Secret Revenge: An Enemies-to-Lovers Billionaire Romance

27. Emily

“Why would I help you? Why not just hire someone else?”

Maybe it was stupid to ask those questions, but I knew one thing: Jonathan wouldn’t buy it if I gave in easily. He knew how stubborn I was, and he would only believe that I’d decided to work for him if I put up a good fight first.

“Do you think we haven’t tried?” His answer frightened me. “You’re the first to pull it off without our direct involvement. That”s what makes you special.”Jonathan shook his head. “I never thought that you, of all people, would. But maybe that’s why it worked.”

I glanced around the little guardhouse. Getting out of it wouldn’t be too much of a problem, if I could just get Jonathan’s eyes off of me. His gun and piercing gaze never wavered from me, like a predator watching its prey. There was nothing I could do unless something distracted him.

Come on, Michael. Tell me you’re tracking this phone. Even if I used my burned cell to call the police, I realized that I didn’t have a clear enough understanding of where I was to be able to tell them where to go.

Short of a distraction, I could keep him talking. And try to get more information out of him.

“If I do this,” I asked cautiously, “you’ll let Travis go?”

“That’s not a very good motivation, Emily. How am I supposed to believe you’ll seduce others for us if you actually care about this one?”

“It’s part of my price,” I demanded stubbornly. “If anything happens to him?even if it’s ‘accidental’ or ‘natural causes’?you lose me as an asset.”

Jonathan stared at me, calculating. I wasn’t making a very good argument, and I knew it; even if Travis died, Jonathan still knew how to find my mother and stepdad. But all I needed was for him to believe I was seriously thinking about his insane proposal.

I breathed slowly, and gave him a blank stare. Everything now depended on him believing me. If he decided I might go to the police, there was nothing to stop him from emptying his clip inside me.

“I did seduce him the first time, you know.” I squirmed seductively. “To get his fingerprints.”

“And then you fell in love?” Jonathan asked with mock tenderness, leaning across the table toward me.

“It took longer than that. I fell in love because he’s actually a good man. You’ll see when you open those files. The other billionaires, though?if they’re not, I’ll have no problem doing the same kind of job on them.”

Jonathan looked thoughtful. Perfect. My heart was still pounding a mile a minute, but this was progress.

“Listen—” Jonathan continued, but was interrupted when his phone rang. He frowned at me and pulled the phone out of his pocket. He scratched his head with the barrel of the gun and let out a deep sigh, and then got up slowly.

He tucked his gun into his belt and picked the phone. “Don’t move,” he mouthed silently, covering the receiver with his phone. “Hello?”

Jonathan turned his back to me and faced the guardhouse door with a hand on his hip. “Maybe, maybe. The boss will want to talk to her himself, though. The stakes are too high. He’ll want to see her…”

This was my chance.

My hands were still unbound, and I considered making a lunge for his gun. But that would mean certain death if I couldn’t get the gun away from him before he fired it.

And then it struck me. It seemed so obvious from the first instant that it made me feel foolish. I swallowed the urge to laugh at myself for not realizing it sooner.

I tensed, my eyes locked on Jonathan, waiting for the slightest opportunity.. I timed his movement as he paced before me, his back to me. My heart raced in my chest, but if I was to have a chance of knocking him out, I had to move quickly.

“Sure thing. She’ll be here when he’s ready for her.” Jonathan said as he turned around. Seizing the moment, I slid the chair out from under me, ducked low, and swung upward with all my might, targeting his head.

His eyes widened in shock and he lifted his arms toward his head. This reflex meant he wasn’t firing his gun at me, instead flailing to protect his face. The chair smashed against the side of his head, splintering with a loud crunch as it made contact.

My arms trembled, reverberating from the impact, adrenaline coursing through my veins.I dropped the splintered remains of the chair. A sound like rushing wind screamed in my ears as Jonathan sank slowly to the floor, his eyes unfocused. His phone dropped from his hand and he collapsed in a heap beside it, as a thin pool of blood began forming around his head.

