Page 84 of The Revenge Plan

Twenty million dollars was nothing to me. He was right, I had that money on standby, and that imbecile had ruined the present I had planned for her. Now she knew I was planning something. Not only that. I was sure I had three times that amount in my crypto wallet. But he didn’t need to know that.

“I can give you the money.”

“I knew you would.”

“But I don’t have my phone with me,” I said, and hoped that it would not buzz or ring while it was in my pocket. His eyes narrowed as if he was trying to determine if I was lying. I held his gaze. After what felt like a long time, he said, “Where is it?”

I thought about saying the office, but he knew I was bluffing. I thought of the next best place.

“It’s back at the penthouse.” He pointed the gun upstairs. “There? You own two of these? Of course you do you motherfucker.” He almost sounded impressed. “Who would have thought that the maid’s bastard would rise so high.” He paced for a few seconds. I turned to Hailey, who was a lot calmer than I was. I rubbed her hand. And mouthed, ‘are you okay?’ She nodded. I glanced at Bryce. He was still pacing. Maybe this could be an opportunity to do something. I looked around. I hadn’t formulated a plan yet when he stopped. “Fine. Let’s go to the Penthouse.” I let out a deep breath. At least he would be away from Hailey, and maybe she could call the police. I stood up.

He pointed the gun at Hailey, “She’s coming too.” Fuck.

It was my bad luck that on our journey to my apartment; we had met no one. When the elevator opened its doors, I marched in and tried to think of some other way of getting hold of the situation. I couldn’t think of any besides stalling. “It’s in the study.” I said. He grunted a response that sounded like a ‘fine.’ We all made our way to the study. I went to the desk. He instructed Hailey to sit in one of the chairs. He sank into the couch behind her and continued to point a gun at her. I went behind the desk and opened and closed drawers, searching for something. Anything. “Are you really going to kill your own sister if I don’t give you the money?”

“Why not? She killed both of my parents.” He shifted in his seat, “Is it really there or are you bluffing?” It was times like these when I wished I had a gun. Instead, there was nothing resembling anything close to a weapon in here except maybe a pen. “I’m looking, aren't I?”

He took out his own phone. “Fuck this. Let's call it.” Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I bent my knees a little so he wouldn’t see and as fast as I could possibly do it, I whipped out my phone from my pocket and threw it in the drawer. “Here it is.” I raised it up to him.

“Why would you put your phone there?”

I shrugged nonchalantly. “A bit absent-minded I guess.”

“Sure. Whatever.” He took out the paper again and threw it on the desk. “Do the transaction.” I grabbed the paper and punched in the numbers. I was about to hit transfer when I heard a noise downstairs. We both heard. The room went eerily quiet. There were three people other than me who could enter this place. One was in here, the other was Julie, who I was sure had gone home, and the third person was Ax.

“Caiden?” his voice echoed downstairs.

“Who is it?”

“Axel.”

His voice became a little agitated, “Did you call him?”

I shook my head.

“I could make him go,” I made a point of talking a little louder so Ax could hear.

“Shhh.” Bryce stood up and went to the door. He peeped through it. The next thing happened so fast I didn’t have time to process what was going on. Hailey got up. Ran toward Bryce. When she lifted her hand, that’s when I noticed the paperweight she had been holding. She struck him in the head. He was so surprised by what must have been a painful blow, he staggered. She struck him again, and he hit the doorknob as he tumbled down to the floor.

55

Irushed over to him and grabbed the gun as soon as I could. I would not risk him harming her again. With the weapon in my hand, I took Hailey into my arms. She was shaking like a leaf and breathing hard. “It’s okay,” I whispered into her ear as I brushed her hair. I was shaking too from all the adrenaline coursing through my veins and using her as a comfort blanket, the same way she was using me. Her arms felt so warm I didn’t want to let her go.

“Is he dead,” her voice quivered.

I looked down at Bryce. He was limp but breathing. “No.”

“Thank god.”

Ax petered in. His gaze went to Bryce, then to us, then back to Bryce, then to the gun I was holding. “What the fuck is going on?”

“He tried to harm Hailey,” I spoke over her head.

“Is he dead?”

I shook my head.

He raised his eyebrows and looked down at Bryce again. “Wow.”

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