Chapter7: The Trap
1211 Words
Across the city, Austin stared at his phone.
A location glowed: Port Botany.
One message below: Come alone.
Chest tight, he grabbed the keys.
He didn't know what waited.
Didn't know how much damage they'd already done to Selene.
But he knew one thing:
She was running out of time.
.........................
Port Botany felt wrong the second Austin stepped out of the car.
Too quiet.
No rumble of trucks, no distant shouts, no hum of machinery. Just the low slap of water against the pier and a gull’s cry that hung in the air too long before dying. The silence pressed in like it was breathing down his neck.
He shut the door softly, heart already hammering.
The message burned behind his eyes:
“Come alone.”
There was no ransom. No threats. Just coordinates. That alone should’ve screamed trap, but logic had left him the moment Selene’s last voicemail played in his head—her voice small, scared.
“Austin… something’s wrong.”
He checked his phone one last time. No signal. Of course.
He shoved it in his pocket and walked toward the warehouse. Every step felt heavier, like the ground was counting them down.
He should’ve brought backup. Called the cops. Told someone.
But all he could think was her name, over and over, pulling him forward like a rope around his chest.
The warehouse doors stood wide open.
One flickering bulb swung above them, throwing long, broken shadows across the concrete.
Austin slowed.
Open doors were never good.
“Selene?” His voice bounced off metal walls.
Nothing.
He stepped inside.
Damp air hit him—oil, rust, saltwater. Water dripped somewhere deep in the dark.
“Selene,” he tried again, louder.
Then he heard it.
A faint, broken sound.
A whimper.
His stomach dropped. “Selene!”
He rounded the corner—and froze.
She was tied to a chair in the middle of the space.
Head bowed, hair matted over her face, wrists raw and bleeding where the ropes had bitten in. Bruises bloomed dark across her arms. When she lifted her head and saw him, her eyes widened, wet and exhausted.
“Austin…”
“I’m here,” he rasped, rushing forward. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”
“That’s sweet,” a calm voice said from the shadows behind him. “Really.”
Austin stopped cold.
He turned slowly.
Diana stepped into the light—tailored coat, perfect hair, lips curved like she’d been waiting for this moment her whole life.
She circled him slowly, heels clicking softly.
“You came faster than I thought,” she said. “Love makes men stupid, doesn’t it?”
“Let her go.”
Diana laughed—quiet, almost fond. “You don’t give orders anymore.”
She stopped in front of him, close enough that he could smell her perfume over the warehouse stink.
“Tell me, Austin—when exactly did you decide our marriage was trash?”
His jaw locked. “This isn’t about us.”
“Oh, it’s entirely about us.” She gestured toward Selene without looking at her. “Do you know how humiliating it is to watch your fiancé throw away years of planning for a girl who waits tables and looks at you like you hung the moon?”
Selene stirred. “Austin—”
“Quiet,” Diana snapped, sharp as a blade.
She turned back to him. “We weren’t a love story. We were in business. You knew that.”
“It was an arrangement,” he said through his teeth. “You knew the terms.”
“Yes. And arrangements have rules.” She stepped closer. “Our parents didn’t build empires so you could burn them down over feelings.”
Austin’s hands curled into fists. “I didn’t burn anything.”
“You chose her.” Diana’s voice dropped, venom leaking through. “You humiliated me. You humiliated our families.”
She glanced at Selene. “And now she’s the loose end.”
Austin took a step forward. Two men materialized from the shadows, blocking him—big, silent, ready.
“Touch her again,” he said low, “and this ends very badly for you.”
Diana sighed, as if he were disappointing. “You always think muscle solves everything.”
She crouched in front of Selene, voice softening into something almost gentle. “Your parents were idealists, weren’t they? Believed in doing the right thing.”
Selene frowned, weak. “What are you talking about?”
“They had documents,” Diana said lightly. “Records. Things better left buried.”
Austin’s stomach twisted. “Diana. Stop.”
“Or what?” She stood, facing him again. “Your parents and mine spent decades building something unbreakable. Her parents almost tore it down.”
Austin’s brow furrowed. “Almost?”
Diana waved a hand. “They had proof. Enough to ruin everything if it ever came out.”
Selene shook her head faintly. “My parents didn’t—”
“Didn’t know what they were holding?” Diana cut in. “Or maybe they knew exactly.”
Austin felt the air leave his lungs.
A memory flashed—late night, his parents’ voices sharp through the wall. His mother crying. His father said “ If that man talks, it all collapses.”
He was ten when it happened. He thought it was about money.
Now it didn’t feel like money at all.
“What documents?” he asked, voice rough.
Diana studied him. Then smiled—thin, satisfied.
“So you really don’t know.”
She stepped back. “Interesting.”
Austin’s heart slammed. “What are you hiding from me?”
Diana nodded once, as she’d heard enough.
“Enough,” she said.
One of the men moved behind him.
He struck him a blow behind his skull—with a plank he was holding, hard and fast. He felt a sharp pain.
Then.
The world tilted. He dropped to his knees, vision swimming, ears ringing.
Selene screamed his name—“Austin!”
Darkness rushed in.
He came to on cold concrete, head throbbing, wrists bound tight behind him.
Diana crouched in front of him, calm as ever.
“This is where the trap closes,” she said softly.
He struggled against the ropes. “You won’t get away with this.”
“I already have.” She tilted her head. “Because now you have a choice.”
She nodded toward Selene.
“Protect her,” she said, “and keep digging.”
Her eyes turned cold. “Or keep your mouth shut—and she walks out alive.”
Austin’s breath came shallow, ragged.
Diana stood, heels echoing as she walked away.
“Choose carefully, Austin,” she called over her shoulder. “Some truths cost more than love.”
The doors slammed.
Locks clicked.
Silence swallowed them.
Austin turned to Selene. Her eyes were wide, terrified, but steady.
“I’m not leaving you,” he said, voice cracking.
She swallowed hard. “I know.”
Outside, engines growled to life.
And Austin realized—too late—that the real trap wasn’t the warehouse.
It was the secrets waiting to tear everything apart.
- Writer
