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I nodded. “Yes. One of the shareholders paid you to frame Chris, didn’t they?”
He thought about it for a second, then shrugged in a what-do-I-have-to-lose manner. “Yeah, they did.”
He shook his head as he started pacing, lacing up the things on his hands. “I mean, it was odd. They knew who I was at the start, and they knew my boss was a secret shareholder. I guess your old man told them everything because he couldn’t entirely trust Chris. But beats me why he thought he could trust those assholes either.”
He sighed before continuing with his story. “They approached me first because I knew your old man. They wanted to know if you knew anything about the will, so I checked. I searched your house for the letter, but nothing. And they also wanted something else.”
So he was the one who broke into my house.That knowledge opened a whole new world of realization as Ferro moved to the other side of the room and glanced out the tiny window.
“At first, I thought they wanted me to kill the boss. That would have been a huge conflict of interest since I really like Chris. But they said that would be too difficult, so they wanted me to frame him instead.” He shook his head and shrugged. “It was a complicated plan, but go figure. They were terrified of the guy. I thought it was a win-win for me because maybe if Chris started feeling the heat of the law, he would be forced to rely on The Brotherhood and finally realize he was meant to be one of us. He was meant to lead us to the next level of wealth, unlike his brother, who kept fucking things up. But no, he just wanted to run away like a coward.” His eyes gleamed as he stared at me. “That was his plan, wasn’t it? To use you and escape. See, I figured it out when his dumbass brother couldn’t.”
“Wait,” I said, thinking quickly. “I can give you the million dollars. I have money.” I didn’t know exactly how much I could pull out, but according to Chris, my share was at least worth that much. “Better yet, I can sell you the shares. That way, you will be the majority owner of Revit Renewables.”
“Tempting,” Ferro said after thinking about it for a minute. “But, to be honest, I don’t want to get involved in all that corporate bullshit. I’m tired of the lifestyle too. The boss had the right idea in mind. I just want to get on a yacht and ride off into the sunset with more money than I know what to do with.”
“But more money is always better than less money,” I said, thinking on my feet. “How much did they agree to pay you for this job anyway? No matter what amount, we can pay you more.”
“Maybe. You can try, but it doesn’t seem like your man is so keen on it.”
Just then, Ferro’s phone started ringing again.
“Speak of the devil.” Ferro whipped his phone and answered with a, “What?”
“You haven’t touched her, have you?” Chris started with that. “Because I don’t really want to get damaged goods.”
That was his way of asking if I was okay.I instantly knew that was what he meant.
“Nah, she’s still untouched for now,” Ferro said, leering at me again.
“Good. Listen, I can only do five hundred thousand for now.”
“Are you trying to play games with me?” Ferro growled angrily. “You think I don’t know how much money you have lying around in the bank?”
“Of course you do,” Chris continued. “I know you probably know everything about me, considering how long you’ve been fucking following me around. I’m sure you planned this all along. But at the same time, you know I’m not a man who is just going to pull a million out from the bank with no proof of life, right?”
“Fine. Here’s your damn proof of life.” Suddenly, his hand grabbed my hair and yanked hard. I let out an involuntary scream, more so from the shock than anything.
Chris was silent for a few beats. “Okay then.” His voice was terse when he spoke again and said, “A million dollars it is. Where do I meet you?”
“That sounds more like it.” Ferro sounded amused. “I’ll send you the address in a second.”
He winked at me as he said it, and I just knew he was lying. This wouldn’t end with him giving me back to Chris. He was planning on doing whatever he wanted to me and then killing all of us anyway so Chris couldn’t find him after and exact revenge.
And with us all dead, he would have fulfilled his role and would get paid by the shareholders too. Double money.
“Don’t do it, Chris,” I screamed in warning. “It’s a trap—”
But then Ferro hung up and backhanded me across the face.
“You bitch,” he spat out, grabbing my hair and yanking me to my feet. “I’ll show you to mess with me.” He was a lot stronger than me, but I lashed out at him, kicking and scratching and fighting with all my might.
I needed to escape. Every survival instinct inside me was telling me to save myself and my unborn child. And Chris too. I needed to get out of here before they killed him.
Somehow, I managed to slip out of his hold as I was scratching his eyes out. Scrambling to my feet, I ignored my tied arms and bolted for the window before throwing myself out.
Using my still-tied arms to brace my fall so as to protect my abdomen area, I slammed onto the ground, and it knocked the breath out of me for a second, but then I was already up on my feet again.
I’d always been scrappy in a fight. This time, I started running to try and get away, but then someone grabbed my leg, and I tripped and fell on my butt. I kicked out hard, but I didn’t manage to hit my target. Ferro was snarling as he pulled me closer, holding strong to my leg.
