Chapter 4: The Predator’s Slip

Waking up was like being dragged through glass. My head hurt a lot, an ache that throbbed behind my eyes. It was a parting gift from whatever chemical cocktail Peter had forced into my system. I tried to move. My limbs felt heavy, uncoordinated and cold.

I wasn't in the velvet armchair anymore. I was lying on a soft bed that felt like it was swallowing me whole. The room was dim with heavy blackout curtains drawn tight against the afternoon sun. For a moment the silence was so absolute I thought I was still dreaming. Then I smelled cologne and sterile hotel air.

Next, I felt hungry. It wasn't a craving; it was a violent hollow gnawing in my stomach that made me feel faint. My body was screaming for food to process the toxins Peter had pumped into me.

I heard a heavy lock turning. I stiffened, pulling the silk duvet up to my chin. The door. A sliver of artificial hallway light spilt across the carpet. It was the bodyguard with the neck tattoo and flint-like eyes. He was carrying a tray with a yummy-smelling steak and garlic potatoes.

He set the tray down on the nightstand with a clatter. "The boss said you'd be hungry. Eat."

I didn't argue. I couldn't afford to. I sat up, my head spinning and reached for the fork. I ate with a desperation that felt primal barely tasting the food as I forced it down.. While my mouth was busy my mind was finally starting to clear. I needed a way out. I needed Juno.

Juno is my anchor. My best friend is a woman who doesn't take no for an answer and knows how to navigate the darker corners of the city. If I can just get a message to her the police will be at this hotel within the hour.. I'm stripped of everything. No phone, no purse, not even a watch.

I looked at the guard. He was standing by the door, his arms crossed, his posture bored but alert. He had a smartphone tucked into a holster on his belt. It was inches away. Miles out of reach.

I needed him to lose his cool. I needed him to step into my space to forget the distance Peter had commanded.

"You know " I said, my voice. Gaining strength. I set the fork down. Leaned back against the headboard watching him through narrowed eyes. "I bet Peter doesn't pay you enough for this. To be a glorified babysitter for a woman who's eventually going to be his brother's problem."

The guard didn't blink. "Eat your food, lady."

"Is that all you can say? Did he buy your tongue along with your soul?" I let out a mocking laugh. "I've seen guys like you in my husband's office. Strung, acting like tough guys but really you're just the help. You're the one who cleans up the mess while the Moretti brothers fight over their toys. Do you like watching another man's wife sleep? Is that the highlight of your career?"

His jaw tightened. A vein in his temple began to throb. I had found a nerve.

"Shut up " he growled.

". What? You'll inject me again? Peter wouldn't like that. He said he wanted me in 'pristine condition.' If you bruise me he'll have your head.. I guess you're used to taking orders from men who are better than you. Men who have money, power and women like me. You're the dog at the gate waiting for a scrap of attention."

I leaned forward, my voice dropping to a whisper. "You're pathetic. In this room, bound and drugged I have more value than you ever will. You're a nobody. A shadow. A failure in a suit."

The guard snapped. He lunged forward, his face turning a mottled red. He crossed the distance in two strides looming over the bed, his hand raised as if he wanted to strike me.

"You think you're special?" he spat, his voice trembling with fury. "You're just a trade-in! Your husband didn't want you! Your ex-boyfriend bought you! You're nothing but a slave.

In his rage, he leaned too far over the bed. He didn't notice my hand dipping toward his belt. With a precision born of desperation, my fingers hooked around the cold glass of his phone and slid it out of the holster. I tucked it instantly under the duvet, my heart hammering hard. I thought it would burst.

"Get out " I whispered, faking a sob. "Just get out of my sight."

He stood there for a second breathing heavily, his chest heaving. He seemed to realise he had overstepped. He straightened his jacket, his eyes still burning with hate but he didn't check his belt. He was too consumed by his ego to realise he'd been played.

"Stay there " he barked, turning on his heel. He stomped back to the door slamming it shut and clicking the lock.

I didn't waste a heartbeat. I scrambled off the bed. Bolted for the bathroom locking the door behind me. My hands were shaking so violently that I almost dropped the device. I sat on the edge of the marble tub, the screen illuminating my face.

