Page 54 of After Effect

“What was my father’s debt?” My questions became slightly more bold the more reasonable Mr. Sommers seemed to be. I knew I couldn’t trust him, but on the off chance he’d tell me what I wanted to know, I had to take advantage of this moment.

“Money is addicting, isn’t it?” He folded his hands on the desk. “Racing is an expensive hobby after all.”

“That doesn’t make sense. No one would make a deal with the devil for a hobby.” I shook my head. Mark frowned.

“Didn’t you?” Sommers raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that what you were doing with Christian?”

“No, it wasn’t for money.” Money was never an issue. That’s never why I cared about succeeding. I was offended just hearing the accusation.

“Well, I suppose the only other thing that might make someone do something that crazy would be love, no?” His eyes remained trained on mine, penetrating through the lenses of my glasses and digging straight into my soul.

Love? Did I do it for love?

No, I did it for Lilly.

Not for…

Fuck.

I didn’t protest further. Any additional information could only hurt me. “Who did my dad do it all for? He had my mom. He had me. We never asked for anything.“

“Who, indeed.” He had clearly accepted that he had the upper hand in this conversation. Well, he always had. I didn’t like what he was implying. How much of my father’s life did I know nothing about? “We can discuss this further another time. For now, I have my own proposal for you.”

“Huh?” I didn’t expect that at all. I looked to Mark, who at no point was intervening or offering opinion. I couldn’t tell if he was intimidated by Mr. Sommers, or if he was simply following some unspoken order. I wanted to refuse immediately, but given the circumstances of my physical condition, and being here with Mark Corbin with no clear way out, it didn’t feel like I had a lot of options. Still, I had to stand up for myself at least a little bit. “I don’t need anything from you.“ I stated plainly.

“Are you sure? Well, maybe your client does.” He picked up the phone and redialled the last number. Then he pressed the speaker button. “Andrea, status update?”

“The hostage is secured, sir.” That lightly Italian, yet distinctly Californian, accent sang through the phone. “She didn’t put up much of a fight with the broken leg and all. Took her right out of her dressing room.” Wait, is he talking about Lilly? “Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?”

“And Christian Baek?”

“He’s not answering my calls, sir. The car accident thing might have gotten a touch too much attention. I think he’s already figured out that transport request was more of a fishing expedition.”

“Noted. That’s about what I expected. Thank you, Andrea.” Charles Sommers hung up the phone and returned to me. “Let’s make a deal. Christian isn’t likely to run from you. I need you to lure him out of hiding, and I’ll handle the rest.”

“Who’s the hostage?” I knew the answer, but I somehow wanted to hear an honest admission.

But it was no use. He simply smiled. “You seem like an intelligent, forward thinking, and ambitious young man. How would you like to run ALIVE Records? Have every resource at your fingertips?”

“What are you going to do with the hostage?” I repeated.

“She’s the backup bait for Baek… And my collateral for you.” With that, he reached into the briefcase, and tossed me a photo. A single photo that said it all. Lilly. Myself. My back against the wall, her lips on my neck, captured through a hidden backstage camera. There it was. My eyes widened. “You’ve trusted the wrong people and made some mistakes, Sebastian… Finch. What do you prefer to be called?”

“F-Finch.” Any chance of sounding calm had disappeared.

“Finch. But you’ve also showed great potential. I won’t ask you to work for me. But, if you do me a favour here or there, I can reward you handsomely. If you don’t, well, mistakes have consequences.”

It suddenly made sense that my father had fallen for this. I don’t know what he had on him, but even now, I knew I was out of options. I swallowed back my pride, and lifted my chin. “You just need me to lure him out?”

“That’s all.”

“And you’ll let me go…” I shook my head. “Let us go?”

“Easy, yes?”

“You have a deal.” I extended my hand, and he took it with a firm, eager grip.

“That’s what I thought.”

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