Page 74 of Hidden Attraction

“Stop!” Julian squeezed off a shot that blew right past the man. A warning that the man took.

He froze, hands up.

Julian closed the gap in two strides, pressing the barrel of his weapon between his shoulder blades. “Slowly.”

Alyssa’s stomach pitched. Whenever she walked into a situation where she had to negotiate for lives, she always had a read on how it would turn out. This? She didn’t have a damn clue. The man was a wild card, desperate, and he wasn’t above playing dirty to get away.

Julian reached back to grasp her by the hand, and she meshed their fingers, relieved to have him to guide and protect her.

Other emotions rose to the surface, leaving her heart beating erratically.

He led the way to a small space that may have once been an office. The room was airless, and sweat zigzagged down Alyssa’s spine. Great. Just what she needed right now—stress sweat.

Julian pointed at the overhead light, and her kidnapper reached up to tug a chain. The bare bulb gave off a greenish glare over the room.

A metal desk against the wall held a single computer system. The old model looked like it hadn’t been updated for a decade, but the screen glowed white-blue.

Julian jabbed a finger at the chair for the man to sit. He quickly sank to the seat without a glance at either of them.

Julian dipped his head, stare steady on hers. A question burned like a candle in his eyes.You okay?

Her wrists were raw from the ropes and her heart hammered too fast, but she nodded, then moved forward to stand behind the kidnapper with a full view of the monitor.

Julian stood over the kidnapper, who now trembled at the mere sound of their voices. The knowledge should make her feel more in control, but it sickened her.

After firing more questions at him, the man gave his name—Kareem. He was in his late twenties, scared shitless, and right now, he was their only way to reach Cypher.

“Can you do it?” Her voice sounded gentler than she felt. She was wired tight. After all that happened, she was barely holding it together. “Can you contact him?”

Kareem lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “He isn’t pleased. He wouldn’t pay until we had both of you.” He fell short of looking at them directly, but his eyes moved from Alyssa’s feet to Julian’s.

“Then tell him you have both of us,” she instructed.

Kareem twisted to face the battered computer that looked to have been dragged through a war—or used as a shield at some point. A ripple of disgust rolled down her spine at the thought of that bloodstain on the cinderblocks.

Julian settled a palm on her spine, grounding her once more, and she pressed back lightly into his touch.

Kareem began typing, navigating through dark web portals he used to communicate with Cypher.

The cursor blinked on the blank message. “What do I tell him?”

“Tell him I came looking for the woman and walked right into the trap. Say whatever you have to. Just get him on the goddamn screen.”

Kareem hesitated only a moment before setting his fingers to the keys again. Alyssa leaned forward to read the small font, her stomach tight. She couldn’t shake the bruising pressure of the leader’s arm locked across her throat or the cold edge of the gun in her temple.

Taking a breath to steady herself, she gripped the back of the chair Kareem was sitting on.

They waited for a response.

Minutes crawled by like hours. The air in the room grew thicker, a weight pressing on her lungs. She took an unsteady breath, but it didn’t wipe away the sensation of being suffocated.

The laptop buzzed once, and a message box opened.

Nice try. Until next time.

The screen blinked and vanished, wiping out even the cursor, leaving only blackness.

Julian bent over the desk, slamming a fist into the top with a metallic crash that echoed through the hollow building. “What the hell?”

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