Controlled Burn (Blackbridge Security 8)

My phone was left behind, and that makes me lose even more hope. If this man had held on to it, I figured Finn would get Wren to track me once he realized I was missing. I doubt the man put a tracker of any sort on my car because he wouldn’t have had a reason to since we were together mostly all the time.

I had only thought I felt hopeless before, but until now, I never knew true despair.

“Sit the fuck down,” the man snaps when I just stand in the middle of the room.

I have no idea why I’m looking around. It’s not like getting free from him would solve anything. The other guy, the man with the dragon tattoo on his neck, has my kids, and I believe this evil man when he says one text would activate my worst nightmare.

“I said sit down,” the man snarls, shoving at my back until I sprawl forward, my hands hitting the concrete floor.

I scream as pain radiates up my arm and I roll to my back and clutch my wrist to my chest.

He inches closer, and I scramble to get away from him, somehow managing to press my back to the wall.

He stops, seeming satisfied with my new position, and grins.

“It’s broken,” he says, looking at my wrist.

I don’t bother breaking eye contact with him, but I know he’s right. It throbs, my heartbeat pounding in my wrist, and I can tell just from clutching it that it’s already beginning to swell.

“Now, how are we going to get all that money?”

I shake my head. I’ve been over this more than once since he first pointed his gun at me.

“I don’t have three hundred grand.” I swallow. “I have thirteen thousand.”

He narrows his eyes. “You said you have a hundred.”

“I never said I had a hundred grand.”

“A hundred dollars,” he snaps. “Are you fucking toying with me?”

The threat in his eyes is clear. He doesn’t like to be fucked with.

“In my wallet,” I clarify. “I have a hundred dollars in my wallet, but I have more in the bank.”

“Let’s go get it,” he snaps, inching even closer.

“I h-have a limit of thirty-five hundred. I can only get that amount tonight.”

His upper lip twitches, and I can’t tell if he’s pissed or considering the money I’m offering.

“Thirteen grand is still a lot of money.” He says it in a way that tells me he’s going to fuck up.

Fuck up as in probably screw over the Keres MC which doesn’t benefit either of us. He probably took this job with the understanding that actually finding the three hundred grand and jump drive was a long shot. He never anticipated having that kind of cash in his hand. His eyes narrow as he does the math, and I imagine thirteen grand is a lot more than Keres offered him to carry out this job. It’s very bad for the kids and me because he doesn’t seem the type to leave behind witnesses.

“I wouldn’t,” I warn.

“Wouldn’t what, bitch?”

“Adrian Larrick will kill you if you steal so much as a penny from him.”

His jaw clenches, but I can tell he’s actually hearing what I say. Maybe the man isn’t completely unreasonable after all.

“Is it thirty-five hundred every twenty-four hours or does it restart at midnight?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t fucking lie to me!” he roars, his scuffed boots getting close enough to kick me if he decides that’s the best way to relieve some of his anger.

I curl tighter, still keeping my eyes on him. “I’ve never taken that much money out. I don’t know. But we can go now and then try again at midnight.”

Even those two withdrawals wouldn’t drain my account, meaning I’d have to be with him for a very long time before he gets all the money, and my kids would have to be with the other guy that long as well.

“Or we can wait until morning, and I can go inside the bank and make a full withdrawal,” I offer.

“So you can alert the fucking police?” he snarls.

“I’d never do anything to compromise my children’s safety,” I remind him.

He nods as if considering what I’m telling him, but then he begins to pace around the room, extremely agitated with the decision he has to make. I keep silent and as small as possible with my back still to the wall.

Sunlight begins to fade in the sky, and I watch it disappear through the high warehouse windows as he mumbles to himself. The office we’re in has one solid wall which my back is against and three walls of windows, no doubt for the boss man to be able to look into the warehouse to make sure his workers are staying on task. The warehouse surrounding this one room is filled with what looked like machinery on the way in. The layers of dust and trash scattered all around the floor told me that it hadn’t been used in quite some time. No one is going to show up for work in the wee hours of the morning and discover us here. I was on my own with this man, and as time crawls by, he just gets more and more agitated.