It was unlocked. He hadn't even set a passcode.

I dialled Juno's number from memory and the digits burned into my brain. Pick up. Please Juno pick up.

"Hello?" Her voice was impatient. Classic Juno.

"Juno! It's Beatrice! Don't hang up, listen to me!" I kept my voice as low as possible, pressing my lips against the microphone.

"Bea? Where are you? I've been calling you all morning! Caspian told me you were away on a retreat.

"Caspian lied! Juno listened to me carefully. I've been taken. I'm at the Grand Imperial Hotel, Penthouse Suite 1. Peter... Caspians brother... He's holding me here. He drugged me. He's planning something. Caspian let him do it."

There was an intake of breath on the other end. Juno didn't waste time with "how" or "why." She was already moving; I could hear the jingle of her car keys.

"The Grand Imperial? Suite 1? Bea are you safe now?"

"I'm in the bathroom but I don't have much time. The guard is outside. Juno, please call the police. Tell them it's a kidnapping. Tell them I'm being held against my will. Please hurry."

"I'm calling them now. I'm driving straight there. Stay locked in that bathroom Bea. Do you hear me? Do not come out until you hear sirens."

"I will. Just hurry, Juno. Please."

I ended the call with my breath coming in gasps. I looked at the phone at the bathroom door. I knew the guard would realise his phone was missing any second. I had to hide it. I shoved the device into the bottom of the laundry hamper burying it under a pile of plush towels.

I stood up, smoothing my robe trying to steady my breathing. I walked back to the door. Sat on the floor leaning my back against the wood.

The silence of the suite felt different now. It wasn't a tomb anymore; it was a fortress. Out there the world was coming for me. The police are coming. Juno is coming.

But as I heard the guards' muffled voices outside the door start to rise in confusion. Likely realizing his holster was empty. I realised the hardest part was just beginning. I had to survive until the sirens arrived.

I closed my eyes. Prayed that for once, in his life Peter Moretti had underestimated the woman he thought he owned.

Chapter 5: The Shattered Contract

The bathroom door was not much of a barrier against the trouble I knew was coming. I sat on the floor listening to the sound of the guard figuring out his mistake.. Instead of the yelling I expected there was just a low tapping at the main door. Then the sound of the lock clicking open.

"Beatrice? I know you are awake. The guard told me you had a bit of lunch."

It was Peter. His voice was calm, not angry like his employee was. I stayed quiet hiding in the corner of the bathroom my heart beating fast like a bird that wants to fly

"Come out Beatrice. There is no point in hiding. We need to talk. I do not want to have to break down the door."

I realised that if I stayed hidden I would miss my chance to see what was happening. I needed to keep Peter busy until Juno came to help me. I stood up, wiped the sweat from my forehead and opened the bathroom door.

Peter was standing by the window looking out at the afternoon sky which had turned a dark purple colour. He did not look angry, he looked happy like a man who had just figured out a puzzle.

"There you are, " he said, pointing to the chair I had been sitting in earlier. "Sit down please. You look like you are ready to run and there is really nowhere to go."

"Why am I here Peter? Tell me the truth, not that stuff about restoring order."

Peter walked over to me stopping a foot away. He looked at me with a mix of feelings, sorry for me and impressed. "The truth is that Caspian is a coward. He has good taste. He used my money to build a business. He used you to make it strong.. The deal we made is not just about getting revenge. It is about being useful."

He leaned in, his eyes shining. "Caspian gets to keep his freedom and his business. I get the things he took from me plus the one thing he really cared about.. For you Beatrice this is a good thing. You get to stay at the top, you get to keep the life you are used to. All you have to do is play along with the woman on my arm. It is a change."

"I am not something you can just move from one place to another " I said, my voice shaking with hate.

"In our world, everyone is a part of something, " Peter said calmly. "Do not worry, the deal is. Once the papers are signed you will see that it is good for both of us. You get protection. I get what is mine. It is clean, it is logical."

