CHAPTER 5
1142 Words
The air in the dimly lit building was thick, stale, and cold enough to bite. Kamila’s face was smothered by a rough cloth bag, the fabric damp against her lips. Her wrists and ankles were bound to a wooden chair, the coarse rope digging so deep it burned her skin.
She stirred awake slowly, her mind clawing its way out of darkness. Disoriented thoughts scrambled for order—how she got here, why her head pounded, why the silence felt so wrong.
Then—footsteps. Faint at first, then heavier, deliberate. Each one echoed across the floor, making her heartbeat pound harder, faster, until it felt deafening in her own ears.
The steps stopped right in front of her. The floorboards groaned under someone’s weight.
Her breath caught. Something was wrong. Despite the earlier sounds of a struggle—she could swear someone had died—there was now nothing. No shouts, no movement. Just stillness, cold and unbroken.
Her voice cracked with desperation. “Please… please spare me! I’ll come back to the club, I’ll do anything—anything you want. Just… spare me, Fredrick!”
A sharp tug ripped the bag from her head, and blinding light seared her eyes. Shapes blurred. Vision swam. And then… the face came into focus.
Jacob.
Kamila’s breath hitched. She quickly squeezed her eyes shut again, blurting, “Please, I didn’t see anything. Just let me go!” The lie was obvious in her trembling voice.
Jacob’s reply was smooth, but the chill in it cut deeper than any threat. “You can open your eyes. We’re just here to talk—nothing more.”
Reluctantly, she blinked until his features sharpened. He dragged a chair forward, the legs scraping harshly on the floor, and sat opposite her.
“What do you want from me?” she asked, her voice trembling despite her effort to sound firm.
“I have a job for you,” Jacob said, his tone even.
Her brows drew together. “What job?”
“You’ll go to Odell Industries and pretend to be the daughter of their president. When they ask for verification, you’ll give them this file. Then you wait until I contact you again.”
He gestured, and one of his men stepped forward to slice through the ropes at her wrists. Blood rushed back into her hands in sharp, painful tingles. Jacob placed a sealed envelope in her palm.
Her mind reeled. No wonder John kept insisting he owned Odell Industries… because she actually looked like the president’s daughter.
Jacob stood. “In fifteen minutes, the police will be here. All you’ve seen, all you’ve heard, is nothing. Say otherwise, and your siblings in Mexico won’t live to see another sunrise.”
Her fear hardened into something far more dangerous. She lifted her chin, eyes blazing. “If you touch a single strand of their hair,” she said, her voice low and deadly, “I’ll find you. I’ll kill you myself. Slowly. You’ll beg me to end it.”
Jacob didn’t flinch. Without another word, he turned and walked out with his men, the door shutting behind them.
---
Twelve minutes later
Sirens tore through the silence. The door burst open. Armed officers swarmed in, Detective Grimes and his partner Peter at the front.
The room was dim, and Kamila feared a single wrong move could get her shot. She lifted both hands. “Don’t shoot—it’s me! Kamila!”
“Hold!” Grimes barked. Weapons lowered, but eyes stayed sharp. He strode toward her, crouching to untie her ankles.
“Where are they?” he asked.
“I… I don’t know,” she answered, her voice thin.
She rose unsteadily. “Can I go now?”
Grimes blinked at her. “No. You were just kidnapped—you’re coming to the station to make a statement.”
She nodded weakly, swaying on her feet. Grimes motioned for two officers to escort her to the hospital first.
As they led her out, his gaze lingered, his instincts gnawing.
Peter caught it. “That look—you only get it when something’s off.”
“Her head wasn’t covered when we came in,” Grimes murmured. “If she could see us, why didn’t she see them leave? And her hands—they were already untied.”
Peter shrugged. “Let’s get to the station before you start spinning conspiracy theories.”
---
At the hospital, the doctor’s verdict was quick: physically unharmed, but severely stressed. She was cleared for questioning soon after.
In the interrogation room, Grimes waited, leaning back in his chair.
“We meet again,” he said.
Kamila’s expression stayed flat.
“Why were you outside the station the other day?” he asked.
“I was looking for someone.”
“And who was that?”
She sighed, irritation sharpening her tone. “Is this a detention? Because I’m leaving.”
An officer moved to block her, but Grimes raised a hand. “Let her go.”
As she walked out, he leaned toward the same officer. “Keep her under watch at all times. I think she’s being threatened.”
The officer nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Peter entered after watching through the one-way glass. “So what’s the plan?”
“I don’t know,” Grimes admitted. “I just hope they take the bait.”
Peter froze. “Wait—she’s the bait?”
“She didn’t give us much of a choice,” Grimes said, already walking away.
---
Elsewhere
A uniformed officer spoke quietly into his phone. “Sir, she didn’t talk.”
“As I expected,” Jacob’s voice replied. “Keep an eye on her. If she talks—waste her.”
The officer hesitated. “And Detective Grimes?”
“If necessary,” Jacob said coldly, “waste him too.”
---
Later that night
Kamila locked her apartment door behind her and ripped open the envelope Jacob had given her. Inside were documents and photographs—images of a young woman with her same face, same features, but in unfamiliar settings.
She stared at them, her jaw tightening. “You don’t want me to live in peace? Fine. Then we go down together.”
Her mind churned. If she could claim Odell Industries as her own—by inheritance rights—she could access resources far beyond Jacob’s reach. She could destroy him before he ever reached her siblings.
But one question gnawed at her: how did he even find them in Mexico?
She didn’t have the answer yet. But she would.
For days, she studied every page, every angle, every loophole. Until she had a plan.
Tomorrow, she would step into Odell Industries not as Kamila, but as the Odell heiress.
Her hands trembled with nerves. But her resolve? Unshakable.
- Writer
