Page 16 of Euphoria

“Well, that’s an easy one. If you refuse, I’ll send your boyfriend back to you piece by piece. I can start with his fingers,” Luke promised. The guy had really thought all of this through. Hell, he had a week with Hugh to do it. But who was to say that he didn’t already kill Hugh and was still coming for the money?

“I’ll need proof of life,” Colter insisted. “Then, you’ll get your money.” His phone chimed and Colter pulled it from his ear to find the picture of Hugh that Luke had sent over to him. His guy was bound to a chair and gagged, and all Colter wanted to do was murder Luke for doing that to his guy.

“There, you have your proof. I’ll send over the bank account information, and as soon as I have the money, Hugh goes free,” Luke assured.

“And I’m supposed to just take your word for it?” Colter spat.

“I guess that’s your only option,” Luke taunted. “Take it or leave it, but Hugh and his appendages are counting on you.” Luke ended the call and Colter quickly dialed Crews cell.

“Luke wants two million dollars,” he shouted into the phone when Crew answered, not even letting the poor guy get hello out.

“Shit, he reached out?” Crew said.

“Yeah, I just got off the phone with him,” Colter said.

“Hold on, let me see if we can trace the call,” Crew said. He heard silence on the other end of the call. “Got him,” Crew growled. “You kept him talking long enough to trace the call, but we need to move now. I’ll keep you updated.”

“I’m coming with you,” Colter insisted.

“No fucking way,” Crew shouted. “You aren’t a cop and getting in the way of this mess might just get you killed.”

“I’ll stay in the car, but I need to be there. What if Hugh is hurt, or worse? I need to be there for him.” The thought of Luke laying one finger on Hugh made him want to find the guy and tear him apart. Staying in the car was going to be a challenge, but he needed to do it for Hugh.

The long pause on the other end of the call worried him. “Fine,” Crew shouted. “You can come but Zane is coming too, and he’ll fucking sit on you if he has too.”

“You really want your husband sitting on me, man?” Colter joked. Crew’s growl told him that his joke hadn’t landed well.

“Do you want to go or not?” Crew grumbled.

“I do,” Colter said.

“Fine, be outside the bar in ten,” Crew ordered, ending the call. He wasn’t sure how tonight would end, but Colter knew one thing for sure—he was going to get his guy back, and then, he planned on making Hugh his forever.

Hugh

Hugh sat in the back of the warehouse, bound to a chair, and gagged. He wondered why Luke and Jace kept leaving, but when he overheard them talking earlier, they said something about two million dollars and making the call. If he was a betting man, they were calling Colter, and hopefully, his guy wouldn’t give them a cent. He hated that his past was going to cause his guy any grief. That was the last thing that he wanted, but then again, he never expected Luke to show back up in his life and kidnap him. This whole thing felt like something out of a horror movie, and he just hoped like hell that his character had a happy ending.

Luke walked into the massive room and stood before him. Hugh was pretending to be asleep, but his ex seemed to see right through him. “I know that you’re not sleeping, dumb ass,” he said, kicking Hugh’s boot. He opened his eyes and looked up at Luke, finding him smiling down at him. “If you promise to be good, I’ll take your gag out,” he offered. Hugh’s mouth was killing him from having the gag in for so long. There was no way that he’d refuse Luke’s offer, even if he wanted to tell him to gofuck himself. Hugh nodded and Luke reached down to untie the gag.

“There, that’s better, right?” he asked Hugh.

“It’s a start,” Hugh mumbled, trying to work his jaw back into place. “How about you untie me from this fucking chair too?” he asked. He knew that he was pushing things when Luke just laughed and shook his head at him.

“You always did like to take things a bit too far, didn’t you, Hugh?” he asked. Yeah, he really wanted to tell Luke to go fuck himself, but he wasn’t about to push any further. Right now, he needed some answers, and if he played his cards right, Hugh would give them to him.

“So, what’s the plan here?” Hugh asked.

“Not that you need to know, but I just had a lovely conversation with your boyfriend. He’s agreed to pay the ransom, and when he’s transferred the money into my account, we’ll let you go.” Now it was Hugh’s turn to laugh. There was no way that Luke and Jace would just let him walk out of there and return home. They had too much at stake if he went to the cops.

“You’re just going to let me walk out of here?” Hugh challenged.

“Well, that’s the deal that I made with your boyfriend,” Luke drawled.

“And what’s stopping you from reneging on your end of the deal?” Hugh asked. Luke pretended to be offended by Hugh’s question, and he couldn’t help but roll his eyes at his ex’s theatrics.

“I am a man of my word,” Luke assured.

“Yeah, I’m starting to doubt that, Luke,” Hugh grumbled. “When I walked out of your townhome, you shouted that you never wanted to see me again, yet here we are.”

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