The Billionaire’s Pawn

LONDON

Terzo had no remorse. If I wasn’t there, he could have tortured Magnus to death.

I flinched as he threw water at Magnus’ face to wake him up. Magnus jolted, and the chair he was tied to shook.

“What the fuck?” He swallowed and found himself tied to a chair. His eyes widened as he looked at Terzo, and his face fell on me.

“Did you actually kiss her with that mouth?” Terzo seemed breezy as if he’d interrogated people a thousand times.

“Who’s this guy, London?” He became more frightened to see Terzo was calmer.

“You should have left her alone, dude. I mean, who does that? Kidnapping your ex for money?” He chuckled. I couldn’t believe he found torturing someone fun.

“Let me go, asshole.” He wiggled as he tried to let himself loose, his eyes pinning at the man beside me.

Terzo tsked. “Wrong answer, dude.” When he pulled the gun behind him, it began to rattle me.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“Don’t. I told you I’m not gonna be involved in this.”

“Very well.” I let go a breath when he put the gun on his back. “Who asked you to do this? You talk, and your death would be easy.” When Terzo leaned down, Magnus leaned back. “I don’t know what you are talking about.” His voice shook. His chin trembled.

“Another wrong answer. Do you know how your friend died? You will have the same fate as her. Slowly, you watch the bubble lift from your nose. You feel the water filling your poor lungs. You begin struggling to breathe. You feel the pressure in your head, but if you tell me now, you don’t have to go through that. You can choose from a snap to your neck or a hole into your skull.”

I walked away. I felt like throwing up. The images of what he said to Magnus flashed through my mind. When I began to feel dizzy, I took deep breaths and thought of Striker coming to get me out of this tormenting situation. I could not pass out alone with these two awful humans. I needed to stay focused.

“What took them so long?” Terzo asked.

“Probably waiting for the police to arrive.”

“He won’t do that. If cops arrive, I won’t hesitate to fire, and you will be caught in the middle. Your husband is not stupid.”

“Then you should not have brought me here with you.”

“You stop me from torturing him. It means you don’t want him to die. If I came alone, I was already cleaning up and collecting payments. You just saved this asshole’s life.”

“You’re so awful.” I shot him a disgusted look, but it just amused him.

“Go get some air at the back. You’re pale and about to pass out. Are you sure you’re not carrying Cade’s child?”

“Jeez.” I rolled my eyes at him, making him smile. “It’s none of your business. And don’t kill him while I’m outside, Terzo.”

“I wouldn’t let you miss the fun, signora.”

“Help!” Magnus just yelled.

“Go. I got this,” Terzo said in a relaxed manner.

“God, how did my life get so complicated?” I stayed outside for a while. I took a few more deep breaths before I walked in. That was when I realized Striker had arrived.

My mind went blank as I froze like a corpse in my place and watched him point a gun at Terzo. I abandoned all my will, ran toward my husband, and hugged him tightly. I felt so much relief to see him. All my worry and hysteria were gone because I knew he would protect me like always.

After our short reunion, Terzo and I told him everything.

“And how the fuck are you with my wife while Magnus threatened her?”

“Shouldn’t you be grateful to me that I saved her?” While my husband was pissed at Terzo, he still wore that stupid cocky smirk.

“Just answer him, Terzo,” Moses said.

“I wanna piss him off a little, signor.” Terzo chuckled.

“You already did, dickhead. Why did you drag my wife along if you are planning something for this asswipe?”

“I wanna know who ordered him, his plans-”

“My question, Terzo.”

He sighed. “I heard chatters that Giosue was looking for a guy named this asshole.” He pointed at the bloody face of Magnus.

I felt terrible about Magnus after he almost killed me. I didn’t know he would do something like this to me for money. He was desperate, as if he was running away from someone.

“Then what?” Linden asked.

“I got his name and address. I went to the apartment of the dead woman, but I found nothing. When I came to his apartment, he looked like he hadn’t been there for days, but I found her picture. I thought she could be in danger. I didn’t realize they were dating.”

I cringed. I didn’t know how I dated someone like him. It disgusted me.

Striker’s nose flared. He barely blinked, but his jaw always locked hard. It ticked.

“Then I followed unaware Mrs. Cade out of your compound, driving alone.”

“He found me at the coffee shop and told me I could be in danger.”

“How do you even know she’s in danger?” Linden was also mad.

