Page 32 of Rescued By Four Alphas
I push the door open and freeze.
Matthews is behind Evan's desk with a stack of papers in his hands. He's photographing each page with his phone before setting them aside.
"What the hell are you doing?" I demand.
Chapter 9 - Evan
Ipace the length of the interrogation room we've set up in the basement, my footsteps echoing against concrete walls. Matthews sits handcuffed to a metal chair in the center, his face already sporting a purple bruise where Onyx hit him last night. His security uniform is rumpled, and dried blood crusts the corner of his mouth.
"Let's try this again," I say, keeping my voice calm. "Why were you taking pictures of my private documents?"
Matthews' eyes dart nervously around the room, never quite meeting mine. "I told you already. I was ordered to."
"By whom?" I slam my palm on the table beside him, making him flinch.
"I don't know!" His voice cracks. "I swear to God, I don't know their names."
I circle behind him, placing my hands on his shoulders. I feel him tense beneath my grip. "You expect me to believe that you betrayed your employer, risked your career, and possibly your life for someone whose name you don't even know?"
"It wasn't by choice," he whispers.
"Explain."
Matthews swallows hard. "Three days ago, my daughter didn't come home from school."
I freeze, my fingers tightening involuntarily on his shoulders.
"She's sixteen," he continues. "When she didn't answer her phone, we called the police. They said teenagers run away all the time, that we should wait twenty-four hours."
"Go on," I prompt, moving back around to face him.
"That night, I received a text message with a photo of my daughter. She was blindfolded and tied to a chair." His voice breaks. "The next message said if I wanted to see her alive again, I needed to follow their instructions precisely."
"What were those instructions?"
"To provide information about your security systems. Floor plans of the house. Your daily schedules." He looks up at me, his eyes red-rimmed. "And to throw that brick through your window last night."
My jaw tightens. "You threw the brick?"
He nods miserably. "They said it was a warning. That if I didn't do exactly as they said, they'd send my daughter back to me in pieces."
"And you believed them?"
"They sent me her student ID card. With blood on it." His shoulders slump. "What was I supposed to do?"
The door opens, and Onyx steps in, his massive frame filling the doorway. His eyes are cold as he looks at Matthews.
"Is he talking?" Onyx asks me.
"He claims his daughter was kidnapped," I reply. "And he was blackmailed into providing information."
Onyx snorts. "Convenient excuse."
"It's the truth!" Matthews insists. "Check the police report. My daughter was missing for three days!"
"Even if that's true," I say, "you still betrayed us. You put Dahlia and our unborn children at risk."
"I had no choice," he repeats desperately. "They would have killed my daughter."
