CHAPTER SEVEN
On the third day, everything changes.
I wake up to shouting. Loud, angry voices shouting.
“Get up,” he snarls.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“I’m the guy who’s going to make you regret being born if you don’t shut up and do what I say,” he says.
This must be John’s enforcer. The one Dimitri and Alexander were afraid of.
He grabs me roughly and cuts the zip tie from my ankle. Then he drags me out of the cell.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“To make a video,” he says. “John wants your boyfriend to know we mean business.”
My blood runs cold.
He drags me to another room where there’s a camera set up. He shoves me into a chair.
“Sit,” he commands.
I sit.
He turns on the camera and steps back.
“Say your name,” he orders.
“Lorelai,” I say quietly.
“Louder,” he barks.
“Lorelai,” I say again.
“Good. Now tell your boyfriend that if he doesn’t give us the entire seed phrase in the next twenty-four hours, we’re going to start cutting off your fingers.”
I stare at him in horror.
“Say it,” he growls.
“Hunter,” I say to the camera, my voice shaking. “They want the seed phrase. They say... they say if you don’t give it to them in twenty-four hours, they’ll hurt me.”
“Tell him we’re serious,” the man says.
“They’re serious,” I say.
The man turns off the camera. “Good. Now back to your cell.”
He drags me back, but on the way, I see something that makes my heart skip.
Alexander is standing in the hallway. And he’s holding a gun.
“Let her go,” Alexander says, his voice shaking.
The big man laughs. “Put the gun down, kid. Before you hurt yourself.”
“I said let her go,” Alexander repeats.
“Alexander, don’t,” I say. “It’s not worth it.”
But Alexander isn’t listening. He’s focused on the big man.
“I’m done with this,” Alexander says. “I’m done with John, I’m done with all of this. Let her go and I won’t shoot.”
The big man moves faster than I would have thought possible. In seconds, he’s disarmed Alexander and has him pinned against the wall.
“Big mistake, kid,” he snarls.
Then Dimitri appears out of nowhere and hits the big man over the head with something heavy. The man falls to the ground. Hard.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I ask Dimitri.
“Saving your asses,” Dimitri says. “Now move. We don’t have much time.”
He tosses me a key. “Your hands.”
I unlock the zip ties around my wrists while Dimitri helps Alexander up.
“Can you walk?” Dimitri asks him.
“Yeah,” Alexander says, rubbing his head.
“Then let’s go,” Dimitri says. “There’s a back exit. My car’s outside.”
We run through the hallways, my heart pounding. Behind us, I hear the big man starting to wake up.
“Faster!” Dimitri shouts.
We burst through a door into the night air. Dimitri’s car is right where he said it would be.
We pile in and Dimitri peels out just as the big man emerges from the warehouse, shouting.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Somewhere safe,” Dimitri says. “I know a place.”