Page 45 of Tangled Fates

“Sometimes, but it's not always concrete,” he replied.

“You can’t see how this ends?” I was curious.

“Yes, I’ve seen many different ways this could end,” he said, looking at the floor. “I see her die, I see us die, and I see one of us die. No two visions are alike, and they are constantly changing.”

“Fuck, man, that sounds awful,” I said, running a hand down my face, wondering how one could live like that?

“It does suck, but I also see her breaking the spell. I see our family and now I see you too,” he said, staying cryptic. “I just hope it's the good visions that win.”

I nodded. “Me too, man; thanks for this?—”

I held up the bag, feeling embarrassed I couldn’t remember his name.

“It’s Aeon,” he chuckled. “Once this spell is broken, if you need anything, please let us know. I know those vials of Oria you brought are what Katarina really needed and I can’t thank you enough for that.”

He held out his hand for me.

“Of course,” I said, shaking his hand before he turned away walking back to the castle.

I took a deep breath before walking back to my car. The moment I closed my door, I needed an outlet. My emotions were high and I knew the perfect person I would stop by and see to release my anger. Joseph gave us some bad information and he was going to pay. I just needed to figure out where the hell he was.

I slept for a whole day. My exhaustion had hit an all-time high when I arrived home for information. Not sleeping, not eating properly and losing Serena, made me crash, and as much as I hated losing a day, I fucking needed it.

Gray and Soren were going to be fine, I just had to trust in my friends. Rolling out of bed, my body felt a hundred times better. I needed a huge breakfast and then I would get started on finding Joseph. If I could locate him quickly, I would go back for Soren and Gray, then we could pay him a visit together.

After breakfast, I went down to our office looking up Joseph's contact when my phone rang.

“This is Ryder,” I said, answering my cell phone.

“Hello, I spoke with Gray about hiring you,” a woman’s sultry voice came through.

“Yes, about the kidnapping of a woman,” I said, looking through our iPad that housed all of our contacts.

“Precisely,” she purred. “I know it might be an unusual request, but you come highly recommended, and the princess is in a location where it would be difficult to get to.”

“When do you need it done and I need a location,” I said, finding Joseph’s number and address.

“It needs to happen before Beltane,” she said.

“Am I sending a ransom note?” I sat down pulling a sheet of paper to get all the information.

“No, you will kidnap her from the location I give you. It needs to be done in a very violent manner, but nothing that is going to cause any extreme injuries. You will keep her in poor conditions, treat her awfully and scare her as much as possible. She needs to be completely broken when I come in and rescue her,” she said, sounding fucking crazy, but for five million dollars, I wasn’t going to say shit.

“So, let me get this straight. You want me to kidnap her, rough her up, scare her and then you come in and save the day?” I asked, thinking this might be the craziest request I had ever gotten.

“Sounds about right, Ryder,” she said.

She said my name like she was trying to seduce me, giving me the ick. Her entire request gave me doubts about going through with it.

“I need half now and half before you rescue her,” I said, wondering if she was going to hassle me.

“Ok, send me your bank info,” she said immediately. “I also expect none of you to show your face to her and she must not know you were hired.”

Something made me want to say no, but it was a lot of money. This wasn’t my first kidnapping, but to scare the kidnapped didn’t feel right. I don’t know why I was all of a sudden growing a conscience, but this was my job, and she was paying me well.

“Great, I’ll send you a link to pay and since you have specific details for this job, I need you to send me an email of exactly what can and cannot be done,” I said. “I also need the location.”

“I will send your money and the email,” she quipped. “You will receive the location a few days before Beltane. Thank you, Ryder.”

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