"You are crazy, " I whispered. "You think I will just sit at dinner parties with you after you kidnapped and drugged me?"

"You will learn, " he said, reaching out to touch my shoulder. "People can get used to things when they have to or when they are scared of being poor or-"

A faint sound of sirens cut through the air.

Peter froze, his hand in the air and his head turned towards the window. At first it was a hum but it got louder and louder until there was a loud noise of sirens and cars outside.

The calm look on Peter's face started to fade. He walked to the window looking down at the street thirty floors below. I followed his gaze seeing the police cars and the lights flashing on the pavement.

"What did you do?" Peter turned to me, his voice low and dangerous.

"I told you " I said, feeling happy and proud. "I am not something you can just move around."

The suite's front door burst open. Police officers rushed in yelling and waving their guns.

"Nobody moves! Hands in the air!"

The room was filled with police officers and Peter was grabbed and forced to the ground. The guard from earlier was slammed against the wall. The officers were all around us.

Peter stood still for a second, his jaw set, his eyes looking for a way to escape.. There was nowhere to go and the officers dragged him away.

"Beatrice!"

Juno burst into the room, her hair wild and her face angry. She pushed past the officers. Ran to me hugging me tightly.

"I have got you " she whispered, her voice shaking. "You are okay Bea."

I leaned against her feeling weak and tired. I watched as the police took Peter away. He looked at me with a cold angry stare.

"This is not over Beatrice!" he shouted. "The papers are signed and you belong to the Moretti name!"

The officers dragged him out of the room. Juno pulled me away from the door.

"We are leaving, " she said. "My car is outside. The police have everything they need. I am taking you to my place and you will be safe there."

I did not argue I just followed her out of the suite past the door and the police officers. We rode the elevator down in silence. When we stepped out into the night air it felt cool and fresh.

Juno led me to her car, a reliable sedan and we drove away from the hotel. I looked back at the Grand Imperial seeing the police lights still flashing. I felt happy to be leaving that world behind.

"Where are we going?" I asked, though I already knew.

"Home " Juno said firmly, her eyes on the road. "My home and tomorrow we will figure out how to take down the rest of their world."

I leaned my head against the window watching the city lights blur together. The deal was done. Not the way Peter had planned. For the time that day I was not waiting for trouble to come to me, I was the one driving away from it.

Chapter 6: The Long Leash

Beatrice POV

The inside of Juno's car felt real to me. For a kilometre as the yellow streetlights went by I kept my head against the cool glass. I closed my eyes. Breathed, trying to clear my mind. I thought the nightmare was over. I thought the drama at the Grand Imperial Hotel was behind me.

I looked at Juno. Her hands were gripping the steering wheel hard. She was driving with a focus on navigating traffic as other vehicles squeezed past us.

"Bea you are shaking " she said, her eyes darting to the side mirror before she changed lanes.

"It is the drug " I muttered, rubbing my temples where a headache was forming. The Peters guard had put in that the food was still affecting me. "How did you get the police to move that fast? You know how the station in this area behaves. If you don't hold something they will tell you there is no fuel in their patrol vehicle."

Juno let out a sound. Not a laugh, just nerves. "I did not go to the station Bea. I called my uncle's contact at the command. I told them it was a kidnapping happening inside the penthouse. I shouted Caspian's name and Peter's name. The mention of those names made the management move. They did not even argue."

She tapped my knee with one hand before returning it to the wheel. "Just try to calm down. We are heading to my place. Once we enter the compound we will lock the gate. You are safe now Bea. We got him."

I wanted to believe her. I wanted to relax and let the tension drain out of my legs. But Peter's parting words were stuck in my head: This is not over. The papers are. You belong to the Moretti name.

He did not look like a man who had just lost. When those officers were shoving him toward the door his face was calm. He looked at me like a creditor looks at a debtor who thinks running away means the debt is gone.

A kilometre back inside a dark transport van, the plastic zip-ties around Peter Morettis' wrists were already on the floor. He did not even need to twist his hands; the officer sitting opposite him simply severed the plastic with a pocketknife.

The officer did not look up from his phone. He handed Peter a bottle of water.

