Page 72 of Rejected By My Stepbrother Alpha
I was inches away from the bastard's face. He reeked of cigarettes and sweat, but I didn’t move. I wanted him to know that I wasn’t messing around when it came to my son.
“I know you guys are millionaires,” the man said, looking at me, then at Asher, who was standing next to me with an enraged expression. “Pay up or I’m not saying a word.”
“You’re in no position to be making demands,” Asher snarled.
“Actually, I am,” the man drawled. “The only way I’ll speak is if you give me one million dollars. I don’t care what you do to me. I have nothing left to lose.” A smug smile crossed his face, and it was obvious he thought that he had the upper hand.
Well, I needed him to know that he didn’t.
I stood up and locked eyes with the man. Then I raised my fist and punched him across the face, putting all of my rage behind the hit. The power flowing through my body was unlike anything I’d felt before. This adrenaline rush must be similar to how moms felt when their child was in mortal danger.
The man’s eyes widened in surprise and pain as the chair he wastied to flew back, and he landed with a loud bang. His feet twitched, and a pitiful moan came from the ground.
My hand throbbed, but there was too much adrenaline in my system for me to feel any pain.
Asher shot me an impressed look, then righted the man’s chair so that he was facing us again.
His cheek was already red and swelling rapidly.
“Bitch,” he muttered under his breath and spit blood onto the floor.
“Don’t you dare call her that!” Asher exploded and rushed at him, rearing his fist back.
But I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. We needed this man conscious so that he would be able to talk.
Asher lowered his arm and stepped back, allowing me to take the lead.
“Are you going to talk now?” I demanded. “If not, there’s a lot more painful ways to get you to tell us what we need to know. You’re not in control here. I am.” I tapped my chest, making the man’s eyes grow even darker. “You’re the one tied to a chair. I’m fully willing and capable of making you wish you were dead.” My voice was grim and flat. “I can do whatever I want to make you talk. It doesn’t matter how loud you scream, no one will come to help you.”
The first traces of fear crept into his eyes and he swallowed nervously.
“I don’t fuck around when it comes to my son. I’m going to ask you one more time,” I said. “Why did you attempt to kidnap him twice?”
The man sighed and his shoulders slumped in defeat.
Finally.
“I’m a lone wolf,” the man said.
A lone wolf was a shifter who didn’t belong to a pack.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Riggs,” he answered reluctantly. “I have some…debts to pay off. A gang of other lone wolves are after me and I need money. A lot of money.”
I nodded and gestured for him to continue. Did someone pay him to kidnap my son? Whowould do that?
Riggs looked at Asher. “A little more than a week ago, a woman approached me in a dive bar and she paid me to cut the brakes on your fancy car.” His voice was bitter, but his jealousy was the last thing I was focused on.
“Did this same woman pay you to kidnap my son?” I demanded.
Riggs looked at me with hatred, but he nodded. “I was supposed to bring the boy to a gas station a mile outside of town. The woman would have traded the boy for the money she promised me.” His tone was petulant, like a child who had been denied a toy he really wanted.
“How did you know we were here? How did you get into this room without a key?” I asked.
Riggs glanced at the balcony door. “I circled back and followed you here. I climbed up the balconies and came in through the sliding door. You idiots left it unlocked after your son was almost kidnapped.”
Damn it.
