Page 88 of Abundance of Obsession

The other guard grabs him by the jacket and pulls him back to his original position.

“Are you stupid or something?” Ryker asks with steely calm. “You think you can just come here and screw us over? You’re going to steal two million bucks right under my nose and I won’t notice?”

“Fuck you,” Rowan hisses. “You won’t need that money much longer anyway.”

Silence falls. The kind you could cut with a cleaver.

No one moves. No one speaks.

And then Ryker erupts in laughter. He pushes himself away from the desk, unbuttons his cuffs, and rolls up the sleeves of his shirt. He does it so slowly that if I didn’t know him, I would already be shitting myself in fear.

That’s the goal: to intimidate Rowan.

I watch the whole scene from a corner of Ryker’s office. Arms folded across my chest, boredom on my face.

That’s the job…

“Enlighten me, my friend. Why on earth won’t I need this money?”

Rowan bares his teeth like a rabid dog. “You won’t last long here. Aiden will take care of you sooner than you think.”

“Oh, Aiden…” Ryker shakes his head, clicking his tongue. “I assume you’re a team player?”

“I’m a team player for the side that wins. Always.”

“Maybe you’ll tell me how this is going to play out?”

“Fuck off, Elliot. I’m not telling you shit.” Rowan spits on the floor.

Ryker’s frozen calm smells of blood. He walks over to him and squats down. “You say shit? I’ll tell you something…”

The phone in my pocket startles me. It distracts me from the scene in the room. Everything else fades into the background.

Seeing Zoe’s name on the screen, I turn my back on everyone and answer in a hushed voice.

“Is it important? I’m in the middle of—”

“It’s urgent,” she blurts.

She’s breathing fast. I hear footsteps in the background—quick, nervous.

That’s enough for me. I tense up all over.

“What happened? Where are you?”

“Where are you? Are you with Ryker? We need to talk. Like right now.” Her voice rises. I hear her panic and feel my own.

Glancing over my shoulder, I see my brother still tending to Rowan. No one is paying attention to me.

“We’re at Feather. Tell me you’re safe,” I demand.

Only when she confirms it, I exhale. My muscles relax a little. Only then do I recognize how tense they’d been.

I close my eyes for a split second.

“I’ll send a car for you. It’s past midnight.”

“No. I’ll be there soon,” she replies and hangs up.