CHAPTER 23
1882 Words
Lucy pov
The large doors of the warehouse shut behind me, and the light inside was so bright that I covered my eyes with my hands. So many men with guns stood around us.
Grey stood in front of a wide table, with a gun and a cold face; he gazed at me.
“Hello, wife,” he says again. “It is time for you to come home.”
Bella was still tied to the chair. She sobbed, “Please, Lucy…save me.” She quivered, tears streaming down her cheeks.
My stomach hurts badly. I fix my eyes on Grey, trying to study him, but his eyes are unreasonable.
Did they plan all of this? Did Grey tie her own sister to get me? Or…. Is Bella not his sister again? My mind spins with a lot of thoughts.
Raymond is next to me with no gun now.
Grey stepped forward and stopped right in front of me. He smelled the same as the cologne from our wedding day.
I tightened my grip on the small pistol that Raymond had given me earlier, my heart pounding against my chest, but I remained still. I couldn't let him see my fears.
“You are hurting Bella,” I said. “She is your sister.”
“I know!”
“You are just like your father,” I snapped.
He chuckled, “Of course, Cullen is the noble dad, not that trash you call a father,” he spat.
His words cut deep like a sharp blade on my skin. My father had married me off to him, believing he was a good man, “so foolish,” I cursed under my breath.
“So why hold your sister hostage because of another person?”
“Because my wife,” he retorted, his eyes flickering with fury. “Anything to keep my dear wife safe.”
“You are a bad person,” I snapped. “Let us go.”
His knuckles turned white around the table, which sent shivers down my spine, and then he let out a loud laugh that vibrated throughout the hall. “No, Lucy,” he shook his head, “you’re coming with me.”
He turned towards his men and ordered
“Seize her.”
Two strong men in well-tailored suits walk toward me, but Raymond steps faster in front of me.
“Touch her, and you die,” he says loudly.
Grey lifts his gun and aims directly at Raymond’s head. “You already took the wrong part before,” he said, "Don't repeat the same mistake.”
I pushed Raymond aside. I didn't want him to die; he had done enough for me.
I stepped forward. “I will go with you,” I snapped, “but Grey let Bella and Raymond go free.”
Grey smiled like he had won a prize, then he nodded slowly, “Untie the girl,” he ordered the man close to him.
The man cuts Bella’s ropes, she rises up slowly, and looks at me with regret in her eyes.
“Go,” I said calmly. “Run fast.”
Bella ran to the small door on the other side of the warehouse, as she disappeared in the darkness, my heart felt warm, knowing well that she was now safe from her brother.
Before I could process all that had just happened, Grey grabbed my arm hard and pulled me closer, his mouth near my ear,
“You are still my wife on paper,” he whispers. “And my father wants the company.”
“What…!” I stepped backward, my heart pounding in my chest. I knew they wanted something from my family, but going so far as to play with my emotions was nothing I had ever imagined would happen to me.
“How could you …” I growled, “Why did you do this to me? How could you marry me, knowing well that you have no feelings for me?”
“Oh dear…” He raised my chin with his fingertip. “You know, the industry isn't a joke, and one has to do what it takes to climb up,” he replied, his voice thick with disdain.
“You’re mean to everyone around you, even your own sister,” I yelled.
He married me just to let his family seize my father's company. So pathetic. He forgets he’s the second son of the Dipsons, and no matter how fiercely he fights, Nic will always outrank him.
His voice cut through my thoughts, “You will sign everything tonight, or I will hurt everyone you love.”
I blink my eyes, trying to absorb what he has just said. Tears bubble under my eyelids. I thought of the pain Will was passing through in jail, and my Dad's health in the hospital.
I took a deep breath to calm down my nerves, then I nodded slowly. If signing whatever he wants would keep them safe, I will. I can't afford to lose my father; he is all I have now that Nana has abandoned me.
Grey smiled widely and pushed me towards the table in the center of the hall. Papers were placed carefully by one of his men with a pen.
He shoved me into a chair. “Sign,” he yelled, pointing at the paper that stared at me.
I pick up the pen with a trembling hand, then gaze at the sentence that states: I gave the Jones Group to the Dipson family.
