15. Silas
Chapter 15
Silas
D inner passes with the speed of molasses in a Montana winter. All around me, guests at the table talk happily, discussing everything from sports to the financial market, but I can hardly hear them. I might as well be underwater for how well I’m paying attention to anything—anyone—except Bianca.
Red ebbs at the corners of my vision as I stare at the man introduced as Bianca’s fiancé. He’s a predator, that much is clear just from the way he’s eyeing Bianca as she sits beside him, her body rigid.
She’s staring straight down at her plate, and I imagine she’s working just as hard to keep her head as I am. Truth is, I want to rip him out of that chair and throw him from the balcony. Remain calm. The words echo in my head, bouncing back and forth and somehow managing to ease a bit of my nerves.
Finally, River stands and announces, “Thank you all for coming to my lovely dinner party. I look forward to seeing you all again soon. Javier, can you please wait for me in the office?” He gestures to a door off to the right.
“Sure thing, boss. Any particular reason?” the man seated at the end of the table asks.
River smiles, but I see no humor in it. Does the man he called Javier see the same threat that I do? Likely not. “Not at all, I have something I wish to discuss with you. An opportunity I think you’ll really appreciate.”
Javier grins like he just won a prize. But by the body language River is sending off, that prize is a one-way ticket to the grave. “Great.” He turns and leaves, and River waves at his other guests as they vacate the suite, piling onto the elevator in two separate groups.
Soon, it’s just River, Yarrow, Bianca, and me.
Woohoo.
“One word and we’ll come in,” Michael says through the earpiece.
“You’re not alone in there,” Elijah adds.
“Are we finally to the part where you’re going to explain what all of this is about?” I demand.
River looks over my shoulder toward the guard stationed at the elevator. He nods once, and my hand grips the knife in my lap.
Suddenly pain shoots through my head as a loud screeching noise comes from the earpiece tucked away in my ear. It takes me by surprise, but I try to remain calm. Breathing through the pain.
Bianca, though, cries out in surprise.
“Go ahead and remove that thing, darling, it’s not going to stop until you do.”
She rips it from her ear and sets it on the table.
River looks at me. “I know you have one, too, SEAL. Go ahead and take it out.”
“Why don’t you come take it out for me?” I growl.
River’s expression turns amused. “You really are a hard man, aren’t you? I thought having a daughter might soften you up.” He snaps his fingers, and I lunge to my feet. But I’m not quite fast enough. Two large men grip my shoulders and slam me back down into the chair.
“No!” Bianca yells. “Get your hands off of him!”
Yarrow yanks her back down into her chair as thug one sticks his fingers into my ear and rips the earpiece out.
He tosses it on the table and the men release me.
“I remember you used to like doing things the hard way before too. Some things never change, huh?”
“Why are we here?” Bianca snaps.
River stands. “We’ll get to that. But since I imagine that team that was waiting downstairs will be up here soon, we’ll be leaving.”
“We’re not going anywhere with you,” I snarl.
“I’m afraid you really have no choice.”
Without hesitation, Yarrow yanks a syringe out of his pocket and drives it down into Bianca’s neck.
“No!” I lunge up, but the two men behind me slam me back down into the chair.
Her gaze locks on mine, and I’m forced to watch as she slips away, her eyes rolling back in her head, her face falling slack.
“She better survive,” I growl. “Or there’s nothing that will save you.”
“Oh, SEAL, if only I were afraid of you. Now, pick her up, and let’s get going.”
Yarrow lifts Bianca into his arms, and a low growl leaves my chest. “I’ll carry her.”
“And how do I know you won’t run?” River demands.
“Because she can’t run with me and I can’t move as fast with her in my arms. Now you’ll let me carry her, or you might as well drug me, too.”
“Absolutely not,” Yarrow snaps.
“Give her to him,” River orders after taking a moment to consider.
“What? No.”
“We’re all trying to be friends here, Yarrow. If he wants to carry Bianca’s dead weight around, then let him.”
