222 The Broken Circle
Lucian
I sat in the chair, silver shackles biting into my skin. The burn was unbearable, but not as unbearable as watching my team sit bound and helpless. I promised Mara I’d come home, and I intended to keep that promise.
We were backed into a corner, and our captors were about to end us for asking the wrong questions. So I did the only thing left, I bargained.
I tugged against the silver and locked eyes with the one who seemed to be in charge. “We’re businessmen,” I said hoarsely. “We work for Winston’s Corp.”
Justin sneered, clearly unimpressed. His fingers twitched like he was itching for a fix.
“Shut the f**k up,” he snapped, eyes twitching. He looked like the type who’d kill just to feel something. Good. That was leverage.
“Let us go,” I said calmly. “We pretend we never met, and I’ll wire twenty grand to each of you. No blood, no mess. Clean
exit.”
Justin c****d his head, then walked right up and punched me hard in the jaw.
Pain exploded down my neck, but I forced myself to slump like I’d been hit by a truck. I let the weakness show, let him believe I was soft. The less they suspected what I was, the better.
“You gave the b***h fifty,” he spat, pacing now. “Do we look like fools to you?”
I shook my head and groaned. “How much do you want?”
He grinned, the kind of grin that comes from greed and cheap power. “Half a million. Then we all walk away.”
I grunted like that number hurt. “I don’t have that kind of cash just sitting around. I can do three-fifty.”
He raised a fist to strike me again, but one of the others grabbed his arm.
“If you kill the guy, we don’t get s**t,” the man said. “Think for once.”
Six of them. None of them moved like trained fighters. Their hits were sloppy, full of rage but not precision. Street muscle, not military.
Good.
They were armed with guns and tasers because they couldn’t handle a real fight. The silver was their crutch.
Once that came off… I’d make sure they understood exactly what kind of man they’d shackled.
And once I got my team out of this, I was going to burn Chase Nighthorn’s world to ash.
“How about you give us four hundred,” Justin said, smug and cocky.
“Deal,” I said, my voice low, like a man cornered. Inside, I was calculating every second.
All I wanted was to get back to Mara. She was probably out of her mind by now. I wondered if she was showing. If she’d cried herself to sleep again. I hated that I’d left her alone to carry this weight.
“So, I asked, “how do we do this?”
Silence.
Their eyes glazed, they were linking. Making a decision. Probably trying to figure out how to get the money without the
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risk
“Do you think they’ll let us go?” Denis asked through our private link.
I bowed my head so they couldn’t see my eyes glaze over.
“Follow my lead, Denis. Think of Keisha and your baby. Play weak. It’s the only way we’re getting out of here.”
“Fine,” he said. He was scared, I could feel it, but he trusted me.
After a beat, Justin spoke again. “How do you want to give us the money?”
“You’ll have to untie me,” I said. “And I’ll need a laptop to do the transfer.”
They looked at each other, weighing the risk. I kept my face down, my body slumped like I was exhausted. The silver was still burning, the scent of scorched skin hung in the air, but I used it. Let it sell the illusion.
“Just you?” Justin asked.
I nodded. “Just me.”
He smirked. “You have to promise not to kill us.”
“I need a promise you’ll let us go after, I shot back, playing the desperate man. “I’m trusting you with my life.”
Justin laughed, eyes gleaming like a predator with a fresh kill. “Well… I guess you’ll just have to hope.”
Silence hung thick in the air. We both knew this was a setup. I could see it in his eyes, the intention to bleed me dry, then dump our bodies.
I looked at my team. At Denis, Jane, Lance, young, scared, chained.
Then I looked back at Justin.
“I have a son,” I said, voice soft. “My friend has a pregnant wife. We’re not soldiers right now. We’re just people trying to go.
home. Let this be over. Please.”
For a second, just a second, Justin hesitated
And that was all I needed.
“After the transfer, we will decide,” Justin said.
That was all I needed to hear.
They had no intention of letting us walk. I’d managed to stall the bullets, but now came the hard part, making sure we
lived to see the sun again.
They uncuffed me from the chair but left the silver shackles on my wrists. Two men stayed behind me with tasers in hand while Justin dragged a dusty old laptop out from a duffel bag. It looked like it hadn’t seen a software update in years, but that didn’t matter. All I needed was one chance. One second of distraction.
