Chapter 41 Sera
SERA
The world comes back to me in jagged snapshots. There’s a weird buzz from a half-broken fluorescent fixture above me, casting everything in a yellow light. I blink slowly, trying to keep my eyes open. Water is dripping somewhere. And a rumbling vibration is coming closer. A train?
My head is pounding, and my tongue feels like it’s too big in my mouth.
“You gave her too much.”
That voice again. My stomach lurches.
I hear Hannah’s indifferent response. “If this takes much longer, I want more money. I didn’t sign up for this. You already owe me for expenses from when my guy tracked her in New York and Chicago.”
I try to listen for more, to look around the room, but the darkness pulls me under again.
I’m not sure how long I’ve been out when a palm slaps my cheek several times. Hard.
My eyes scrunch, and I force them open. A monster stands in front of me. Aaron.
The left side of his face is a ruin. He looks as if he’s missing the bone structure needed to support his cheek, giving him a slack, lopsided appearance.
His hair is cut short, missing in several large places, and a jagged scar runs around his skull in an uneven line from one milky, unfocused eye to the back of his head.
But the other eye... I know it. The same cruel, gleaming blue that haunted my nightmares for two years.
No, it can’t be.
My brain fights through the sludge, denying it.
He’s dead. Brady told me.
Terror surges, cold and visceral, freezing my blood. My heart stutters, then pounds wildly, each beat echoing in my ears.
Hannah's face is impassive, her arms crossed, as she leans against a long table covered in a variety of tools.
My stomach twists with fear. But anger flickers beneath it, hot and defiant.
Liev will come. And he will make them pay.
Hopefully he saves some for me.
As my senses come back, I’m aware of the burn in my shoulders. And now that I recognize it, the insistent fire in the muscles builds. My arms... Why can’t I move my arms? They’re pulled high above my head, wrists bound by something rough and unyielding.
My toes scrape against a dirty threadbare carpet beneath me, barely touching, just enough to take some of the weight off my arms, but not enough to totally relieve the strain.
“Hannah?” I croak, and Aaron grins at me. Or what’s left of his mouth does, anyway.
Bile rises in my throat, but I keep my attention on her. “Why?”
She lifts one shoulder. “Why do you think? Money.”
How could I have been so wrong? Again.
My throat aches, and I’m pretty sure it’s not just from whatever drugs she gave me.
“Well, well,” Aaron drawls, his voice gleeful, as he steps closer. The scar tissue twists with his smile, making it grotesque. “Look who’s finally awake. I’ve been looking forward to our reunion.” His eye glints, and he runs a finger over my unmarked cheek. “So sorry I missed you in Vegas.”
I jerk against the bonds, the movement sending fresh fire through my shoulders.
“You’re dead,” I rasp. “Brady killed you.”
His laugh echoes off the walls. “Oh, sweetheart.” He circles me slowly. “Your brother thought so, too. The bullet took half my face. And when my car went over the cliff, I’m sure he thought the jungle finished me off.”
He stops in front of me and leans in close.
“A group of locals found me. Dragged me out and got me to a hospital. I was in a coma for months, and when I woke up, nothing!” He snaps his fingers in my face, and I flinch.
“Nada. No name. No memory. Took a long time for it—well most of it— to come back.” His good eye locks on mine.
“To remember how you ruined my life. I knew I had to come home. Finish what I started. But it doesn’t look like you missed me very much.
You’ve been a busy little whore haven’t you? ”
He holds up my phone. The screen is full of missed call notifications. Finn, Brady, and Liev’s names over and over fill the screen.
They know I’m gone. They’re looking for me.
His fingers dig into my jaw, squeezing hard.
My teeth slice into the soft flesh of my cheek until I taste metal on my tongue.
“Imagine my surprise to find you living this happy little life. You forgot about me. You and your brother destroyed me, yet here you are with friends, a job and a… husband? That won’t do at all. ”
I gasp, trying to twist away, but his grip tightens, forcing my head back.
“I can’t wait to see the look on their faces when they find out you’re dead. When they realize how much I made you pay for my suffering. The man who tried to kill me and the man who took what was mine.”
Terror threatens to consume me, but along with it there’s rage.
“I was never yours, you insecure psycho.” I spit a mouthful of blood on him.
There, have some of my DNA.
Maybe it isn’t the smartest thing to do, but it gives me a second of satisfaction. If I don’t get out of here, at least I’ve left some evidence this time.
His fist connects with my face.
My head snaps to the side, stars exploding behind my eyes. The headache amplifies, a hammer against my skull. But I lift my chin, meeting his gaze.
“We’re going to have some fun before I kill you. See how much more of your pretty skin I can mark,” he hisses, wiping his face with the back of his hand, smearing it over his cheek. “But first, where’s my picture?” He shakes my phone in front of my eyes. “It’s not where I left it.”
My gaze shifts to Hannah, searching for any crack, any remnant of the friend I thought she was. But her expression is blank, bored even. No hope there.
“You set me up, didn’t you?” I whisper, voice cracking despite my resolve.
