Taken With Trouble (CAUGHT IN CHAOS #2)

37. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Liam

The second I step out of my car a man emerges from the warehouse with a gun aimed at my head. I ensure the box is safe in my bag before lifting both hands in the air.

“Do you have any weapons?” he asks.

I slip the knife from my pants pocket and toss it on the ground, hoping he doesn’t feel the need to search for more.

“That’s it?” he asks, before patting me down and finding the gun at my waist and Taser in my back pocket. He laughs as he tosses the taser on the ground and smashes it with his heel.

“That was brand new,” I mutter, as he continues his rather aggressive body search. I jump when his hands wander near my crotch. “Hey now. At least buy me dinner first.”

He narrows his eyes and steps back. “That way.” When I take a step forward he sticks the gun in my spine and nudges me.

“I’m getting some hostile vibes right now,” I say, refusing to let the barrel in my back bother me. I’m used to it. “What’s your name? Or are you just a henchman who carries out the boss’s orders and doesn’t have a name? When the boss needs someone, he just says, ‘henchman number twelve.’”

“Shut up.” He shoves the gun harder in my back.

“See… that’s the thing. I enjoy talking, and it helps me process my anxiety when I can speak my thoughts—”

“I said shut up.” His words are punctuated with a smack against my ribs. Between Cruz, her partner, and now this man, I’ve never been so abused. I can’t say I don’t deserve it.

When we get to the door, he leans around me, banging on it with his fist. “Twenty-seven,” he shouts.

My cheeks pinch. “I was right. You do have a number. It’s kind of disappointing they sent number twenty-seven out to greet me instead of number on—” He punches my already bruised cheek, and I curse.

“You really should learn to shut up.”

I spit out blood. “Learned it. Didn’t enjoy it.” I spit again, forcing a smile.

The door opens, and another man grabs my arm, yanking me inside.

“Henchman number twenty-six, I presume?”

He glares at me, but instead of taking the bait like number twenty-seven, he remains silent as we walk through a darkened hallway and into a big empty room. No one is waiting for me in here. The cement walls make it feel like a cave. If I yelled, I bet it would echo. I’m about to try it when a man steps out from behind a broad beam, his overly tanned face split in a self-righteous sneer like he’s been waiting for this moment. At the same time, four more men step from behind other beams around the room.

“Be honest, how long did you guys practice that cheesy entrance?” I laugh to myself, picturing five burly men fighting over the best way to intimidate their guest.

The man’s smile disappears, and a scowl emerges in its place. His shoes tap over the concrete as he ambles toward me. “Liam Hawthorne.”

“Seems my reputation precedes me. I’m sorry yours doesn’t.”

His dark eyes turn icy. “Sebastian Sanchez.”

The man Serena used to love. Now that I see him in person, I must admit, he’s kind of a silver fox with his tanned skin and full beard. I can see it. I don’t like it, but I get it.

“Sebastian…” I try out the name, then scratch my chin. “Sorry. It’s not ringing any bells.”

He steps forward and punches me in the stomach. I double over, coughing on the lack of air in my lungs and the pain radiating to my bad arm. Perhaps I should learn to shut up.

“Careful, dear old Grandad is getting awfully sick,” he sneers.

I stand back up slowly. “Oh, right. You’re the guy who takes old people for fun. Where is my grandfather, by the way?”

“Where’s my box?”

“Sorry, Seb. This isn’t my first negotiation. Bring him in.”

His nostrils flare—impressively I might add. He could fit quarters in those massive gaps. “This isn’t my first negotiation, either, and I believe I have the upper hand.”

“I could change that for you if you like.”

This seems to puzzle him, and while he tries to piece it together, I risk a glance around the room. There’s another door in the corner. That has to be where they’re keeping my grandfather. If I have to make a break for it, I’ll run there… hopefully before they shoot me.

“Where’s the box?” he asks again.

I unzip my bag and pull it out. “Where’s my grandfather?”

Sebastian yells to no one in particular, and his voice echoes spectacularly through the room. Ten seconds later, the corner door opens, and my heart drops. My grandfather stumbles in, both eyes purple and swollen. His limp is more pronounced than ever. He’s aged ten years in two days, he’s broken and frail.

“You’re going to pay for this,” I growl at Sebastian.

Sebastian laughs, his evil laugh bouncing off the empty walls. “The old man still had some fight in him, but I think we fixed that quite nicely.”

I lunge forward, snatching Sebastian’s thick neck with my palm. Four guns click in my direction.

He shoves my arm off him with a sneer. “The box.”

I match his glare. “My grandfather.”

Sebastian stares me down for a solid sixty seconds while I wonder if I can make it out of this alive. He hasn’t asked for Serena yet, so as long as she’s safe, I’ll take it.

Sebastian nods to his man, who releases my grandfather. My stomach knots, and my eyes burn as I watch the man I look up to struggle to cross the floor toward me. When he’s close, I grab him, holding his frail body like the life raft he’s always been for me.

“What a touching reunion.” A gun clicks again, and this time it’s inches from my grandfather’s face. “The box.”

“Will you let me walk out of here?”

Sebastian’s phone chimes and he pulls it out. An eerie smile flits over his face as he looks back up at me. “Sure. I don’t care about you.”

“Yet you put a bounty on my head?”

He shakes his head. “Wasn’t me.”

“I don’t trust you.” Why would he let us go?

“I don’t trust you,” he retorts.

I’m getting sick of being a person people can’t trust. Well, except for this idiot.

“I toss you this box, and my grandfather and I walk out that door, no one gets hurt,” I say.

“I promised I wouldn’t kill anyone… yet,” Sebastian says.

That’s as good of a commitment as I’m going to get.

I toss him the box and start backpedaling the way I came, surprised when none of the henchmen follow. Sebastian tests the box, finding it locked and shaking it. The phone thumps around inside, and he nods once to his men.

“Get the door,” I tell my grandfather, still walking backward, waiting for someone to change their mind.

But they don’t. I wait all the way through the hallway. All the way to my car, I wait. But no one comes. Why aren’t they coming? Alarms ring in the back of my brain, but my sole focus is on getting my grandfather to safety.

I help him into the car, and only when I’ve made it a mile from the compound do I dare ask, “Are you okay? ”

He shakes his head, tears spilling over his weathered cheeks. “What have you done?”