Chapter 12 - The Devil’s Bargain
Nathaniel accepted the device, sliding his thumb across the screen and putting it on speakerphone.
"Nathaniel, darling," Victoria's sweet, sickeningly familiar voice floated into the room. "I trust you enjoyed the fireworks? You always did love an extravagant entrance."
"Victoria," Nathaniel growled, every muscle in his body coiling tight. "Enjoy your borrowed time. Every intelligence agency on the planet is tracking your father’s shell accounts. You will die in an iron cage."
Victoria burst into manic, theatrical laughter on the other end. "Oh, my sweet, naive billionaire. You think this is about money? Daddy might care about the Thorne empire, but I only care about one thing. I want the little cockroach who stole my ring."
Rose stepped closer to the phone, her voice dropping into icy composure. "I didn't steal your ring, Victoria. You threw it away the second you decided murder was an acceptable way to get a wedding."
"Ah, the maid speaks!" Victoria sneered, her tone twisting into venomous rage. "Listen to me, you pathetic peasant. Do you know where your precious brother is right now?"
Rose's blood froze solid. Her breath caught in her throat. "What did you say?"
"Leo," Victoria purred with sadistic delight. "The private school bus on Route 9? A lovely armored vehicle. But do you know what happens when a gas tanker accidentally loses its brakes on a mountain pass?"
Nathaniel grabbed Marcus by the lapels, his eyes wild with terror, mouthing silently: *CHECK LEO NOW.*
Marcus was already tapping furiously into his tablet, his face going ghastly pale. He looked up, shaking his head in horror.
"The GPS on the escort convoy went dead three minutes ago, sir," Marcus whispered.
Rose felt the world tilt on its axis. Her heart felt as though it were being ripped from her chest with bare hands. Leo—the innocent, gentle boy she had raised through starvation and bitter cold—was in the jaws of a monster.
"What do you want, Victoria?" Rose asked, her voice deadly, stripped of all human warmth, hollowed out into pure lethal intent.
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"The old docks at Hudson Point," Victoria whispered chillingly. "Pier 44. You come alone, Rose. If I see a single Vance bodyguard, a single police car, or your billionaire lapdog within ten miles... I’ll burn the school bus with your little brother locked inside."
*Click.* The line went dead.
