CHAPTER 8: CAUGHT BETWEEN
561 Words
Sienna stared at the message until the words stopped making sense.
Hello, daughter. It’s time we talked. —Dr. James Reeves
Her father.
Fifteen years dead.
Her phone shook in her grip. “No,” she breathed. “That isn’t real.”
Kade didn’t say anything at first. He didn’t grab the phone, either. That silence—so careful, so still—felt worse than anything he could’ve said. Like he was just...waiting for it to land.
He finally spoke, quiet. “I told you. They don’t just let people like him vanish.”
Sienna shook her head, almost violently. “I buried him. I watched—”
“Or you saw what they wanted you to see.”
The whole room tilted, air thinning out.
Her phone vibrated again.
Unknown number this time.
A second message popped up:
If you want Rachel Martinez alive, come alone. No Ashford.
Sienna’s stomach turned hard, dropping straight through her body.
Kade reached for the phone right away. “Sienna—give it to me.”
She yanked back. “Don’t.”
He looked at her, eyes sharper now. “That’s their play. Isolation. Fear.”
“This isn’t about strategy,” she shot back, voice cracking. “This is Rachel.”
Rachel. Just saying her name swallowed up all the space between them.
Kade had nothing ready to say. He just hesitated, and that uncertainty felt colder than any threat.
Then he spoke, measuring each word. “You go alone, you don’t come back.”
“I don’t care.”
That flickered something in him—something he almost hid, something sharp and careful, maybe even hurt.
“You will,” he said, low, “once you see what they're doing to you.”
Sienna stepped closer, trembling. “Stop pretending you know my life better than I do.”
He didn’t flinch. “I know the system that shaped it.”
Silence snapped over them.
Kade let out a slow breath, almost like surrender.
“Fine,” he said.
That word settled heavier than any argument.
He walked over, opened a secret panel behind his desk.
Inside—guns, encrypted drives, surveillance gear, files packed perfectly.
Sienna stared. “You’re armed.”
“I’m ready,” he corrected.
He handed her a small device. “Tracker. If we’re split up, I’ll find you. No arguments.”
She hesitated, then took it.
Another buzz. Kade checked it.
His face changed. Not scared—something else. Recognition.
“This just changed,” he said.
“What now?” she snapped.
He held up his phone.
Live video feed.
Rachel Martinez, tied up. Hurt. Barely awake.
Sienna’s breath vanished.
The camera shifted.
A man stepped in.
Older. Calm. White coat. Eyes she recognized.
Dr. James Reeves.
Her father.
Very much alive.
He leaned forward, right into the camera, like he could touch her through the screen.
“Hello, Sienna,” he said softly. “Let’s see how much of you still remembers what we made.”
The screen went dark.
And the silence that followed felt heavy, like it was waiting for something.
Sienna couldn’t even move.
Kade moved in closer. His voice dropped, barely a whisper.
“Now you see?” he said. “This isn’t about Rachel.”
He took her hand—firm, steady, impossible to escape.
“It’s about you.”
- Writer
