Page 84 of (Un)Rivaled

My hand tightened on Calla’s shoulder, and she looked up at me. I tried to compel her without words, trying to convince her to let Laurel work. Luckily, Calla trusted me enough to nod, dropping her question.

Laurel leaned forward and tugged on the gag as her green eyes stared daggers into David’s soul. “Are you going to help us, or should I send all this stuff to the NYPD, the DEA, and the SEC? You know they’ve been dying to make an example out of you.”

David stared at her as if trying to see if she would break. I could only imagine what was going through his mind, watching the woman he thought he’d manipulated for so long control his strings. When Laurel’s gaze never faltered, his head dropped almost imperceptibly in a nod.

“Good,” she said, tugging the socks out of his mouth. “Then talk.”

“Yes,” David sneered, “I had your father killed. I tried to warn him to back off. I even tried to give him a payout to walk away from the case. But he wouldn’t drop it.” He leaned back in his chair. “I did what I had to do.”

“And you just met our mother?” Calla asked from my side. “That seems like too much of a coincidence to me.”

“Not a coincidence at all,” David admitted. “I wanted to keep an eye on her. I didn’t know if your father had told her about my operation, and she is a very beautiful woman, so…”

“And Devyn?” Laurel bit out, not showing any outward reaction to David’s admission. While Calla looked like she was about to pass out, her sister was the opposite, looking almost bored as David confessed his sins.

“I don’t know,” he said, his voice taking a panicked edge now. “They told me to leave the briefcase at the edge of the property, and they would send me the location of the files.”

“That’s what I don’t get,” Calla whispered. “What files could they possibly have? The only concrete evidence was locked in your attic for years. How could the blackmailer have found it?”

My eyes widened, and I moved around Calla to join Tomas. I picked up the phone and scrolled through the photos they’d sent David, the “evidence” they had gathered. “This is all ours.” I showed the pictures to Laurel. “All the pictures are from Devyn’s phone.”

Laurel swallowed, glancing down at David then back up to me. “If he had nothing, what is the point of all this?”

I shook my head, my hands tensing with the weight of my thoughts. “What if this was never about money? What if that was just a ruse to get David at the scene of a crime? There has to be a reason they took Devyn before David ever got a message.”

“We’re about to find out,” Tomas called out. “Because I just got the trace.”

FORTY-SEVEN

“Wake up, angel,” a voice cooed in my ear. “It’s almost time to go.”

My eyes were hazy as they tried to open, exhausted despite my lack of movement. Every bit of my energy had gone into my escape attempt, but nothing worked. At one point, the duct tape loosened. However, in my excitement, I’d missed Jack walking through the door. He reinforced every piece before returning to my phone to check on the progress of his plan.

“Let me go, Jack,” I whimpered. As much as I wished it was an act, ‌I could barely speak at this point. My hoarse throat croaked out the word, “Please.”

He ran his hands down my cheek, then along my jaw. “I wish I could, Devyn. Maybe, if you hadn’t decided to ruin me, I would have considered it.” His hand jerked back, gripping my hair so hard, my neck seized. “You only have yourself to blame.”

As Jack pulled back, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a knife. My body pushed back in the chairinstinctively, wanting to get as far away from the blade as possible. When pressed with fight or flight, I geared toward fight mode, and I’d do whatever it took to get the hell out of Jack’s clutches. But when he brought the knife closer, I was utterly helpless, only able to sit back and watch.

“Stay still,” Jack said. “Or this will go a lot worse for you.”

I nodded, continuing my docile act. He sliced through the tape on each of my wrists, and my arms fell to my side, almost in pain from being in one position for too long. Then, he freed my legs, and it was so tempting to kick out and run, but there was no way I could escape him, not in my weakened state. As Jack helped me stand, my bladder cramped, and I folded over in pain.

Jack sighed as he dragged me up. “Get yourself together, Devyn. You just have to hold on a little longer, and it’ll all be done.”

“Bathroom,” I croaked out, looking up to plead with Jack. “I can’t hold it anymore.”

He groaned, shoving me toward the door on the other side of the room. As I tried to settle on the toilet, I fell to my knees. Jack shook his head at my pathetic state. “Get up and do it quick. You have two minutes, and then I’m coming back in, whether you’re done or not.”

As soon as the door slammed closed, tears of relief formed in my eyes. Using the toilet as support, I pulled myself up and shook my legs to regain some strength. Although they were sore and cramping, I still had some energy left.

I looked around the room, hoping for some way of escape. As I turned, a small window came into view. It was barely big enough for my body to fit through, but I had to try.I rushed over and tried to open it, but it was painted shut.

“Come on,” I whispered, running my nails along the cracks. “Please open.”

I almost cried out when the paint started to flake off, opening a little more with each shake of my hands. When it finally came loose, I almost cried. One step closer to freedom.

“One more minute,” Jack called out from the door.

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