Page 37 of Vicious Vows

He stands over me with a worried expression and a hand outstretched in my direction. “Oh, my God,” I gasp, taking his hand. He pulls me up, and I throw my arms around his shoulders and let all my emotion unleash on him. “I thought you were dead. What happened? Where are we?”

Will’s arms lock around my waist tightly and his chin digs into my shoulder, but he hardly speaks. “Shh, please,” he whispers… “Tell my mom I love her. Tell her I’ll be waiting for her.”

Confused, I pull back from him and look him in the eye. “No, I won’t. You’ll tell her yourself. What do you mean?” My eyes are solely focused on him, but there are other people in this room too—the men who took me and others. Will looks terrified, white as a ghost. His lips are chapped and bleeding. His right eye is blackened. His hair is greasy as if he hasn’t showered or eaten in days, and all I want to do is get him out of here.

“Just do what they say, Micah…” With a very intense stare, he backs away from me, and I try to reach for him as one of the black-clad men pulls him hard and shoves him to the ground.

“No, Will!” I dive at him, but someone catches me around the waist and prevents me from going to him again.

Then a resounding boom fills the air, shattering my heart and sending blood to the floor and wall behind my best friend. I’mtemporarily deafened by the blast, a gunshot from the gun in the hand of one of the men standing in front of me. The dark crimson stain begins to spread on Will’s chest as he gasps for breath, then pools under him and grows larger by the second.

“Will! No!” I scream again, clawing at the arm holding me, but the man doesn’t let me go. His sinister laugh enrages me and brings more tears. I can’t stop the bleeding. Will is dying right in front of my eyes. “Why? Why did you do that! You can let him go,” I cry, pleading for his release, but even I know it’s too late.

“Sit at the table now,” an older man says.

I’m crying so hard I can’t breathe or see straight. My hands are trembling, knees are weak, but the man lets me go and all I do is stand here. Will’s eyes shut, his breathing stops, and his head falls to the side. I cover my mouth and sob into it. This is all my fault. I did this to him by hacking Luke. Will should never have been involved in this.

“Sit!” the older man shouts again, making me jump, and the man with the gun points his weapon at me.

I stumble to the chair, still crying hysterically, and someone turns me toward a computer, away from the mess on the floor behind me. I’ve seen a computer like this before. The readout and the code, it’s all normal. It’s all easy for me, but I’m in shock and I can’t even make out a single character on the screen.

“Now, you’ve stolen my money and you’re going to return it.” My eyes trace up to the voice attached to those words, and I see a man much older than myself. He’s the type of man I expected Luke to be when I heard he took over the Santoro family. White hair covers his head and rims his eyes. Wrinkles stretch across his severe face, and his hand shakes as he points at the computerscreen, but it’s not from fear the way my hand shakes. This guy is so old he is shaky. He has to be the Russian leader, and he’s come to punish me himself.

“What?” I ask, sucking in stuttered breaths between sobs.

He reaches out and grips my chin, forcing me to look up at his eyes. “Your friend knew his death was coming. It’s why he said goodbye to you. Now you must know your end is coming next, after I get my money. But make no mistake, if you dawdle and don’t give me what I want immediately, you’ll die anyway. You took my money, and I want it back.”

He releases my chin, and my head snaps to the side. I curl inward, hugging myself and leaning over the computer to sob harder. “You have fifteen minutes,” he says, and then the room empties. All the men follow him out, leaving only me alone in this bare gray room with one table and one computer and one dead body.

I’m cold, shaking so badly from shock that I think I may pass out, but I’m alive, for now. I slip off the seat and crawl to Will’s body, sobbing harder and harder by the second. “Oh, my God, Will, I’m so sorry.” I pick up his hand and press my lips to it, then hold it against my forehead. “It’s all my fault. I’m so sorry,” I wail again and again.

I think of his mother and how devastated she’ll be. I think of Will and how he had his whole life ahead of him and now he’s gone. And I think of my father and how terrified he’ll be when he hears Will is dead.

Then I think of myself and what is going to happen to me when they come back. Because they’re coming back, and they’re notmessing around. I knew better than to do what I did with Luke’s money to begin with, but I never thought it would come to this.

As I try to stand, I realize my pants are soaked. I’m so terrified I pissed myself at some point, though I don’t even know when, and now I have to deal with that on top of trying to process my friend’s murder which I witnessed. All while trying to hack Luke’s accounts to take the Russians’ money back.

Oh, God, if there is a God, I need you. Send Luke…

28

LUKE

Things are heating up. Dale and his friend have gotten into the Russians’ system and tried to find Will, but more importantly, they mirrored her computer too and they know she’s at a Ramen shop within the twelve-block radius she told us to search.

My heart races as Vic speeds down the familiar streets, his hands gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles. The two hackers sit in the back seat, their eyes darting around nervously. I cling to the handle above the passenger door, praying we make it in time. We have to reach her before they do—the ruthlessPakhanand his men—or she'll be dead for sure. I can feel my chest tightening at the thought of losing her. We stole from the wrong people, and now their vengeance is upon us. I'd do anything to protect her, even give back all the money we took. But that won't matter if they find her first.

Dale's voice trembles as he reports, "Her computer crashed five minutes ago, sir. I can hear the frantic clicking of his laptop keys as he tries to regain control. “But thank goodness, we have secured the building."

I glance behind me to see his face, contorted with a mix of anger and intense concentration. The blue light from his computer screen casts harsh shadows under his tired eyes, giving him an eerie ghost-like appearance. His friend's expression is less severe but still holds the weight of determination. But neither of these men know the consequences they'll face if they fail me—a punishment that will be swift and severe.

The older man's eyes flick back and forth across the screen in front of him, his fingers tapping rapidly on the keyboard. His brow furrows as he studies the code, searching for any sign of movement. Finally, he looks up and says, "She's in a warehouse two buildings up from the Ramen shop." A faint hint of admiration creeps into his voice as he adds, "She's a smart cookie. Damn, she's good." The tension in the car rises as he focuses on the screen, waiting for the next move in this high-stakes game of cat and mouse.

"What do you mean?" I ask, craning my neck to look back at Vic. The wind pushes the car around and the trees blur past us, a symphony of green and brown streaks against the city skyline. The rain makes our trek slick, but Vic's gaze is fixed ahead, his expression set with determination as if we were sprinting toward a finish line rather than simply racing against time. His hands grip the steering wheel tightly, knuckles turning white from the pressure. In this moment, he is like a man possessed, driving with a fierce urgency that matches the pounding of my heart in my chest.

“I mean, she’s purposefully leading us to her location. She’s been siphoning small amounts of money from your accounts, leaving a trail we can easily follow. And to top it off, she has left so many digital breadcrumbs that you'd think she was baking a goddamn cake." His tone is tinged with disbelief as he lays outthe evidence against Micah. I don’t care what she’s doing. I just want her back.

I find myself drawn to this mature man. His demeanor exudes wisdom and experience, unlike Dale, who seems content with staying in ignorance. If it were up to Dale, we would still be fumbling about in the dark, but this man offers a guiding light, shedding knowledge and insight onto our path.

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