Chapter 10 - The Ultimatum
My breath caught in my throat, a sharp, icy pain stabbing directly into my chest as I stared down at the screen.
"Ava?" Elias asked instantly, his instincts flaring as he saw the color drain from my face. "What is it?"
Without a word, I turned the phone around and handed it to him.
Elias’s eyes scanned the photograph and the ransom text. The muscles in his jaw clenched so hard I thought bone would snap. The dark, predatory stillness that I had seen before a gunfight returned to his features, multiplied tenfold.
"Lily," I whispered, tears finally breaking free and spilling down my cheeks. "It's my sister. They have my sister."
"They didn't just stumble onto her," Elias said, his voice cold as arctic ice. "This is a trap. They knew Petrov's team would fail to breach the penthouse, so they found the next closest link in your chain."
"We have to go," I said, panic overriding my exhaustion as I scrambled to my feet, nearly dropping Chloe in the process. Elias caught my elbow instantly, steadying me with a firm, unbreakable grip.
"If you walk out of this building alone to trade yourself for her, they will kill both of you and take the children anyway," Elias stated flatly, his dark gaze locking onto mine with absolute authority. "That is not a rescue mission. That is an execution."
"Then what do we do? Just let them hurt her?" I cried out, my voice echoing off the scorched walls of the hallway. "She didn't choose this life! She never even knew about my father's past!"
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Elias didn't flinch away from my anger. Instead, he pulled out his satellite phone with his free hand, his thumb flying across the encrypted keypad with blinding speed.
"We don't let them hurt anyone," Elias replied, his voice dropping into a quiet, lethal promise. "Marcus! Get the transport ready. We're going hunting."