"Where are they now?" Peter asked. His voice was smooth without anger or panic. He adjusted his shirt collar.

"They have crossed the bridge, " the officer replied, tapping his screen to show a live tracking map. "They are heading toward the axis. We have two vehicles following the sedan. The silver one and the small delivery bus."

Peter took a sip of the water then capped the bottle. He did not. Comment. He just looked bored like a businessman waiting for a transaction to finish.

The moment his guard informed him that I was making delays inside the bathroom Peter knew I was trying to escape.. In a city where his family's financial backing carried weight, you do not play against the person who owns the terrain.

He knew which command Juno's family would try to contact. A single phone call from his assistant turned the raid into a theatre. It was more efficient than causing a scene in the hotel lobby.

"Sir, do you want the boys to intercept them at the junction?" the officer asked, looking up from the phone.

"No, " Peter said, his voice dropping into that tone that ended discussions. He looked out the window at the dark streets. "If you bring her back now she will spend every hour looking for the exit. Her mind will still be calculating the move."

He leaned his head back against the panelling.

"Let them get to the house, " Peter continued softly. "Let them unpack, lock the protectors and feel that temporary relief of having outsmarted me. Let her friend give her water. I want her to believe she is secure tonight."

He lifted his arm checking his watch.

"She thinks this city has corners where my eyes cannot reach, " he murmured. "She forgets who laid the foundation of the walls she wants to hide. Let her sleep. Tomorrow morning when she wakes up to the street sound she will realise that the air she breathes still belongs to the contract. Keep the tracking tight. Nobody leaves that house and no one boards a transport out of the state."

Juno's house was a fenced bungalow at the end of a narrow closet. The neighbourhood was dark; the public power supply was out, leaving the air with the roar of small generators. The tyres crunched over the gravel as Juno steered the car into the driveway and killed the engine.

The sudden silence inside the cabin was heavy, broken by the rhythmic pinging of the cooling exhaust pipe.

"We are here " Juno said, taking a breath as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "Let us get inside before the rain starts. The sky is already looking heavy."

I opened the passenger door, my legs feeling hollow as my feet hit the earth. The night air was thick and humid, smelling of rain as I followed Juno up the steps onto the small veranda watching her hands shake slightly as she fought with the heavy padlock.

"I have some food inside, " Juno said, her voice rising slightly. She was trying too hard to sound normal.

"You will change your clothes, try to eat something, and then take the room. I will handle the parlour couch."

I did not answer her. My eyes were fixed on the mouth of the street just outside the wall.

A silver sedan had just turned into the closed. It did not have its headlights, on only the small parking lights. It did not speed up. Pull into any empty spaces. It just rolled slowly past Juno's compound.

As it passed beneath the light of a neighbour's gate lamp I saw the driver's clear silhouette. He did not look away. He turned his face toward the veranda, his eyes locking directly onto me.

The car did not disappear around the bend. It pulled up under the shadow of a tree a few houses down. The brake lights flared red for a second then died as the driver cut the parking lights.. The engine remained on. A low vibration that travelled through the concrete steps into my feet.

"Bea enter inside now " Juno whispered, her keys jingling loudly as the heavy padlock finally clicked open. "Why are you just standing there staring at the road?"

I looked at the silhouette of the car down the street. Then I looked down at my fingers still trembling against the strap of my bag. The realisation settled over me like a weight.

The high command had not saved me. Juno's family contacts had not outsmarted anyone. Peter had simply unlocked the door himself, stood back and watched us run into the coordinates he had already mapped out for us.

"Juno " I said, my voice barely lifting above the generator noise. "He knows."

"Know what? Move inside so I can lock this iron protector please."

"The police, " I said, turning my head to look at Juno's face. She looked tired.

"They didn't arrest Juno. They work for him. The whole raid was faked. He let us go."

Juno stopped moving her hand on the cold gate. She turned to look down the road at the car parked under the tree.

The car was still running. I saw Juno understand. Her face lost the colour it had. She stared at the car.

We didn't get out of the deal. We're just free, for now. Peter is probably sitting in the dark waiting for us to make our move.