Jax had Damien’s cellphone number. Damien was now on the phone with the man who had kidnapped my mother. My eyes widened when I heard Jax’s voice come through the speaker of Damien’s phone, making me slap a hand over my mouth in surprise. “May I know who this is? It’s quite disrespectful to call someone if you’re going to insult them,” Damien said, but he obviously knew who it was from the way he was looking at me and communicating with his eyes for me to calm down and listen. Jax laughed in response to what Damien had said. “I knew you would be some sort of serious man to talk to. Even your angry voice sounds like you’re discussing business with me,” he teased. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you where you are in the house now.” I started to ask myself if he had caught on to the silence, and my heart jumped when I figured it out. If he was listening to Damien from the wiretaps as well, he would know that we were in a room where there was no wiretap.
I showed Damien the text that I had gotten when he was done with work later that evening, texting him to ask what to do and if it was true from the kidnapper’s side this time as I had been tricked one too many times. He took my hand and guided me to the guestroom, where he could speak without having to fear that he would be heard. “I’ve decided that we should have a small wedding with just family and some friends before you go ahead with this once again,” he suggested, pulling me into confusion. “Why hurry? What difference would it make?” I asked. “I have a group of people employed to protect my family, and my family alone. They wouldn’t consider your mother one if something were to happen to her and I needed them to help her. She has a higher chance of being protected when she’s seen as a member of my family,” he explained. I didn’t know who the people were, but if they were working for him, why couldn’t they follow his orders and protect any
“Just who do you think you are to call me and tell me something like that?” I snapped as soon as Conrad stopped talking. Jade tapped me on the arm and gave me a questioning brow raise, but I shook my head and blinked at her to assure her that everything would be fine. “This is not the time to argue with me over what you think I’m saying or not. You may think you know what you’re doing, but you don’t. I know that you’re desperate for all the help you can get and that’s why you’re going through with the wedding this fast, but it’s not worth it. You’re better off sorting this out by yourself.” There was some kind of urgency in his voice that made me want to give his words a thought, but the words he used threw me off and annoyed me enough to postpone thinking about anything until I was alone. “I am not desperate for anything,” I denied. “I think it’s better for you to forget that I have this number. Never call me again, and focus on your fiancée.”
Due to the conditions that I had grown up in, I never had the time to sit and daydream about what my dream wedding would be. I didn’t have a certain Prince Charming image in my head until I met Conrad, and I never thought that I would be getting married to his uncle right in front of him while he was engaged to my former best friend, Shirley. “I don’t think I’m breathing properly. I think the corset of the dress is too tight,” I admitted to Jade, who sat by me in the car on the way to the venue of the wedding. Jade had shown up earlier with an entire team of stylists to do my hair and makeup, and I had been uneasy and nervous since then. “I think you should try breathing in,” Jade laughed, taking my hand and giving it a small squeeze to help me take a deep breath. “You keep holding your breath.” “I don’t have a father. I don’t have anyone to walk me down the aisle,” I confessed as my chest tightened with the urge to break down and sob.
I had grown sick and tired of everyone around me telling me to leave Damien and that I was making a huge mistake, treating me like a child that they couldn’t explain a thing as they expected me to make decisions based on how they felt about things. “You know, things would be so much better if you just told me what this whole thing is all about. I still don’t know who you all think the problem is – me or Damien,” I told Darla, exhausted from everything. “I’m afraid you can’t know what it’s about. As for who the problem is, it’s neither of you. I just believe that you’re vulnerable and susceptible to some things that you might not like when you start to live with Damien as his wife.” I found it comical that she was telling me that after I had gotten married to Damien. There was also an urge to ask her if she had said the same thing to Katarina, her friend. Instead, I turned around and walked away. “There’s really nothing we can do about it now,” I mutt
“What do you mean by that?” I asked, my brows furrowing in confusion as he raised his hand and handed me the keys to the house. “This is the house I’m gifting to you for our marriage,” he explained. “Oh, I can’t.” I gasped, giving the keys back to him. “You know I can’t take it, Damien. We’re not going to be married for very long. This is too much.” “Lauren, you’re going to take it,” he argued, moving back so that he would not take the keys from me. “If we ever do get divorced later, I don’t want you to start over from a difficult place. You now have a place to stay for the rest of your life with your mother.” “It’s too much. Maybe something smaller could suffice. Besides, I didn’t get you anything,” I admitted. I had not held it in mind that I was supposed to get him something, and the shame of it would not let me take the house. “Lauren.” He held me by the shoulders and shook his head. “You will not reject it.” There was silenc
“I’m coming to get her now,” I said to the kidnapper over the phone the next morning, referring to my mother. Damien had gotten called for a work emergency, so I had asked him to drive me back to the house before he left, where I took a shower and made the call. “You weren’t home throughout yesterday. A little bird told me that you finally got married to that old man of yours. Don’t you think it’s insensitive, getting married to someone when your mother is in the hands of someone who could kill her?” he taunted. “Please, just…” I closed my eyes and shook my head, not ready to have that conversation with anyone, especially the person who took her away from me. “I’ll be there in a while.” “You should be. This is going to be interesting,” he muttered before hanging up the phone. I took a taxi to the address that I was given, my heart going a mile a minute as I thought of the possibilities. What if I did something wrong at the last minute and she
“Katarina?” I stared at her in shock as she stared back with nothing but absolute contempt and murderous intent. The other kidnappers saw my surprise as the perfect opportunity to get me into the van, so they pushed me and sat on either side of me with Katarina getting in last with the gun still aimed at me. “I don’t understand how… You have been a part of it this whole time?” I asked, my eyes narrowed at her as a lump started to grow in my chest and weigh me down. “Not the whole time,” she said as she finally put the gun down when the van started to move. “You almost had her, you know. The first time at the first club, you were so close, but I was closer.” At first, I was confused by her words, and then I realized that the first group of people who had kidnapped her were not the same as Katarina’s people. She laughed when she saw the realization growing on my face and widening my eyes as she confirmed it; “Yes, we took her from the first club