I stared at his prone body, shocked and afraid.

“Hey Jonathan?” A man’s voice crackled out of the phone in the silence. “What was that? Hey, are you there?”

Shit.

I grabbed the gun from his belt and tucked it safely in mine, and then took his knife as well. I searched his pockets for his car keys, before finding both the keys and the precious flash drive inside his jacket.

Hah!

Slunk out of the back door of the guard house and hid behind the small building, using it to shield me from the view of the larger warehouse.

The warehouse. Travis was in the warehouse.

Cursing, I slunk around the guardhouse until I was facing the dreaded warehouse. The place where Travis, and at least two of Jonathan’s guards, were waiting for me.

Go for help, Emily!My better judgment screamed at me.

I can’t. He might get killed trying to rescue me. That’s just the kind of thing he’d do, instead of trying to act for his own self-preservation.

The realization hit me hard, and I was running.

I ducked low, running for the cover of the warehouse a few yards away. I had no idea what the security was like, but I was certain that there would be at least two men with guards watching Travis.

I got to the warehouse wall without incident, and then started a slow circuit of the building. I looked for any traces of light, listened for any traces of voices. I peeped into windows as I moved in the darkness, but most of the rooms were dark and empty.

As I approached the far end of the western wall, I saw light spilling out of a window. I leaned closer to the wall and crouched lower as I neared the light.

I glanced around. I was alone but for the wire fence and the sprawling, empty fields beyond. I advanced with caution, my footsteps sounding far too loud as my shoes crunched on the dirt.

I could hear voices drifting out through the window the closer I got, and I swallowed hard.

Travis was here. I knew it. His muffled yells filtered through the window, tinged with desperation and anger. “Blackwell, you will have hell to pay if harm comes to her. I promise you,” Travis snarled.

I peered in through the window, lifting my head and scanning the room. I made out Travis easily. He sat in front of an evil-looking older man, and he was tied to a chair. The older man was playing with a dagger. My heart almost stopped.

That had to be Bryce Blackwell. At least three other men were in the room with Travis, each one with their weapons drawn, all trained on him.

Shit shit shit…

How was I supposed to save him from that? The air in the room was so tense, I had the sense that even a strong breeze could trigger a firefight. With Travis in the middle of it.

Bryce Blackwell laughed scornfully and shook his head. “You don’t get to make such threats, boy. Not when you’re going to be dying right alongside your lady love.”

My eyes widened.

They weren’t going to keep him alive for ransom?

If that wasn’t Blackwell’s motive, this was much, much worse than I’d feared. .

Suddenly, the inner door swung open and a man in a black jacket rushed into the room, his eyes wide with shock.

“What?” Bryce Blackwell roared, turning towards the sudden disturbance.

“Sorry… er, boss. It’s Jonathan, sir. I was on the phone with him and I heard a loud noise. I got suspicious and went to check things out. The door was locked and we had to force our way in. I found him unconscious, sir, and the girl was missing.”

Bryce Blackwell rushed to his feet, and his face turned a deep crimson. He looked as if he would explode where he stood. “What the hell? Can’t I trust you buffoons with the simplest of tasks? Move, fool!”

He rushed out of the room and the men emptied out behind him, to my surprise and relief. I waited a few seconds and when I was sure that no one was returning, I opened the window as gently as I could.

My escape had bought us a little time, but only just. In a few minutes, they would return for Travis and begin a manhunt for me. I had to move quickly.

He turned in his seat as I landed in the room, but he couldn’t see me with the bonds restraining him.

“Shh,” I hissed, as softly as I could. Then my hands were at his wrists with Jonathan’s knife, sawing at the ropes that bound his wrists.

His eyes widened when he saw me, and then his face melted into a frown. “What the hell are you doing here?” he whispered. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“Hush!”