I cross over toward Yarrow, keeping my gaze locked on him, my expression furious. “Go on then, Yarrow, listen to your puppet master.”
Yarrow stands perfectly still as I take Bianca from him. I can see the shallow rise and fall of her chest, but her complexion is far paler than it should be. I promise I’ll get us out of here.
“This way,” River says as he moves past us, walking through the main door. As we’re passing, the office door where he’d sent the man he’d called Javier opens. Two of the guards leave, one of them carrying a black body bag over his shoulder.
“So you didn’t even have the guts to look him in the eyes when you killed him,” I sneer.
“I see no need for the show of power anymore,” River replies flatly.
With Yarrow behind me, I can’t turn and run. Can’t sprint toward the exit. And I don’t trust them not to kill us if I try and stall. So, even though I understand the weight of it, I make my way down the hall and out a back exit into an emergency stairwell.
Good. Hope burns through me. Lance will have had the stairwell covered, which means—but instead of going down, we head up. I listen, hoping to hear the cavalry arriving, but the stairwell is silent.
Completely and eerily quiet.
Where is Lance? Michael? Elijah? Jaxson?
Why are they not here?
We emerge onto the rooftop where two guards are waiting for us. Yarrow reaches out for Bianca. “Give her to me so we can get you ready,” he deadpans.
I don’t budge.
“Better listen to him, SEAL. I don’t think even you could manage to hold onto her while climbing a rope ladder into a helicopter.”
As he says it, the unmistakable whirring of blades fills my ears. I look up just in time to see a helicopter hovering above us. A rope cord is dropped, and River is outfitted with a vest that the guard clips carabiners to. Seconds later, he’s pulled up into the helicopter.
One of the guards outfits me with a vest and from above, a thick cord of rope is dropped. He clips the carabiners into my vest, then Yarrow hands me Bianca who has a similar vest on her body.
He clips Bianca to my chest as I cradle her close.
Two more ropes are dropped, and Yarrow and both guards clip their vests to the thick cords. Then, Yarrow looks up at the helicopter and makes a sign with his hands.
Air rushes over me as we’re drawn upward.
We’re mere seconds from the helicopter when the door bursts open and Lance rushes out, flanked by Elijah, Jaxson, Michael, and three uniformed officers.
“Shoot it down!” I bellow.
But I know Lance won’t. Because doing so would mean Bianca and I both go down with it.
He lowers his weapon, and all of my hope vanishes. Once this helicopter is out of view, we’re at River’s mercy. He has the connections to take us anywhere…the ability to disappear.
Is he going to kill us?
Torture us?
Both?
“Close call there. Your buddies move faster than I planned.” River fills a syringe with medicine as soon as Yarrow has unclipped me and Bianca and our vests are removed. He holds it out. “Now, you can inject yourself with this and take a little nap, or I’ll throw Selena out of this helicopter. Your choice.”
“Why not just do it yourself?” I snap, glaring at him.
River leans in. “Because I want you to willingly take it. I want you to be so afraid to lose Bianca that you’ll give up every bit of power you have.” His use of her chosen name is a game. He is trying to elicit additional emotion out of me. Little does he know I don’t care what her name is.
Selena. Bianca. It doesn’t matter because it’s the woman I can’t live without—not the name.
I glare back at him. It’s unlikely he wants Bianca dead, but do I really want to call his bluff? “You wouldn’t have brought her here just to kill her.”
“I would if she’s not really the one I wanted.” River looks at Yarrow, who slides the helicopter door open and rips Bianca away from me.
Without hesitating another moment, I yank the syringe from River and jab it into my arm. The medication burns as it shoots into my vein. But Yarrow closes the door and sets Bianca back beside me.
“Good boy. Maybe you do have some brains after all.”
I don’t give him the satisfaction of a response. Mainly because I’m not entirely sure I can speak when I can barely keep my eyes open. I lean back and tug Bianca into my lap, holding her close as I close my eyes.
My last rational thought is of Eloise, and how desperately I’d wanted to watch her grow up.