Chapter 5: The Cage we Choose
888 Words
Darkness wasn't just a place—it was a presence.
Ari blinked against the pitch. The room smelled like antiseptic and damp concrete. Her wrists burned from the zip ties, and her mouth was dry from whatever sedative they'd used. A single bulb buzzed above her, casting sickly light over the metal chair she was bound to. Her head throbbed with every heartbeat.
The door creaked open.
Damon entered wearing a tailored suit and that infuriating, practiced smile. No bodyguards this time—just confidence and the scent of expensive cologne masking something rotten.
“You’re awake,” he said softly, as if they were old friends.
Ari didn’t respond.
“I don’t like this any more than you do,” he said, circling her. “But you left me no choice.”
“You murdered my father.”
“I saved you from him.” Damon knelt in front of her, his voice low. “Lucien would have sold you to the highest bidder when you were sixteen if I hadn’t stepped in. Do you think that man raised you out of love?”
She looked away.
“I was the one who kept him from touching you. I was the one who paid off your teachers to keep you in school. You think Rosa was your guardian angel?” He scoffed. “She worked for us. Everyone did. Everyone but Kellan. That boy was always a wild card.”
Ari’s glare sharpened. “Then why keep me alive?”
“Because I need you,” he said simply. “You still have access to Lucien’s political vault. That data could sink him before the election.”
Ari narrowed her eyes. “So it’s not about love. It’s about leverage.”
“It was always about leverage.”
Damon stood, adjusting his cufflinks. “But don’t misunderstand me, Ari. I still care. I still want you. The difference is—now you don’t get to say no.”
He reached for her face.
She bit his hand.
Damon growled and slapped her hard enough to send her chair clattering sideways. Pain bloomed across her cheek, but her pride flared hotter.
“You’ve made a mistake,” she hissed through bloodied lips. “Because you didn’t kill me when you had the chance.”
—
Elsewhere, Kellan woke in the back of a moving truck, chained to a pipe. Rain pelted the metal roof like bullets.
Jax lay slumped beside him, barely conscious, blood soaking his side.
Kellan rattled the chain. “Jax. Talk to me.”
Jax coughed. “They got her. They took Ari.”
Kellan’s jaw tightened. “Do you have anything useful in that stupid jacket?”
“Always,” Jax wheezed, pulling a lockpick from his shoe. “But you’re gonna owe me a bottle of scotch and a trip to the ER.”
Kellan took the pick, working quickly. “Why’d you come back for us?”
Jax shrugged weakly. “Because you’re the only brother I’ve ever had… even if you’re a pain in my ass.”
The chain snapped free.
Kellan helped Jax up. “Let’s get her back.”
—
Back in the facility, Ari plotted.
Her chair was bolted to the floor, but the zip ties on her ankles had loosened during the fall. She worked one foot free, then slowly bent to reach the broken glass near her head.
Footsteps.
She froze.
Damon returned, this time with someone else—a woman.
Tall. Elegant. Eyes like ice.
Lucien’s campaign manager.
“Is she ready to talk?” the woman asked.
“Not yet,” Damon replied. “But we can speed up the process.”
The woman pulled out a syringe.
Ari sprang.
She slashed the zip tie with the glass and kicked Damon’s knee. He stumbled, swearing. The woman screamed as Ari lunged and grabbed the syringe from her hand—driving it into Damon’s thigh.
He howled.
Ari darted past them and ran—through sterile halls, down locked corridors—until alarms screamed and red lights bathed the world in panic.
She slammed into a guard.
Before he could react, a shot rang out.
The guard fell.
Kellan stood at the end of the hall, gun raised, eyes blazing. Beside him, Jax leaned on the wall, pale and bleeding.
Ari ran to Kellan and threw her arms around him. He held her like she might vanish.
“We don’t have much time,” he said. “Nova’s waiting.”
“What about Damon?” she asked.
Kellan tossed her a gun. “Let’s go finish this.”
—
They raced to the roof.
Nova stood at the edge, tablet in hand, hijacking the facility’s signal tower. “Took you long enough.”
“We got the files?” Ari shouted.
Nova grinned. “Everything Damon and Lucien ever touched is about to hit the dark net—and the evening news.”
Helicopters appeared in the distance—Lucien’s private security.
Kellan looked at Ari. “Do we run?”
“No,” she said. “We burn it.”
Nova hit the final key.
Flames burst from the server room below as the whole building began to shut down.
Kellan grabbed Ari’s hand.
And they jumped.
Into the unknown.
Into the fire.
--
- Writer
