Page 96 of Five

I’m man-handled into a dark hallway, through a set of double doors, then another door that thunks closed so loud it sounds like it’s made of steel. My stomach is still screaming at me, but thankfully, I have not hurled again. Whatever they gave me must’ve been fast-acting, but short-lasting.

The bodyguard—because that’s totally what he is—practically throws me down into a chair. My head hits the metal table and everything spins for a few minutes.

When I look up, Blondie is sitting across from me, hands folded in front of her, resting on the table, like she hasn’t got a care in the world.

We’re in a dark room with a single spotlight shining down on a single table with two chairs, and two people, and only one reason to be here.

They are going to kill me.

“You have no idea who you’re messing with, little girl.”

No. I refuse to give them that satisfaction.

“Fair enough,” I manage to spit back at Blondie. “But neither do you.”

“Oh, I know all about you, Aurora.”

I scowl at the name and that makes her smile bigger.

“I know that the man you love thinks he can get away from us.”

“What?”

She chuckles. And if I wasn’t just poisoned, dragged into some kind of interrogation room, and loomed over by her menacing bodyguard… I’d think it was a good-natured laugh.

But it’s not.

“Honey, please. You come from—” She looks at her bodyguard. “What was it she told Frank?” But it’s a rhetorical question, because she looks back at me and says, “Her family is pretty much nothing but bikers and tattoo artists?”

“That’s right,” I say, forcing my bravado. “And you do not want to mess with us.”

“Don’t worry, sweetie. We don’t even want you. We don’t want any of you. We only want the men you bring along.”

I can’t help it, my face scrunches up.

“Women are, for the most part, at least, the weaker sex. Don’t you agree?” She’s asking the bodyguard again, and again doesn’t wait for an answer. “But they are useful in many ways.” She appears to think about this for a second and then adds, “Necessary.”

“So you’re weak?” I ask, wincing as my stomach protests against the remnants of the poison.

“Oh, no. I’m not weak at all. But it’s not me Silver wanted when they invited me in. It was my stupid brother. He’s too young yet. I’m just an insurance policy. It’ll be a few years before they get their payoff. But by then, I’ll have climbed my way to the top. And I’m going to do that by using you to get your precious Five Aston to play along with our plans.”

“He won’t do it,” I seethe. “Not the way you think, at least. He will… he will…” But I cannot come up with a menacing enough threat to make her think twice about what she’s doing.

What is she doing? I try to look around the room better, but I can’t see past the bright spotlight shining down on this single table.

I swallow hard and say, “You’ve severely misjudged him if you think he’s coming here to make a deal with you.”

“He’s already here, dear. We’re about to get him right now. And we’re going to use you to do it.”

“I won’t,” I say, shaking my head.

“You will. Or,” she says, holding up a thin white wafer, “you’ll eat this and die before he finds you.”

I stare at her. Who the fuck is this lady?

“He’s quite a prize. Genius-level hacker. Old-money family. Company connections, I hear.”

I have to close my eyes to hold down the vomit when she says the word Company.