جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 70

DrentI was mid-sentence when my phone lit up.The boys were talking loudly around me, someone had just said something worth laughing at, and I would have laughed if the name on the screen hadn't stopped everything cold.Payton.I stepped away from the table and answered."Drent." Her voice was breathless. Afraid. The performance was immaculate, I had to give her that. "Drent, please, you have to come. These men, they came into the room and they have Renata and I think they're going to hurt her, I don't know what to do""Payton." I said her name once, quietly, and she stopped. "Listen to me very carefully. If you have done anything to Renata, if a single hair on her head has been touched, I promise you that you will regret it."A pause. Then her voice shifted, just slightly. Enough to let the mask slip for exactly one second. "Then you better hurry."She hung up.I was already moving.I told the boys something had come up and I didn't stop to explain. Javier caught my eye on the way o

DrentJavier spoke in my ear, giving me directions as I eased into the place they would have possibly kept Renata's mom. I arrived at the building. It was a quarters that looked like the kind of place you would never expect kidnapped victims, but there was a high chance things were even worse behind those walls.I smiled slightly. It was perfect. My mind might have seen the obvious red flags and called this dangerous, but Renata and I had already bargained. She was already on her way to stop Payton. I needed to keep my own word and rescue her precious mother.I looked sideways, preparing to go in, as I tapped the little chip on my ear. The chip Javier used to communicate with me and relay pending directions."Bro, I'm in," I said, holding the chip and looking sideways."I think you should tie that loosened hair of yours, bro, because the men I'm seeing behind this wall are going to require your full punching skills.""Don't worry about that. I have like ten men on the ground backing m

DrentWhere was Javier when you needed him? He should have noticed my ear chip was out long ago. He should have known something was wrong and sent backup by now.But I was still sitting there, still tied up, still hoping for Javier to burst through the door and rescue me and Renata's sick mother.I hadn't expected it to go this way. I had expected an easy extraction, but I guess Javier was right. Maybe I should have involved the police.My hands struggled against the ropes but they didn't come loose. Until finally Theodore walked in with a sick smile on his face. The kind of smile that showed satisfaction, like he had just caught his greatest enemy.I looked up. My expression didn't show fear or panic. The same dominant, fearless look stayed etched on my face, because I wasn't scared of him."You," I gritted.He walked in slowly."I can't believe I have the great and popular Drent Ardent in my home. What a dream come true." The sarcasm dripped from his voice."Your home. I should have

RenataFive months.I stood in front of the calendar on my wall and stared at the date I had circled in red pen what felt like a lifetime ago. Five months since I had shaken Drent Ardent's hand and agreed to something I had told myself was simple. Straightforward. A deal with a clear beginning and a clear end.Nothing about it had been simple.I turned away from the calendar and reached for my bag, stacking my books on top of each other and sliding them in. Five months of battles I hadn't signed up for. Five months of Theodore, and Finn, and tied ropes in dark buildings, and Drent dragging me from one high-stakes situation to the next like I was a permanent fixture in a war that had started long before I arrived.Five months of him.I stopped for a second, holding the strap of my bag. That was the part I didn't like sitting with. The part where I tried to be honest with myself about what these five months had actually done to me. Because somewhere in between all of it, somewhere betwe

MarcusI couldn't hold my smile seeing Drent this way, seeing how he crumbled knowing I was here for the same thing he had fought so hard to get. Seeing him flinch when he saw me with the woman he loved and quickly pulling her away from me, because he knew I could take her if I wanted.Drent bitterly left the party after that and before he left, he shot a last warning glance at me.I knew that look. This was far from over and he was ready to take me out.I stayed for the entire party, making sure I was beside my father, trying to prove I was the good son who remained when Drent was not interested in staying.And after the whole event I was so tired. My bones cracked, my body ached and I needed a massage from a spa expert in my bedroom.In thirty minutes, Dakota came and attended to me, massaging my bones and soothing my skin in the way that relaxed my body completely.Dakota had been my personal assistant since I had pitched her my plan of taking over my father's empire.She had encou