Chapter 64
Lydia
Becca and I celebrated Sunday night, and were both practically giddy all day in the office since arriving Monday morning. Her PR went out about the new deal, shipping was finalized and moving forward, and Langford was fired and publicly shamed all over social media and financial news sites.
Jake had someone watching him to make sure he didn’t go anywhere near Becca. The plan was to keep him drugged for a few more weeks, and if he didn’t end up killing himself in some accident, Cole would take care of it and make it look like an overdose.
A part of me wished we could do more, but this was the best way.
Besides, it’s not like we weren’t torturing him already.
It just didn’t feel that way to me because it was being done in such a planned and cold way.
I wanted him tied to a chair, bleeding, begging, and broken.
But dead in a ditch and shamed on the news would have to do.
Becca’s bodyguards kept watch on both of us all day.
I didn’t know how good they were at protecting us, but they were incredible at being discreet.
I barely noticed the one following us around.
Daniel probably told them to stay out of sight because it made me uncomfortable—they weren’t like that when they only watched Becca. Either way, I was thankful.
Until Becca and I left, Monday evening.
It was getting dark—we both got carried away at the office, going over meeting notes and plans for the next few months.
Becca suggested we go directly to Mel’s despite it being a bit late and a workday. I was just going to tell her I needed to crash at home when something made me freeze.
Her voice echoed through the building’s underground parking lot. There were still a few other cars there beside hers, but we were alone. At least… I didn’t feel like we were alone, but that was normal, since the bodyguards followed us around. I had gotten used to the feeling of being watched.
“Come on, just one drink and then you’ll crash at Danny’s.”
I shook my head. Something was wrong.
Pain exploded through the back of my head into my eyes. Everything went dark.
The last thing I heard was Becca groaning and a crackling sound.
* * *
Everything hurt. My head was pounding, my ears were ringing, and sounds were coming in and out of focus around me, like someone was playing with the volume of the TV. I needed to concentrate. I needed to pay attention.
I couldn’t move. Was I even trying?
I took in a slow, deep breath, concentrating on lifting my head and stifling the groan that was dying to come out.
What the fuck happened?
Blinking again and again, my eyes started to focus. I looked down. My legs were tied to a chair. I couldn’t see my hands. I could barely feel anything on my body.
FOCUS!
My hands were tied behind my back.
I wanted to go back to the darkness again. I needed to sleep.
LISTEN!
Grunts. Cries. Whimpering. Pounding. A man’s voice.
I squinted, trying to see the shapes across the room.
“—my life!” The man shouted. His voice pierced my ears like he was screaming right into them. I winced.
His body moved. Something on the floor moved. And then a whimper.
“Please. Mark, please stop.”
Adrenaline surged through my body. The ringing in my ears got louder, but I didn’t care.
Mark Langford was screaming and kicking Becca. Her hands were tied behind her back, her ankles were tied together, and she was lying on her side on the floor.
He kicked her stomach.
“Why? Why should I stop? You took everything from me! Your brother took everything from me!”
Another kick.
I could barely hear Becca’s voice, but I could see her now. She was groaning, facing me, and her eyes rolled back.
“It’s my turn to take from him.” Langford said, lifting his leg for another kick.
Becca couldn’t take another hit.
I snickered. He froze.
He turned around, his bloodshot eyes on me.
His face caught me by surprise. He looked like a corpse.
I didn’t know what Ramirez gave him, but Mark Langford made the terminally ill look like the pinnacle of health.
I’d have taken a moment to enjoy that fact if he didn’t also look completely insane.
There was no way we’d be able to reason with him.
“The fuck are you laughing at?”
Shit.
I groaned, finding my voice. “You want to hurt Daniel, you’re kicking the wrong woman.”
Becca’s eyes focused on me and widened. I needed to keep him off her.
Langford stalked toward me. Good.
“Who are you?” He sounded deranged.
Fuck, I need to think.
I looked him up and down slowly, making a show of sizing him up, and laughed.
He took a step forward and grabbed my shirt at the collar.
His face was an inch from mine. If I weren’t so out of control of my own body, I’d have tried to headbutt him, but there was no way to do enough damage to incapacitate him long enough to get free.
I leaned closer, our noses nearly touching.
“Is this what Natalia loved?” I whispered.
He dropped my shirt and took a step back. Good, I needed him confused.
“Now I understand why she kept it a secret,” I continued. “She was ashamed of you. Look at you.”
The back of his hand hit my cheek and lip, splitting it at the bottom. I didn’t see it coming. I needed to focus if I was going to survive this.
“Who the fuck are you?” He screamed at me.
Blood filled my mouth. I turned my head to spit it out and looked at him, daring him to hit me again with my bloody smile.
Becca squirmed behind him, trying to get out of her restraints, but she was injured and her movements were sluggish. I needed to keep him away from her.
“It’s your fault Natalia died,” I said in a low and mocking tone. “She wouldn’t have left if you were good enough to make her stay. She went to risk her life in another fucking continent to get away from you.”
Lanford screamed and punched me in the stomach. I saw it coming this time and tried to clench, but my body was still out of it. It hurt like hell.
I managed to move my face with his punch just as his fist hit me across the cheekbone. Fuck, it’s been years since I had to take hits like this.
Come on, bitch. You’ve taken worse than this. Suck it up. KEEP HIM OFF BECCA.
“Stop! Please!” Becca shrieked. I smiled at her and looked back at Langford. This was between him and me.
He asked me again who I was, screaming the question over and over again as his fist hit my face two more times.
I couldn’t keep this up much longer.
“Daniel will find you. I swear, Mark,” Becca screamed, “Daniel and Jake will find you and kill you for this!”
Cole will find you, I thought. He came back from Singapore, safe and sound.
Langford turned to her.
No!
“No one is going to find you. You think I didn’t know your brother was behind this. Watching me? Your phones are gone—he has no way of tracking you. And my phone can’t be tracked.”
He pushed Becca on her back with his foot.
“You want to hurt Daniel, you hurt me,” I said as coldly as I could.
“No,” Becca whimpered, but he ignored her. His focus was back on me.
“Who are y—”
“I’m his girlfriend.”
My eyes darted to Becca’s. I wanted to tell her that it was okay, that she needed to survive.
I heard her scream something when his fist hit my stomach.
I wanted to keep my eyes on her, to give her strength, but my eyes shut when he hit me.
If it weren’t for the drugs weakening him, I’d have already passed out or died.
Or maybe the adrenaline was keeping me awake. Still, I wouldn’t last much longer.
The room spun. My mind wanted me to focus on something, and I wanted it to shut up and let me sleep.
The phone. Langford had a phone. I didn’t know why it couldn’t be tracked, but I knew there was no way a hacker like Kernel wasn’t monitoring a man who had classified military files in his home about an op he was involved in.
I knew there was no way Kernel wasn’t monitoring a man I told him was a threat to me.
I remembered Daniel’s spyware on my phone. He said Kernel stole it.
I used the last of my energy to scream the only thing I could think of.
“Kernel!”