Page 9 of Under His Heel: A Kidnapping

The blood they’d found was, as Tracht had suspected, Alex’s. None of it belonged to Johan, which was probably a relief to Anna but didn’t soothe Tracht’s anger in the slightest.

“Do they really want money?” Espinosa asked suddenly.

Tracht looked at her sharply. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just… it seems very elaborate. Theatrical. They can’t expect to get away with it if they get the cash, right? Nobody really uses cash here, and unless they’ve already got a ticket to leave the station… but even then. All the stations are connected to Pylos, and this isn’t a petty crime. This is the Lysander family. You can bet that security on every station would be looking for them. Even law enforcement on Pylos would cooperate.”

She had a point. She had a very good point.

“If they don’t want the ransom…” Tracht slammed his fist onto the table. “FUCK.”

Espinosa nodded grimly. “I don’t think they plan to return your nephew.”

[Chapter 4]

“Smile for the camera!” the bitch said.

God, she sounded like Anja Nilsen. Sadistic cunt. Alex glared at her and kept his mouth shut.

She held the scalpel up to the camera. “He’s already roughed up a bit, so I’m not sure how noticeable a few extra scars will be.”

He was kinda surprised to hear Anna saying, “Don’t!” on the other end. Huh. Did she actually care? Or maybe Tracht had convinced her to think about him.

He flinched when the bitch brought the scalpel up to his face.

“Does he need both eyes?”

Oh fuck. No. Alex closed his eyes, then changed his mind and opened them. He stared directly at the bitch and hoped it would freak her out enough not to do it.

She winked at him, then slashed from his eyebrow down to meet the scar on his cheek, narrowly missing his eye. He grunted at the sharp pain, but that was better than losing the eye. Blood started trickling down his face, some of it landing on his eyelids, dripping onto his cheek.

“I think I missed!”

The next cut went straight across his face, from just under one eye to right under the other. That stung a lot more, and it was harder not to cry out.

He heard whimpering that wasn’t his own. They had removed the kid’s blindfold. Great. Bad enough that he had to deal with his own pathetic sounds, but now he had the kid in there too.

“Just so you know that I’m serious…”

The dude at the camera moved it to the side, and the bitch walked and settled behind Johan. She brought the scalpel up to his cheek, and Johan started crying.

If Alex thought it would help, he’d have talked to the kid. Told him to shut the fuck up and deal with it, because a little cut wasn’t the worst that could happen to him.

Maybe she was being funny, but she made a cut that followed the same path as Alex’s old scar, from temple down to chin. Johan screamed.

On the other end of the vid-call, Anna cried Johan’s name. “It’ll be okay, Johan, it’ll be fine. Be strong!” She was crying too, Alex thought, and what the fuck did she have to cry about. It wasn’t her under the knife.

“That’s an easy fix for you rich types, isn’t it?” the bitch taunted. “And that’s all for now! We’ll see you in a few hours!”

She waited until the dude gave her a thumbs up, then she dropped the knife. “Stop crying, kid. Your bondservant barely even flinched.”

Johan sniffled and kept wailing.

Ugh. Kids.

“I need to piss,” Alex said, which drew both of their attention to him. “Needed to for hours.”

“Just wet yourself,” the bitch responded, which was not what Alex was hoping for.

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