Page 276 of The Reluctant Hero

“Believe who?” Gabriel asks in a frosted tone that betrays some of his tension. My heart gives a jolt and starts racing. I’ve never been so excited to get freezer burn.

“Oh, I forgot to turn the video around. Silly me.” He taps the screen. A split second of silence comes, and then I hear several different voices start cursing.

“Mana-chan.”

Gabriel says it in a whisper of sound that’s devastated.

“Amanda,” Cade’s choked voice gets added in to make it even more depressing.

I guess their meeting isn’t going well.

“Since she’s refusing to give up the whereabouts of our missing funds, it comes down to you.”

Silence reigns again as New Guy passes the phone into the shaky hands of Brass. He aims the phone at me but refuses to look at the screen in front of him. There’s heavy breathing coming from the phone that seems loud.

“One of you cares about little Amanda, don’t you?” He leans into the camera’s view and shows off Jakob. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have found her stashed at your home, Mr. Matthias.”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Cade warns him in a deadly tone.

“Obviously,youcare, but I’m looking for a bit more.” His mocking voice turns acidic. “Better start convincing Mr. Matthias she’s worth a few million.”

He turns back to me, giving the baton a lazy spin. He sucks at it, but I watch the motion warily. I know how much damage Jakob can do. I don’t want to experience it first-hand. Getting hit in the collarbone with it by accident was enough for me.

I can’t wait anymore. Taped ankles or not, it’s go time.

While I’m watching Jakob, New Guy is looking at the pitiful tape job around my middle and gives my ankles a cursory look.

“Feet first, don’t you think?” He asks me casually.

My focus has tunneled in on the baton. I feel betrayed by Jakob, even though it’s an inanimate object. He gets closer to me, moving to my side so that he’s not covering up the shot of my supposed slow descent into panic.

My heart is thudding. I’m sweating and staring at Jakob. To them it’s probably me terrified of what’s going to happen next. Inside, I’m cursing the damn traitor with everything in me.

“The bones in your feet are so fragile.” He kneels to yank my shoe off. The motion loosens the tape there, but not enough to escape. I stiffen in sudden terror. Shit just got real. My facepales as my sock quickly follows, and some money flutters to the ground.

“Amanda, breathe,” Mikael says in a shaky voice. “Just breathe,rakas.”

It hurts me that this is breaking his control. I’ve never heard him sound so afraid. It amps the feeling in me up. He knows what’s coming, and my imagination is running wild.

My lungs have seized up. I’m very close to peeing my pants.

Please don’t let me piss myself.

Why the fuck am I worried about that!

My eyes dart to New Guy as he stands. He twirls the baton again and stares down at my bare foot. His face is as calm as South’s.

“Do you think the edges are sharp enough to cut off a toe? Or will it crush instead? What do you think, Amanda?”

It’s such a South thing to say!

My eyes narrow on him as anger slowly starts taking the lead in the emotion race.

“I think you’re fucked up,” my mouth spews out without thought. “Have you looked into therapy?”

He turns to me with narrowed eyes. “That’s not very polite,Mana-chan.”

“I take after my father,” I assure him with a smirk.

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