The words sent shivers down my spine. I felt sick to my stomach. This was a company that my father built from a crash, his happiness, his life, and they wanted me to sign it off like that, because of a mistake called marriage.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, I pull it out and slip it under the table, steal a quick look at it. A message from Will: “I am free. Where are you?”
My heart skipped a bit. Will was out of jail, and my gaze switched to Grey, who watched me closely. I had to play smart to escape.
I started to write my name very slowly, like a child learning how to write his name on paper. I wanted to give Will time to meet me.
Grey’s jaw clenched, and he slammed his hand on the table, the wood trembling under the thud. “Faster!” he yelled, his voice cracking like a whip, breath hot enough to steam the air between us.
I write slower, I make the L very big, and make the U very round.
Grey grabs my hair tightly, and he pulls my head back; it hurts a lot. “Stop joking with me,” he growled.
I intentionally dropped the pen, and it rolled down the floor.
As Grey lets go of my hair and bends to pick up the pen. The lights go out, and the warehouse becomes dark.
Men shout, guns click.
I dropped to the floor fast and crawled under the table. I was so small that the table covered me well.
I hear running feet, punches, and someone falls near me and groans.
A hand grabs my arm making my heart skip a beat that I almost scream.
“It’s me,” Will whispers. He pulls me up and hugs me tightly.
Suddenly, the lights come back on. Ten men were all on the floor, some badly injured, while others were dead.
Grey stands in the middle of them; his nose bleeds. He looks very angry.
Will stepped in front of me, aiming his gun directly at Grey, who remained motionless.
“Game over,” Will says.
Grey laughs and wipes blood from his nose. “No,” he says. “The game just started.”
He lifts his hand.
He holds a little black box with a red button.
“If I press this,” Grey says, “Everyone, including you, would die.”
My legs feel like jelly. Will’s face goes hard. His gun remained aimed at him.
I looked around and saw Raymond still standing; he was not injured but scared.
“Grey, you will also die.” Will speaks calmly.
But Grey chuckled. “I do not care anymore,” he says, his knuckles turned white around the gun. “My father hates me now,” he growled, “You ruined my family.”
Click, he moves his thumb to the button,
“Wait!” I yelled my heat race fast.
Every set of eyes snapped at me, the room’s chatter dissolving into the thump of my own heartbeat. I step forward. Will tried to stop me, but I shook my head slightly.
I had a plan.
I walked to Grey and stood close, my eyes fixed on him, “I will sign the papers,” I said softly. “But you have to let Will and Raymond go.”
Grey’s head snapped up, eyebrows arched, his stare locking onto Will, whose eyes widened like startled moons, trembling with fear.
“No,” Will yelled, his voice cutting through the silence. “Lucy, no!”
I looked at Will and switched my gaze to Grey. “Promise,” I say, my voice steady.
“Promise on your mom.”
Grey loves his mom, and I'm very aware of it. His hand shakes a little and lowers the button box slowly.
“Okay,” he says quietly. “I promise.”
“Lucy!” Will yelled, “Don't…!”
I turned towards William, tears streaming down my cheeks. “I love you,” I whispered, “Go and save father from Cullen.”
He shakes his head, “No Lucy, think about your father, he worked hard for this company.”
Grey grabs my arm and pulls me closer to him. He puts the gun to my head.
“Will leave,” Grey yelled. “Or I will shoot her now.”
Will looked at me for a long time. His hand with the gun goes down slowly and backs away. Step by step, but he never stops looking at me.
When he reaches the door, he stops.
“I will come back for you,” he says.
“I promise.”
As he stepped out of the hall, Raymond was behind him. I know I’m left with nothing but a piece of paper that holds my father's happiness.
Will was right, if I signed this paper, my father wouldn't forgive me, but he would be angrier than lose his own life.
Grey lets go of my head and smiles, but his smile looks weird. He pulled a box from his pocket, which looked like a boom or something.
He pushed me to the chair again. “Sign fast this time,” he said calmly.
I picked up the pen, my hands did not shake now, and I started writing my name.
As I wrote the letter to my name, a loud boom came from far away.
Grey looks scared.
He ran to the window and looked out. Red fire lights up the sky far away. Grey’s face turned white.
“That was the hospital,” he whispered.
My heart stops. “Father!” I screamed.
- Writer
