Page 65 of The Damaged Billionaire

“I will text you now,” I say, hanging up, and my fingers move at lightning speed, texting her a description of Willow’s car. Just as I send the text, a call comes through from an unknown number. I don’t usually answer these, but I am stressed and not thinking so I pick it up.

“Hello?” I answer, looking at Saide and Josh, who both watch me with hope on their faces.

“Tennyson,” the male voice states on the other side. I know the voice.

“Geoffery, I don’t have time to chat right now.” I’m about to hang up, as stressed doesn’t even come close to the feeling I have running through my body, and I certainly don’t have time to talk business with this asshole.

“I have Willow.” I have a brief moment of relief, even though I find it completely odd.

“What do you mean, you have Willow? Why? Where is she?” My words tumble, and Saide and Josh move closer, looking at me with wide eyes.

“She is alive, a little battered. Purple really isn’t her color,” he snides, and my insides drop.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I question with a bite, meanwhile my body is trembling.

“I am going to offer you a deal, Tennyson,” he says like he is talking business, and I clench my jaw.

“What offer?” I say, knowing that unless I play his stupid games, I won’t get the answer I want. He has always been an asshole. He is ruthless, and his business has been built from always taking, never building anything of his own.

“You sign half of Singapore over to me, marry my daughter, and raise the baby in a perfect family unit, and I will return Willow.” My world stops. He has taken Willow to get back at me? To blackmail me into marrying his daughter?

“And if I don’t?” I look at both Saide and Josh, and I see the panic on their faces. Now, it’s warranted.

“Then you will never see her again. You have an hour,” he says, before the line goes dead and my world falls apart.

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE - WILLOW

My head’s fuzzy, my mouth dry. Then the thumping starts. It feels like my brain is on fire, the burn running across my temples, making my eyes water and my cheeks hot. Is my face swollen? I open my eyes, a light from the side so bright, I scrunch them together again. Pain shoots through my skull even more, and I blink rapidly as it takes me a while to focus.

“Awe, sleeping beauty is awake,” I hear a woman with a twang say, and I try to focus my vision at the figure in the room. My heart races, and as I come to, panic fills my body, and I can feel my hands behind me start to shake.

“About time,” I hear a male voice, somewhat familiar, say from beside her.

“Where am I?” I groan, trying to sit up from where I am lying on the dusty hardwood floor. I struggle, not being able to move my arms, and my wrists burn. They are both tied together at my back. My breath quickens as I take in the situation. I look down at my clothes. I am a mess. There are rips and tears in my dress, my shoes are missing, my face feels hot and dirty, like I need to wash it, my skin scratched, my legs battered and bruised.

“Who are yo—” The question stops on my lips as their faces come into my vision. Katerina and her father, Geoffery Newcomb.

“Hello, Willow, glad you could finally join us,” Katerina says in a fake sweet voice, reminding me of a Southern belle, but I now know her to be anything but. I remain still and quiet, wondering what the hell is going on, willing my brain to start functioning as my hands behind my back start moving, trying to undo the rope in my panic.

“Cat got your tongue, baby girl?” Geoffery says, looking down at me, and I want to slap the smirk right off his face.

“What am I doing here?” I ask, my voice getting stronger as I take in the air I need. There is something wrong here. This is not a situation I was expecting. I look around the room. Tall timber ceilings, straw in the corner, a water trough. Am I in a barn?

“Well, you didn’t think I would let you stay with Tennyson while I was having his baby, did you?” Katerina says, and my eyes meet hers.

“What?” I ask, confused. Tennyson. Josh. Oh God, I missed his school presentation.

“You are the only thing standing in my way of becoming Mrs. Tennyson Rothschild. One of the country's only billionaire bachelors. The very man who, if he joined forces with my father’s business, would give us the potential to be wealthy beyond our wildest dreams. So you need to go,” she quips before looking at her nails.

“Go? What do you mean go?” This woman is batshit crazy.

“You need to not be earthside anymore. Isn’t that right, Daddy?” Her voice pitches up, almost in a baby tone, her words making my heart race.

“What Daddy’s little girl wants, she gets,” Geoffery says, nodding, although looking over me in a way that makes me vomit a little in my mouth.

“You are delusional.” How the hell I am going to get myself out of this situation? The two of them look like this is a normal weekday afternoon. My wrists burn, the pain almost excruciating, and when I look out the small window and see blue skies and green trees, it is then I realize I have no idea where I am. The last thing I remember is being in the car, before being manhandled.

“Why don’t you go inside, Kitty Kat, and get ready. We need to call Tennyson soon,” Geoffery says, and I swallow as I fill my body with confidence. I need to get out of here.

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