“Emily!” he was still trying to be noble. “You escaped! Why did you come back for me? You should have ran. These men are dangerous?—”

“Not leaving without you,” I shot back at him. “Didn’t you hear them? They’re going to kill you!”

Travis groaned softly. “You don’t understand. This is dangerous. This is not a joke. You should leave. Now! Leave and get help.”

“Or you could leave with me.”

The ropes were thick, but Jonathan’s knife was sharp. After what felt like an eternity the ropes fell away and Travis leaped out of his seat, rubbing his chafed wrists.

We rushed back to the window together just as footsteps sounded outside the room. Travis already had one leg out of the window before the door swung open.

In the doorway stood Kurt Blackwell, his gun aimed with a disturbing calmness, a haunted look in his eyes. I heard Travis curse as he landed outside the window, ducking low. I froze as I watched Kurt. There was no way I could get out in time to avoid his bullet. The blood drained from my body and my legs felt like rubber.

Slowly, he raised his arm and pointed his gun at me. He had a blank look on his face, and I shriveled from the fear I felt. My throat squeezed shut and I closed my eyes, waiting for the piercing pain of the bullet.

I heard a loud bang and felt the world fall away around me. An arm tugged me backwards, pulling me back to reality. I opened my eyes and looked at Kurt. His gun was still smoking, but I was completely unharmed.

I stared at Kurt in confusion as Travis yanked me out of the room. I’d been too close for him to miss. Was he such a bad shot? Or, had he let me go? If he had, why would he have done that? Why would he have gone against his father?

There was no time to think about the answer to those questions, and I didn’t intend on sticking around to find out.

“What next?” Travis hissed, glancing around.

I waved the keys I lifted from Jonathan. “This way.” I could hear voices ringing through the entire compound and the sound of multiple footsteps. Someone had heard the blast from Kurt’s gun.

We made it to the parking lot without being detected, but starting a car without being noticed would be harder. I tried to spot Jonathan’s car in the darkness, but there were too many vehicles that looked the same. The voices grew louder and I could see silhouettes headed towards the parking lot.

“Well?” Travis asked impatiently.

There was nothing else to do. I pulled out the keys again, and beeped the ”find my car” button. “Damn it, we have no choice.” The sound of a honking horn came from the end of the lot and the light seemed to shine brighter than the sun.

Shouts filled the air immediately and I could make out at least half a dozen men sprinting towards the lot. We ran for the car. Once there, I threw myself into the driver’s seat and jammed the keys into the ignition. Travis threw himself into the back seat on the driver’s side.

The tires screamed as I reversed out of the spot, smashing through the wire fence, before jumping into the empty road.

Gunshots rang out behind us, and when I looked into the rear-view mirror, I could see two cars flying after us in reckless pursuit.

I stepped on the gas and gunned the motor. In the side mirror I could see an SUV getting closer despite my speed.

I took a sharp right and veered onto another road that was wider, but still deserted. I fought to keep control of the vehicle as the back tires squealed and burned with the speed of the turn.

Someone poked a head out of the pursuing SUV. Kurt. He extended his arm, a gun in his hand, and fired. The rear window exploded into a web of cracks as bullets whistled past, showering us with glass shards. Instinctively, we ducked, the world outside blurring into a frenzy of lights and shadows.

I swerved to throw Kurt off my tail, but he was a skilled driver. Suddenly I noticed a hot, white pain blossoming in my shoulder. In front of me, spiderweb cracks formed around the telltale roundness of a bullet hole.

I looked down and saw that my shirt was soaked through with blood. My vision swam as I looked at the injury, but I maintained my grip on the steering.

I heard Travis yell in horror. “Let me drive! You’re hurt!”

“No…no time,” I replied, blinking away the hot tears that gathered in my eyes. Shots rang out again and this time, I heard a tire explode. The car swerved wildly off the road, despite my effort to keep it under control.

Wow, it seems like he is a good shot after all, I thought, right before the car rammed into a tree, throwing me into darkness.