Page 85 of Sebastian

“Or, we could talk about the plan I’ve come up with where we use Emma to draw him out, and she’s kept safe,” Agent Wilson said.

“She made it very clear she wants to be a part of this,” Hawk added.

“I don’t care. I want to know his weak points, other than Emma, and I want us coming up with a plan to exploit it. I want him on his knees, sitting in some black ops site, begging for his life before this week is over.”

“I think we all want that, Cap, but we have to be smart,” Nash said. “We know he has to be working with someone here in town, and as long as we don’t know who that person is, we need to be careful.”

Sebastian took another sip of his whiskey and set the glass down on the table forcefully. “Fine. Don’t tell me specifics until later. Don’t use his name. Just give me something here. My insides feel like they’re being gnawed away. I just want Emma to be safe. Today, tomorrow, forever.”

“Well, at least for tonight, she’s at Natalie’s. I promise I triple checked everything with the security system there. She’s safe right now.” Gage took out his phone and showed Sebastian the security monitoring program. All systems were green. Emma was safe.

“You know I appreciate that, Tracker, but it’s not right this moment that I’m worried about. It’s the moment when we let our guard down and she’s taken. He’s getting more reckless. He wants us to see that he’s coming for her.”

“She’s his weak point, Cap. And I know you don’t want to hear that. I know it’s the worst case scenario in your mind to use her in some operation we run, but she might be our only hope at making a move against him before he makes a move against her,” Stone said.

“I don’t want her involved.” Sebastian slammed his hand down on the table. “She thinks you guys will be able to convince me that using her is the best way, but I won’t ever be swayed.”

“Cap. You know we would never let anything happen to her,” Gage said. “We want her safe just as much as you do, but she really is the only hope here. We’ve spent days going over different scenarios with Agent Wilson and the only one we really believe will work is one where she puts herself in his path.”

Sebastian sighed. “What’s the timeline look like for this plan? When would we be making a move?”

“Three days from today. I have a team of agents on standby in Dallas waiting for the word to come up here.”

“Fine. Tell me the details.” Sebastian pressed his fist into his chest, trying to stop the pressure that was growing with each passing moment. Three days and they’d have the bastard. Three more days until Emma was safe, and he could stop holding his breath. Three more days.

Twenty-Seven

“Thank you for this, Imogene. It truly has been so lovely catching up.” Marco wiped her blood from the blade he’d just sliced across her leg. The world was fuzzy and cold, and slowly slipping away from her.

In the past several hours, she’d endured countless cuts to her body, her arms and legs sliced so badly she couldn’t feel them anymore in the middle of the cold basement. Emma had blacked out at some point, only to have him wait for her to regain consciousness before continuing on with the torture.

“You see, I have the most amazing wife in Natalie. She is my actual wife, not like how I’d pretended with you before. She loves me, and Addie…” he tipped his head to the side, “or would you like me to call her by the name you gave her? Luna. Yes, sweet Luna loves her daddy and mommy more than anything in the whole world. It’s been such a blessing getting to watch Natalie raise her. A complete joy, that I would have gotten to be more present for if I wasn’t having to hunt you down to make sure you paid your final debt to me. My own family punished me for your escape. My own flesh and blood. You’d think one stupid girl that they didn’t get to sell wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but I guess they already had a buyer lined up for you after you had my daughter. The thing is, Imogene, I’ve paid my penance. This is yours. It’s long overdue, don’t you think? Had we not had our little….dalliance…and had you not become pregnant with Addie, well, this would have been over years ago. You gave me such a precious gift in my daughter. I guess all this time you’ve had to live is the balance for that.”

His blade touched her chest and her body yearned to scream out, but there was nothing left for her to give. “The family wanted me to bring you back, you know? To sell you to a different buyer. But that just doesn’t seem like a fair exchange for all the grief you’ve given me, running away like that.”

Flashes of Sebastian winning the date-night auction flooded her mind. God, that night had been so beautiful. A start to something they now would never get to finish. And she had been so adamant that she’d be safe with Natalie, Sebastian and the guys wouldn’t even think anything was wrong until she was already gone.

He sighed. “Knowing that I took the chance for you to ever have more children was a balm to my soul as I endured being exiled from my family. As I scoured the world for you.” A single tear fell from her eye. “Oh, Imogene. Were you longing to have a baby with your billionaire boyfriend? How difficult it must have been to share with him that you are so utterly defective as a woman. You know, I truly enjoyed delivering our daughter into the world, and then taking out every organ that would give you the chance to have another child in the future.”

Emma gasped. It hit her that Natalie hadn’t lied about her husband’s career. Marco was a doctor. He was the surgeon that took everything from her. Tears poured down her face.

“Is that why he abandoned you just in time for my little visit? I had always planned to hold onto you for a little, or rather large, payday from him before killing you. But now that I know Mr. Moneybags doesn’t really care about you, I guess I’ll just have to settle for the pleasure I’ll get from dropping you off in front of his building while you’re on the edge of life and death. How fun it will be to see the two of you together, knowing that you can’t be saved and that our daughter, the only child you’ll ever bring into this world, will forever remain in my care, completely unaware of who you were to her.”

He cupped Emma’s cheek, sliding his hand into her hair. Marco pulled her head towards his, inhaling her scent as he pulled roughly on her roots. The intimate act made her stomach clench, saliva flooding her mouth as she fought back the bile in her throat.

“Still so deliciously sweet, even with all the fear pulsating through you. Such a shame you couldn’t behave. I could have molded you into something great.”

Releasing her hair from his grip, Marco turned, pulling a syringe and a vial of clear liquid out of his bag.

“W-what is t-that?” she forced the words out.

“Shhh, just something to ensure you don’t remember the little secret I revealed about Natalie and Adeline. I’d hate for you to say something to that idiot protector of yours before you die in his arms.”

The needle plunged into her neck and she instantly felt her body pull towards nothingness. The darkness overwhelmed her, and her eyes fell shut.

* * *

Marco laid Emma on the sidewalk in front of Montgomery Equities. Her vision blurred and everything swam in front of her. She could just barely make out the logo on the large window she was laying in front of.

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