Page 83 of Captured Heart

He gestures for me to follow him, leading me into a cramped office filled with files and papers. He closes the door behind us and walks to his desk. “Now,” he says, sitting down, “what was so urgent that you couldn’t wait ‘til morning?”

I reach behind me and slowly unclasp my locket. My throat tightens as I hold it out to him. “I think this has what you need to put Victor Salazar away for life.”

16. Aleksandras

The smoke still clings to the air, thick and acidic. Every breath burns, searing my throat and lungs. Fuck, my head is pounding, a dull throb that refuses to fade. I feel like shit. My limbs are heavy, sluggish from whatever remnants of the chloroform are still in my system. The kitchen door is propped open, but it doesn’t do much. The air is still hazy, the faint glow of the hallway lights cutting through the murk.

I lean against the table, trying to ignore how my chest aches with each inhale. The rookie sits across from me, fidgeting with a pocketknife. He’s jittery, his nerves shot.

When I woke up about ten minutes ago, he told me I’d been out cold for about half an hour. That’s a long time. A lot can happen in thirty minutes. If the others are still out there looking for her, it has to mean that she’s still out there. She has to be.

The sound of boots on concrete drags my focus to the doorway. Bowman and Smith walk in, their faces plainly showing their annoyance.

“Did you find her?” My voice comes out rough, my throat raw from the smoke.

Bowman shakes his head. “Jameson and Clark are still out. But Vic’s on his way, so we came back.”

The room falls into a loaded silence. The kind that wraps around your throat and squeezes. None of us want to be here when Victor arrives, but there’s no avoiding it.

It doesn’t take long. The heavy slam of a door echoes through the warehouse, followed by the deliberate, measured sound ofVictor’s designer shoes. He steps into the kitchen, his presence filling the room with a suffocating weight. He looks around, taking in the smoke hanging in the air, the dust particles covering the counter.

“What the fuck happened here?” His voice isn’t loud, but it cuts through the tension like a blade.

No one answers immediately. My mind scrambles for the right words, something that doesn’t sound like an excuse but keeps suspicion off me.

“I have no idea, Vic,” I reply, keeping my voice calm. “I don’t know if I dozed off or something because I don’t remember anything, but I woke up to this shit show.”

Victor’s cold eyes narrow on me, but before he can press further, the rookie speaks up.

“I think she drugged him,” he says, holding up a shredded pillowcase. “I found this next to him.”

Victor snatches it out of his hand, bringing it to his nose. His expression twists into one of irritation. “What the hell is this?”

“Bleach...I think. There was a bottle in the bathroom with some other cleaning stuff. She probably used it to knock him out.”

Victor’s gaze sharpens, his jaw tightening as he becomes more irate. “And the smoke? Did she try to set this place on fire?”

Again, the rookie pipes up. “I don’t think so. She didn’t want to endanger herself. Looks like she just wanted a distraction. I found a shit load of empty packets of sugar and creamer all over the bathroom floor, so she must’ve used that.”

Bowman groans, slamming his fist against the counter. “That’s why she kept asking for coffee with extra creamer.”

“Bitch!” I mutter, ensuring it’s loud enough for them to hear.

I’m grateful Bowman admitted that. I don’t think Victor would question my loyalty because he’s tested it so manytimes before. But Bowman’s inadvertent involvement removes all suspicion he might have had about me. I just need to keep playing along to prove I’m still one hundred percent committed to the job. The longer I can lead them astray, the more time I’ll buy her to get to safety.

Victor’s lips press into a thin line, his frustration barely contained. “You’re telling me she outsmarted all of you with coffee creamer and bleach?”

The tension in the room thickens. No one dares to answer.

Victor exhales sharply, slamming the pillowcase onto the table. “Idiots! A single girl outplayed all of you. Do you have any idea how much is riding on this?”

He pulls out his phone, dialing one of his men. “Get to Kenji’s house,” he orders. “Wait for her there. Intercept her before she gets to him because if he finds out we don’t have her anymore, I lose the only leverage I have.”

“She won’t get there,” I assure him. “It’s too far to go by foot, and this area’s dead at night. No one would’ve picked her up.”

Bowman steps in. “There are houses behind these buildings. Maybe she went knocking on doors for help.”

“How would she know about that?” I counter. “And even if she did, we’re locked in. There’s a wall around this entire section. It’ll take her, like, thirty minutes just to walk around to those houses, twenty minutes if she was running, and you would’ve seen her. I’m sure she’s just hiding out in an abandoned building until morning.” I stand up. “C’mon, Bowman, let’s go find her.”

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