She shrugs, uncrossing her arms to examine her nails. “I was paid to do a job. Though I have to admit you proved harder to break than I thought.”
“So, Chad...” I swallow, piecing it together.
“Isn’t real,” she supplies. “Just a cover to get close. His mother thought you might open up in therapy. When that didn’t work, I suggested nudging you with that confrontation at the coffee shop and the text messages.
I assumed if you were frightened you might open up.
I have to admit, I’m a little impressed with how tight lipped you are. ”
“Joelle? She hired you to find out what happened to her son? It wasn’t about the password was it?”
Hannah smiles. “Arthur’s more interested in his money, but Joelle wants her son. This one,” she angles her head toward Aaron. “Just wants revenge.”
“You’re as morally bankrupt as they are,” I snarl, anger overriding the fear for a moment. “You went into a room full of vulnerable women and used it to help an abusive bastard.”
“They pay really, really well.”
Aaron’s patience snaps. He whirls on her, face contorting. “You aren’t being paid to chit-chat!” he screams, spittle flying.
Hannah snarls back, stepping forward. “I haven’t been paid at all by you!”
“That’s what I need her for,” Aaron snatches a knife from the table and gestures wildly at me. “Tell me where the photo is.”
I force a laugh, ignoring the agony in my shoulders, and the nausea twisting my gut. “The photo with the password?”
The words come out stronger than I feel, and a thrill cuts through the terror at the way his eye twitches. “Guess your family doesn’t know you’re in Atlanta.”
His face twists further, the scars pulling tight. “Why would I tell them? My father came to Costa Rica—I saw it in my hospital records. Viewed patient and could not identify patient as his son.” He says in a mocking voice.
“What a coincidence they never found me. My father knew where I was, he just didn’t want me back like this.
” He uses the tip of the knife to gesture at his face.
“When I finally found a way back to the States, I noticed this one following you.” He jerks a thumb at Hannah.
“We came to a mutual agreement—she could work with me as a bonus job. Maybe eventually I’ll let my mother know I’m still alive. I haven’t decided yet.”
“But you can’t pay Hannah without the bitcoin.”
The answer hangs unspoken and obvious in the air.
Aaron lunges, his knife pressing against my throat, and I feel blood trickle down my neck.
“Tell me where the picture is,” he seethes. “Or I’ll make the other side of your face match this mess.” The knife trails down my unscarred cheek, pressing just enough to sting.
“I already gave it to your family.”
He freezes, knife hovering. “You’re lying.”
Hannah’s head snaps up. “What is she talking about?”
“Your brother approached me,” I say, words tumbling out, buying time. “Told me the family thought I had it. I had our cyber guy go through the phone. He found the picture. So, I gave it to them.”
“No!” Aaron howls, the sound raw and animal. He tears at his hair with one hand, knife waving wildly. “No, no, no!”
“They’ll have already emptied it to pay back Mikhail Kovalyov, I’m sure. He’s been putting pressure on them.”
Hannah’s face darkens. “So, you can’t pay me?”
Aaron rounds on her. “The bitch is lying!”
“I did my job. Bugged her phone and arranged for her to be followed looking for an opportunity to grab her. And I jammed the cameras today to get her here, didn’t I? You owe me.” Hannah’s eyes narrow as she advances on him.
“Owe you? For what? You didn’t get her, and I helped you get her in the car.” Aaron’s voice rises, veins bulging in his neck.
Hannah jabs a finger at his chest. “You promised double if I helped with the cleanup. Where’s my money?”
“I’ll get it. After she talks!”
Their voices blend into a furious cacophony, faces inches apart. Hannah shoves him; he shoves back. My heart races. This could be an opportunity.
“Fuck this. Let’s see how much your family cares you’re alive.” Hannah turns toward the door, and I make my bid.
“If all you care about is money,” I call, voice hoarse but steady, “I can pay you. I have money. My father has money. My husband has a lot of money.”
Hannah pauses at the threshold, hand on the rusted knob. She turns slowly, eyes flicking over me, considering. For a heartbeat, hope flares.
Come on. Take it.
But Aaron decides for her. He pulls a gun from his waistband and fires. Hannah’s body jerks as blood spreads across her shirt before she crumples, eyes wide in shock. The body hits the floor with a thud.
I turn my face away, bile rising hot in my throat. The coppery smell of blood and gunpowder fills the air.
Aaron holsters the gun, turning back to me with a twisted grin.
“Money was only the cherry on top, babe.” He steps close again, his hand trailing down my side, squeezing my hip possessively.
I flinch, helpless rage boiling. “Getting back at you—for what you did to me, how you disrespected me—that’s what always mattered. ”
My body turns cold, a deep, bone-chilling dread settling in. His breath fans my face, eye alight with madness.
Pain throbs everywhere. My shoulders, head, and cheek—but I meet his gaze, defiant. “You’ll lose,” I whisper. “Again.”
He laughs, low and dark, the knife glinting as he raises it once more. The train rumbles louder now.
Except it’s not a train.
It’s Liev.