Dax shoves the door at Louie, but the hitman is ready, and takes a quick step into the room. Dropping his shoulder, he rams into Dax’s stomach, sending him slamming back against the wall with a grunt.
“Dax!”
“Stay…back,” he orders, and brings his joined hands down hard on the back of the big man’s neck. Louie sends Dax flying over his shoulder, and he lands on his back, the air leaving his lungs in a loud whoosh.
“He has a gun!” I cry, except I’m wrong. It’s not a pistol, but a Taser, and the twin prongs fly, embedding themselves in Dax’s chest.
The man I love twitches and spasms uncontrollably, then lies still as the door opens again, and Noah strolls in.
“Unless you want me to have Louie start cutting off body parts, Evianna, I suggest you come with me. Right now.”
Louis drops to one knee, grabs Dax’s hand, and presses a knife against the joint of his thumb.
“Stop!” I take one step forward, my hands raised. “Don’t hurt him. I’ll…do whatever you want. Just…let me make sure he’s okay. Please.”
Noah nods once, and I fall to my knees next to Dax. “Please, open your eyes, baby,” I whisper. “I…I love you.”
“Enough,” Noah says, and Louis grabs my arm and drags me out of the room. Right before the door slams shut, I think I see Dax’s eyes open.
The hallway’s just as dark as the room we were in, and between the fear and the after-effects of whatever Noah gave me, I can’t focus on any details. Not with how fast Louie’s walking. We take a corner, then another, and Noah steps aside.
I scream, and as I pull against Louie’s hold, he releases me, but just as quickly, wraps his arms around me from behind and lifts me off the ground, carrying me into another small, windowless room, and depositing me on a metal chair.
“Hold her down. Gently,” Noah says, and reaches for a roll of duct tape on the table in front of me.
It’s like the world’s worst bear hug, tainted by the disgusting scent of stale cigarette smoke and body odor. Noah wraps the tape around my torso and my left arm, leaving only my right free, then starts on my thighs, binding them to the seat of the chair.
“I do apologize, Evianna. But none of this works if the police find marks on you.”
“None of what, asshole? You drugged me and brought me…where? That’s kidnapping, assault, probably a half-dozen other crimes.”
Taking a seat across from me, Noah opens a folder and withdraws a piece of Beacon Hill Technologies letterhead. “You couldn’t simply let things go. Instead, you had to start investigating me. I shut the server down, you know. The one your boyfriend tried to hack.”
Shit.
I try to wriggle in my chair to test the tape, but Louie slams a hand down on my shoulder. “Keep moving, bitch, and I’ll go have some fun with the blind guy.”
“What do you want, Noah?” I stare him down, but I don’t know what I hope to accomplish. I’m duct taped to a chair, for fuck’s sake. And Dax…he’s trapped and alone.
Digging into his jacket pockets, he sets a pen, then a container of prescription sleeping pills on the table. Louie hands him a bottle of water, and Noah cracks the seal. “I want you to take responsibility for Alfie’s security breach. And after you’ve done so, you’ll take ten of those little pills, and fall asleep. By the time they discover your body, I’ll have all the information I need for many, many years.”
“Suicide?” My voice breaks, and I shrink back—as much as the hard metal chair will let me. “Noah, please. We’ve worked so hard…”
“Don’t make me hurt your boyfriend, Evianna. Write the note, and I promise you this: His death will be quick and painless. A single bullet to the head, and we’ll dump his body in the Charles River. I’ll make sure your mother is taken care of too…for the rest of her natural life.”
Tears spill onto my cheeks. “Mom,” I whisper. “No.”
“I’m not a monster, Evianna. She won’t want for anything.” Noah leans forward, and the earnestness in his hazel eyes makes me want to vomit. He’s actually serious. “I lost my father to Alzheimer’s. Did you know that?”
“N-no.” I can barely force the word out, my tears dripping down my chin and onto my tank. I don’t want to die. Not like this. And Dax…I’ve killed him too. “P-please, Noah. D-don’t d-do this.”
“I’ll do this with or without your cooperation, Evianna. I could simply pour those pills down your throat and type your suicide note from your work computer. But handwriting is so much more…irrefutable.”
“Wh-why? We…we built…something great, Noah. Something…th-that w-will change the w-world.” My tears lend a shimmer to the room, and I can’t stop shaking.
“Because I’ll never have to work another day in my entire life. The amount of information I’ll be able to get from Alfie in her first few days…it’ll set me up for life.” He sits back and crosses his arms over his chest. “I need an answer, Evianna. Right now.”
Louie steps up to the table and opens the bottle of pills. The look in his dark eyes…he’ll do it. Force me to swallow the pills and that’ll be the end of everything. Of me. Of Dax. Of…us.
