Secret Revenge: An Enemies-to-Lovers Billionaire Romance

25. Emily

There was no fear in Travis’s eyes as he stood with the three guns pointed at him. Not until he saw the fourth man point his gun at me.

“She took long enough,” Jonathan said, turning to Travis. scowling. “Let’s go. And I don’t need to tell you that any sudden moves on your part will earn a bullet in the back of her head.”

The police. Michael. Where are they?

Travis glared at him, then gave a sharp nod. He looked like he would have throttled Jonathan himself if he could get his hands on him.

One of the henchmen peered out the door, then stuffed his gun into the back of his pants before waving us forward. Travis and I were herded out of the house like cattle, stuffed in between Jonathan and the second goon.

We bustled towards an unmarked SUV parked on the street, where we were dumped unceremoniously into the backseat. Jonathan and a goon sat on either side of us, while the third jumped into the driver’s seat and Jonathan sat in the passenger seat.

I looked around for any leverage. If I could threaten Jonathan, would that stop the others? I glanced around the car. Probably not, I decided. They had to know that Travis was worth hundreds of millions as a hostage, and if something happened to Jonathan that just meant the goons could claim the payday themselves.

The SUV’s tires shrieked against the asphalt, tearing into the night. Soon as we were underway, Jonathan produced a pair of restraints. “Tie them up,” he instructed his goons shortly.

The henchmen fastened our hands behind our backs, making them tighter than was necessary. I winced quietly and Jonathan glared at me.

I struggled to accept that he was the same fatherly-seeming man that I had worked for so many months. He seemed a different person from the one who had hunched over his desk for long hours, offering me tea when I visited his office.

I caught Travis watching me. Even in this situation, his eyes were intoxicating. But I couldn’t let anything happen to him. Nothing could happen to Travis Ross. It just couldn’t.

His expression was unreadable. That he was probably thinking the same thing about me was no comfort. It might cause him to put himself in danger, trying to protect me.

I tried to memorize the streets, tried to figure out where we were going. Jonathan noticed me glancing out the window and frowned. He rummaged through a satchel and produced some hoods.

It looks like these guys are used to kidnapping people.

The hoods were pulled over our heads and I was thrown into a world of disorienting blackness. My heart pounded in my chest as I imagined how many other people had been dragged off by Blackwell’s men in the past.

How are you going to get out of this, Emily?

Panic swelled in my chest. I felt a wave of claustrophobia and bit my lip to avoid hyperventilating. I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on counting seconds as they passed. The movement of the car made me nauseous and I tasted bile in my mouth. The longer the ride lasted, the more terrified I became.

Would either of us walk out of here alive?

After what seemed like an eternity, the car jerked to a halt. Rough hands pulled me out of the vehicle by my arm. I heard voices and I squirmed wildly, blind and bound.

“Hey, cut that out,” Jonathan snapped. He yanked the hood off my head and I took a deep breath, appreciating the cool night air.

I took a look around where I was and saw it was an abandoned warehouse complex, with a main house to the side. It looked vaguely familiar, but that didn’t help if I couldn’t contact anyone.

Travis was already being towed to the warehouse by the two goons ahead of me.

“You’ve got me and you’ve got the data. Now let her go!” he called over his shoulder.

He was smacked in the head by one of the goons. “Shut it!”

I twisted toward Jonathan in alarm. “If they hurt him…”

“Oh, they’re going to hurt him,” Jonathan promised. “But don’t worry. They won’t kill him. He’s too valuable for that. You, on the other hand…I have some questions for you. How you answer may determine how valuable he is to us after all.”

I glanced back towards the warehouse as Jonathan pushed me into something that looked like a guardhouse. There was a table in the center of the room with two wooden chairs, and a naked bulb hung overhead.

Jonathan shoved me into one of the seats and snipped the ties on my hand with a knife. He sat down across from me and interlaced his fingers on the table, leaning forward.

“This could have gone a whole lot easier if you had just given me the drive,” Jonathan said quietly. “Why do you always have to make everything so difficult, Emily? Now look where we are,” He gestured with his hands. “See what you made me do? Do you have any idea how much higher than me this goes? Why couldn’t you just do the right thing?”

“The right thing?” I spat. “You’ve been lying to me for months.”

“Well, that makes you a fool,” he spat. “It’s so much better to work for Blackwell. You see, billionaires don’t really care about the masses. Some are just more honest about that than others. Imagine what Blackwell could do for you. Your family. This could change your life, Emily. If you let it.”

“You don’t need me anymore,” I said, hoping he’d forget about me and then maybe I could do something for Travis. “You have Travis. You have the data. What could you possibly want with me?”

“You’re very good at seducing billionaires, Emily. And Travis isn’t the only one Blackwell would like to get his hands on. Of course, if you refuse?: well, we simply cannot allow you to leave with knowledge of any of this.”

The threat was clear. And it was practical: I’d made my own argument too well. They didn’t need me anymore, and I was a liability. Unless I cooperated.

I took a deep breath and decided to play for time. “How could you lie to me about your own daughter?” I croaked. With just a little encouragement, my eyes filled with very real tears.

Jonathan’s lips drew into a line. “I did lie to you. However, it doesn’t mean that story never happened. On the contrary. Everything I told you really did happen, it just didn’t happen to me. I took the identity of the person that it all happened to.

“The man in question wasn’t strong enough, you see. He killed himself shortly after his daughter died. He didn’t have the money to take care of her, and he never could live with himself after she passed.

“So, you see, that’s the kind of thing that Travis and people like him are constantly doing to people. He may have camouflaged his crimes better than his father did, but I promise you, billionaires are all the same. You have two choices, Emily: work with them and reap the benefits, or work against them and be crushed beneath their feet.”

“Travis is nothing like that.” I said. “When you look at the data I gave you, you’ll know that. He’d…he’d pay you double,” I grasped at straws. “And to work for someone who’s actually good. Look at the flash drive. It’ll prove it.”

If I could just get them to leave me alone for a few minutes, maybe I could come up with a plan.

Jonathan snickered. “You’re such a naive girl. You know nothing. The Rosses must have done a better cover-up job than I expected.”

That made me laugh. “And I’m supposed to be the naive one? You seriously want to tell me that a criminal like Blackwell can be trusted? You mean nothing to him, Jonathan. He’d sell you out if you ever stopped being useful, and you know it.”

He glared at me across the table, and I could see a vein bulging on the side of his head. Looks like I struck a nerve.

“That’s why you want me to keep working for you,” I realized suddenly. “Your usefulness to Blackwell is up after this. And you know too much. You need a reason for him to keep you alive.”

“Listen to me, you little shit,” Jonathan hissed as he pulled out his gun. “You’re going to work for Blackwell. Or you’re going to die here. And so will everyone you love. Your choice.”

“Your mother, your stepdad. Michael. I know everything about them. Ask yourself: is Travis Ross worth all their lives?”

A lump formed in my throat as I met Jonathan’s gaze - those eyes, once warm and guiding, now ice-cold and harboring a lethal intent.

He would kill to protect himself, I was sure of it. If he believed Blackwell would kill him when this mission was over, who knew what he might do?

Maybe if I played along, it could buy me some time.

Or maybe it would get Travis and I both killed.