“Sasha!” I shouted back. “Sweetness, are you okay?”
Fuck. Fuck!I could barely breathe.
“Alec…Alec, I love you.” Her words tore into my chest.
“Sasha, baby! Oh, God! Have they hurt you?” I’d spent hours waiting for the call, and now that I’d heard her voice, I could barely think straight. If I could have reached down the line and dragged her into my arms, I would have given my last breath to do it. “Sasha, I—!” But I was speaking to dead air.
And then another voice broke in. Smooth, oily, heavily accented. “Mr. Walker,” the man said, “you have had some good fortune.”
“What do you want?” I roared down the line. “Anything! Tell me what the fuck you want!”
Andy set his hand on my shoulder. I was shuddering with the effort of holding my shit together.
“Fifty-one,” the voice on the other end replied.
I shook my head in confusion. “Fifty-one? Million?” It was fine. I would do it. “Where? When? Name the time and place,” I demanded.
“Fifty-one percent, Mr. Walker,” the man replied. I stopped and frowned for a moment. Andy was staring down at me.
“I don’t—” I began. What the fuck was he talking about?
“Fifty-one percent of your new business venture, Mr. Walker. You will cede it to my representative, or you will never see her alive again. My attorney will be in touch.” The line went dead. I sat in silence as understanding began to sink in. They wanted a controlling share in the new company.
I looked up at Andy, whose expression had grown grim. I saw the answer in his eyes before he’d opened his mouth to speak.
“Prince,” his voice was hoarse, “I’m so sorry. We can’t—”
I was on my feet and launching myself. I hit him square in the face before he’d finished the sentence.
Don’t say it. Don’t fucking say it!
He was flat on his back beneath me, not putting up a fight as I prepared to land another blow to his jaw. He shook his head.
“My friend…they’ll never allow it,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry. It’s not up to me.”
My fist smashed into the floor beside his head, and I felt my knuckles crunch. There was no way I could meet their demands. Nothing I could do about it. And they were going to kill her.
“No!” I roared into the silence that suddenly filled the room.
