guilt and pain. “But she’s scared. I think he might hurt her.”
“It will take us hours to search that large of an area. We need more specifics,” Callum said, cool as a cucumber. Probably because it wasn’thiswoman on the line.
Chloe took a deep breath before she continued and we waited, not wanting to interrupt something that might be important.
“Pippa,” Chloe began. “Is the tracker still active in my watch? My St. Michael’s Rolex?”
Pippa straightened. “Well, yes. Yes it is. Why?”
