Chapter 5

Isla pov  

The cold hard floor was the first thing I noticed when I gained consciousness. My head was groggy, the world swimming in and out of focus. 

My wrist burned, bound tightly by ropes that were cutting into my skin. As I shifted to sit up a wave of pain hit me and I winced. My head throbbed, pounding relentlessly like a drum inside my skull.

 I blinked several times, trying to clear my blurry vision. It took longer than it should have, but everything finally came into focus, and a surge of panic hit me like a ton of bricks.

Then I heard someone groan beside me. I realized I wasn't alone.

I looked to my right, and I saw a figure also tied up as I was. I looked closely, and I realized it was Lucinda. She was lying just a few feet away from me, her body limp, her pale face bruised and battered

Why was she here? Why were we here?

The musty air of the warehouse hit my nose, a disgusting mix of damp concrete and rusted metal. The dim lighting barely reached the corner of the warehouse.

I struggled to move, and that was when her eyes met mine. They were wide, darting between me and the door.

I scooted closer to her, my heart hammering against my ribs.

“​Lucinda,” I whispered hoarsely. “ What the hell is going on? Why are we here?”

She didn't answer. All she did was stare at me, her mouth trembling as if she wanted to say something, but she couldn't. Before I could press her for answers, the heavy steel door screeched open, and the sound echoed in the empty space.

Two masked men strode in, and it sent a chill down my spine. Fear seized me as they approached. I scrambled to my feet as best as I could, despite my bound hands. 

"Who are you? What do you want?"My voice shook, but I didn't care.

 One of the men, tall and built like a bulldozer, ignored me. The other one, with a gun strapped to his waist, shot me a glare so sharp it could have sliced through stone." Shut the f*ck up," he growled.

I froze. My heart raced as I watched one of them pull out a phone, his thick finger tapping quickly. After a few seconds, he held the phone to his ear.

“Hello? Yeah. We have something you will definitely want back. Actually, we have two.”

My blood ran cold, he was talking to Jaxon.

I glanced at Lucinda, she looked even paler now, and I wasn't sure if it was the wounds or the fear that had drained the color from her face.

The man smirked at us, like we amused him or something. “You’ve got one hour to bring the money to Danny’s warehouse down by the docks. But here's the catch, Michael– you only get to save one of them, the other one dies.”

At that moment, Lucinda screamed with every strength she had left. “ Jaxon! Jaxon! Save your wife! Save her! Don't worry about me okay?”

The man with the gun turned to her, eyes narrowing. “Shut the f*ck up.”

But she ignored him, screaming louder. “ Jaxon just let me go! Pick Isla! She's your wife!”

At this point, I was confused and really suspicious. I glanced at Lucinda. Was she really trying to save me, or was she trying to manipulate him in her own twisted way?

Why was she insisting? Was it guilt from what happened earlier? Or something else?

One of the men pulled out a dagger and stormed towards her, stabbing her without hesitation.

I gasped in horror as she let out a heart-wrenching scream and fell to the floor, blood pumping out from the stab wound.

“That should shut you up.”

The man hung up as soon as Jaxon started yelling Lucinda's name. As he turned to me, his words settled over me like a stone dropped into water.

Only one of us.

I stared at Lucinda, my mind racing.

Jaxon wouldn’t leave me behind. I know he wouldn’t. No matter how complicated things had been over the past few months, he wouldn’t choose his ex-girlfriend over me. He wouldn’t just let me die, right?

The men left without another word, leaving a wounded Lucinda alone and me in the deafening silence. 

This isn't happening to me, I tried to convince myself. I wasn't here, trapped in a warehouse with my life hanging by a thread. This wasn't real.

But it was. 

I looked at Lucinda again. She had curled into herself, her body trembling though no sound came from her.

“Lucinda,” I called, trying not to be loud. “What are we going to do?”

“I'm going to die,” she said, her voice barely a whisper, “ and you are going to live. He will choose you.”

For a second I felt sorry for her. My husband was going to choose me, and she was going to die.

With each passing second the air grew heavier, my breath coming shorter and shorter until I had to force myself to slow it down.

Then the door swung open again. One of the men grabbed Lucinda. She let out a weak whimper, her body sagging in his grip.

Tears flowed from my eyes. I knew what was happening but I couldn't bring myself to accept it. 

They were letting her go–Jaxon had chosen her. My husband had chosen his ex-girlfriend over me, his wife.

I felt my very being shatter into a million pieces as I watched him lead Lucinda towards the door. Her eyes met mine briefly, and for a split second, I saw it– the faintest flicker of a smirk on her terribly wounded lips.

It wasn't obvious, but it was there. She was gloating, and I couldn't blame her. She’d won. He’d chosen her.

I bit down hard on my lips, as I struggled to stop myself from crying. It wasn't worth it– they weren't worth it. I wasn't going to give them that satisfaction.

As Lucinda disappeared through the open door, that was when it dawned on me that I was going to die. These were going to kill me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

The door slammed shut, leaving me alone. Abandoned.

The two men returned, and they looked scarier than before, like they were ready to spill some blood–hungry for a kill. One of them pulled two small devices from his pocket, and my whole body went cold when I realized what they were..

Bomb.

My voice broke as I screamed. “Please don't kill me, don't do this please!”

But they ignored me, setting the device down carefully. My eyes widened as the timer started, and I watched the seconds tick down in horror. They walked quickly to the door and planned on leaving me here.

“Please!” I cried. “I’ll pay 10 million. I swear! I will give you every penny. Just don’t kill me, please.”

One of the men stopped, eyeing me suspiciously. His partner paused as well, glancing between me and the bomb.

“And how the f*ck do you plan on getting 10 million dollars!?” the man asked. “You have nothing. Except for Jaxon’s money, he is definitely not paying for you. He made his choice already.”

I stared at them confused. Had they known all along that Jaxon wasn't going to choose me?

 Was this some sick plan perpetuated by someone? 

Was this his plan? Had Jaxon set this up to get rid of me so that he could finally be with Lucinda?

“No, no,no,” I murmured. “This can't be happening.”

The timer ticked down. Ten seconds.

“I will pay you,” I begged. “Just… just save me. If I don’t pay you after saving me, you can still kill me. I won’t run, I promise.”

Five seconds. My pulse thundered in my ears, drowning out everything but the count.

Three…two…one.

The explosion ripped through the warehouse. Roar of fire and smoke.

And then darkness.