Page 133 of Surrendering Hope (The Hope Legacy)

“The point is to keep you alive, and for it to not look obvious. If we sent your ass in there like a lamb, he would smell a rat,”Zee says.

“Too many animal metaphors.”

“I can do the funky chicken if you think it will help?”Jed says.

We fall silent as we slip into the pitch black warehouse. Following Duncan, I skirt the edges of the room to the left, Zee hot on my heels, whilst Aaden and Jed take the right. There’s something not right in the air, it’s like when you get a power outage and you realize how much background noise there was.

“I can’t hear anything,”I say.

“Did you expect them to pop out and shout ‘surprise’?”Zee says.

“What I mean is I can’t hearanything.”

“You’re right,”Duncan says,“it’s like we are in a silencing bubble.”

“Don’t you have night vision in these god powers of yours, Smoothie?”

“No, I see as well as a regular person.”

“Awesome.”

“We should turn on the lights,”Aaden says.

Cold creeps along my nape. It’s an irrational fear of not knowing what is in the dark.

The fluorescent lights flicker on, blinding me for a few seconds. What I see when I focus makes my heart pound and my legs lurch forward, Duncan grabs my arm. “Wait,” he grinds out.

I search the room for the asshole I am going to put down. Gramps lays strapped to a wooden chair, his limbs immobile under the thick leather straps. His mouth is stuffed with a white rag. He locks eyes with me and squirms, whilst mumbling something. Duncan edges forward with a hand still grasped around my arm. Zee steps in front of me. I growl and shove him back. He glances at me over his shoulder.

“Ty, you cheating mother fucker.” I clench my fists. “Come out and face me.”

A husky chuckle laced with venom echoes off the walls. I’d be creeped out if I wasn’t so damn angry.

“So you’re going to kidnap an old man and hide in the shadows like a coward.”

“Careful,”Jed says.

“Oh Natia, you seem to have found your courage since the last time we spoke.” Ty steps out of the shadows in the corner and comes to a stand behind my grandfather. He places one hand on Gramps’ shoulder and leaves the other lax. “That was in hell, was it not? We discussed your destiny to be at my side and you agreed that these people no longer deserved your protection.”

“He’s lying,”I send out.

“So you thought you would give me a call and hand over the Jar, no negotiations? At first I was suspicious, because why would you do that if you were still holding onto your humanity?” He lifts his hand, a gun swinging to his temple as he scratches it. “Then I went through all the different motivations for this meeting, and do you know what I concluded?”

I flick my eyes away from the weapon to meet his black stare. “That you are an egotistical megalomaniac?”

He sighs. “No,” he points the gun at my grandfather’s temple. “This is a double cross where you get yourself kidnapped. I take you with me and you have a plan up your sleeve to kill me whilst in my care. So I’ve brought a little collateral for my safety.”

I snort. “Care? Like you’ve ever cared about anything but power and fear.”

He tilts his head. “You are right. But power is easier if fueled by fear.”

“You’re wrong. The most awesome power is gained through love and respect. Fear can be overcome, love is timeless.”

He grins. “Let’s put that little theory to the test.”

He spins the chamber in the gun. “Six chambers, one bullet. For each time you refuse to give me what is mine, I will fire one. If you act now, then fear for the one you love gives me all the power. But if you wait, and play Russian roulette with his life, I guess you love the rest of the world more.”

Blood drains from my face. Gramps’ eyes go wide, he shakes his head mumbling through the rag. I tear my eyes away from him and back to the monster. “I don’t know where it is.”

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