“Seriously, guys? I’ve only been here for two days, and you have a firm, and you, Cade, don’t have a clue that he’s been harassing your wife with messages, emails, and calls?”

Striker’s narrow gaze quickly pinned at me, making me grin sheepishly. “Care to tell what he was talking about?”

“Remember when I told you I wanna talk to you about something?”

“Since when?”

I dropped my gaze.

“Vanderford?”

“I like how they called each other, just like teammates, yeah?”

“Shut up,” we said in unison.

“Are you gonna answer him, sweetheart?” Linden seemed calmer this time.

“Last week. I called him one time to tell him to stop harassing me.”

“Your phone.” He offered his hand.

“I already blocked him.”

“We’ve already talked about this many times, Vanderford.” God, he was about to burst into flames in anger, and it was all because of me.

“Okay, you both can talk about this later,” Tate interrupted. “So, you followed London.”

“Yes. I told you I would not let anything happen to her.”

“What is your obsession with my wife, Siciliano?”

“I have a sister who is married at another dick.”

“I met her,” I told Terzo.

“I hate his guts for as long as I can remember. We’re not just family enemies. We’re enemies till eternity, but my sister loves him, so I can’t do anything unless he hurts one of mine. When I found out about what he did, I wanted to crush every bone in his body. My family has a code. Women and children are out of it unless they hurt first mine. Since she is now a Cade-Braddson-”

“Braddson-Cade,” Tate corrected him, making me smile inwardly.

“Okay, Braddson-Cade. I wanted to protect her when I couldn’t do it to my sister. And man, relationships are always the reason why families like mine have to get in trouble. So, don’t worry. I have no hidden feelings toward Signora.”

“Jeez. Thanks, Terzo. Can we just lower the testosterone level in this warehouse? What are we gonna do now?”

Striker placed an arm around me and told Terzo, “Do whatever you want to that piece of shit. I don’t give a fuck.”

I stilled as I stared at Striker. “What? You want him dead?”

“Why do you care so much about the man who threatened you and is about to hold you hostage?”

“I don’t care, Striker. But once you give that order, the blood is on your hands. Do you really want to live knowing you just literally killed an unarmed man? That’s now how this works around here. We’re not this barbaric. No offense, Terzo.”

“None taken.”

“So you’re saying you want me to give him a gun, and we duel here?” His arm was gone. He was now facing me with so much fury in his eyes.

“No. Call the police, and I will tell them what happened. I will tell them how he harassed me. I will show them all the emails he sent. I kept evidence, Striker.”

“We can’t tell the cops, honey. As much as I agree with your idea, he can’t go to the police and talk.”

“Boss is right, sweetheart. I will call someone to check the CCTV footage to make sure you can’t be dragged into this.” Linden turned to Moses. “You have any ideas, sir?”

“Let him go and make sure he won’t talk,” Tate suggested.

“Give him something to start over. Take him to Sicily with you and tell Giosue not to touch this man,” Moses told Terzo.

“Noted, sir.”

I watched the relief appear on Magnus’ face.

“But,” Moses added, “If he ever does something stupid again, that’s out of my hand. I can’t and won’t help him anymore.” He went closer to Magnus. “Look, young man. We all have struggles in life. We feel worthless, hopeless, we lost everything in a snap of fingers, but you wanted an easy out.”

“I was just gonna use the money to get out of here to start a new life. I felt like someone had been watching me since Ivy died. I was scared and left my apartment. I’ve been on the run and stayed from motel to motel, and I’m running out of cash.”

“That doesn’t give you the damn right to threaten my wife, asshole!”

“Enough, son,” Moses said to Striker and focused back on Magnus. “I know you look like you’ve been through hell for the past couple of days, but if you ever, ever just lay your filthy finger or mention a name of my family, I will make sure to send your skin and your face to your mother. She lives in Ohio, doesn’t she?”

Magnus nodded. “I’m sorry, London. I wasn’t going to hurt you. And thank you, sir.”

“Shush. I don’t wanna hear anything from you, jerk.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank my daughter-in-law.”

He just figured it out. Striker was Moses’ son. He swallowed hard. “He’s. He’s your son?”

“Took you long enough to figure out.” Terzo barked out, laughing. “He’s also dumb. Didn’t I tell you Mrs. Cade is worth billions?”

“Shut up.”