Chapter 14 #2
“No.” His tone was final. “No phone calls until you hand over the USB drive.”
My chest tightened. “What? If you don’t give me the phone, I’ll…” My voice trailed off. What would I do?
Shit. I needed to work on my threats.
“Oh, don’t leave me in suspense.” His smile was slow and deliberate. Mocking. “What were you going to do?” Ryder stubbed out his cigarette, only to reach into his pocket for a knife.
I stifled my immature response, flinching when he opened it with a snap.
“Look, I need to cancel my class. You’ll have to tell your sister that…”
A chuckle vibrated up his throat as the knife flashed open and shut, flicking between his fingers with a casual, dangerous ease.
“Wait… you don’t even have a sister, do you? Oh my God, was any of it real?”
He shrugged, his amusement not quite reaching his eyes. “Could have a sister. My mother was a whore and all that.” The casual cruelty in his tone made my skin crawl.
I gritted my teeth, trying to keep myself calm. “Ryder. Give me a phone.”
For a moment he simply watched me, weighing how far I might push. Then, slow and deliberate, he flicked the knife closed and opened a desk drawer. “Take this, but be quick.”
Grabbing the phone before he changed his mind, I stepped back as Ryder returned his attention to his many screens.
The phone was as basic as they came, with buttons rather than a touch screen.
There was no internet access or anything other than a way to call or send SMS. Dialling Bug’s number from memory, it immediately clicked straight to her voicemail.
Which wasn’t a surprise considering she probably had her music up to max while sculpting.
“Bug, it’s me. I need you to cancel my class, and…” My mind stalled. What do I even say? “Just… there’s something I need to take care of, so I won’t be home for a few days.” I glanced sideways, finding Ryder watching me from the corner of his eye. “I’m safe, don’t worry. I just—”
The screen on Ryder’s left flashed, revealing my flat. Two men stood there, opening my door with an ease as if they had a key.
“Bug, I have to go. I’ll call you when I can, okay?” I hung up quickly and stepped closer to the screen, pulse hammering as the men vanished inside. Then the feed went black. “Wait… where did it go?”
“Signals been going in and out,” Ryder said evenly. “Possible they’ve got a jammer.”
“We should call the police.”
“And what are they going to do?” He turned to fully face me.
“See, this is why I didn’t want to give you a phone.
You honestly believe the police would lift a finger to untangle whatever shit your mum’s dragged you into?
Half of the force are on the take, and the other half are either too scared, or corrupt as fuck. ”
“She hasn’t got herself involved in anything. She’s sick—”
“Yeah, right. Tell that to Cedric, the guy I left hogtied in your bedroom. I’m sure the police will find that reeeal kinky. By the way, he’s not just a thief; he does wet work too. But go ahead, call them. See how this all plays out.”
“Wet work?” I repeated, my voice barely above a whisper.
Ryder rolled his eyes, as if I was a child asking why the sky was blue. “He’s the sort of guy that if you hired him to steal a ring, he’d bring you the entire finger, still bleeding.”
I immediately rang 999.
“Hello, emergency services. How may I—”
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” His grip clamped around my wrist, yanking the phone from my hand. “Did you not hear a single word I just said? Call the police, and the people after your mum vanish. Along with any chance of answers and protecting my fucking reputation.”
Leaving the room, he tossed the phone into the microwave, turning it on for a full minute.
I just gaped at him when I followed, the phone sparking a little through the glass.
“What are you—”
“Is that what you want?” he snapped, glowering down at me. “You might have the survival instinct of a goldfish, but I’m not letting you drag me down with you. Now sit over there and keep quiet.”
His tone made me bristle. “I’m not a dog.”
“No, at least a dog knows how to obey.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, fighting to steady the panic and anger surging through me as I trailed behind him back to his office.
My leg bounced while my fingers twisted the hem of my sleeve. Every part of me refused to stay still, which was usually why I always had a sketchbook. I wasn’t used to feeling this out of control, not even when mum was losing it.
“You’re impossible, you know that?” Ryder muttered, catching my hand. “Can’t even trust you to stand still.”
With one sharp tug he hauled me closer, and I stumbled straight onto his lap, facing the wall of glowing monitors. His arms locked tight around me, a cage I couldn’t slip from, while his fingers flew over the keyboard as if I wasn’t even there.
I froze, my brain taking a moment to catch up because what the fuck? Did he just put me on his lap? Like a child?
The loading bar on the screen stuttered, then glitched into an error message.
“For fuck’s sake,” he growled behind me, low and irritated.
“What are you doing?” I snapped, every nerve in my body on high alert. Uncomfortable, confused, and yet… still not moving.
“Trying to unlock Cedric’s phone. But it’s encrypted,” he explained as if I wasn’t still sitting on him. Not even trying to escape, apparently.
“And… what does that mean, exactly?”
He let out a low growl of frustration, the vibration of it humming against my back.
“It means I’m a thief with decent computer skills, not an expert hacker.
Give me a physical lock and I’m your man.
But software this complicated? Nope. Especially not on something that’s locked tighter than a nun’s knickers. ”
Reaching forward, he unplugged the phone.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
Ryder exhaled heavily, his breath brushing my ear. “It means,” he muttered, “I need to call in a favour.”