Chapter 15 - EVERYTHING WE LOSE
The room went silent.
Only the crackle of firewood and the ticking of a clock.
Silas held the remote loosely in his hand. His thumb hovered over the button. He wasn’t bluffing. I could see it in his eyes. He would kill them all. Without hesitation. Without regret.
I looked at Martin. Martin looked back at me.
We had no choice. Not yet.
“Fine,” I said. “Martin will stay. Don’t hurt him. And I will bring Sophie. Tomorrow.”
Silas smiled.
“Tonight. Now. Or the basement becomes their grave.”
I stood up slowly.
“Martin stays. I go to get Sophie. But if you hurt him… or the girls… I will burn this place to the ground with you inside it.”
Silas leaned back.
“Go. And Adrian… do not try to be clever. I have eyes everywhere. One wrong move… and they all die.”
I walked out of the house.
I walked through the gate. Into the trees. Alone.
I got into the car. My hands were shaking.
Martin was trapped. Lily was trapped. And Silas was holding all the cards.
I drove away. But I didn’t go to get Sophie. I drove straight to the tactical team waiting miles away.
I had bought us time. But I had also left my brother alone with a madman.
Hours passed. Every minute felt like an eternity.
Then my phone rang. A blocked number.
I answered.
Silas’s voice. Cold. Satisfied.
“Adrian? I’m afraid we have a problem.”
My heart dropped.
“What did you do?”
“Martin tried to be a hero,” Silas said. “He tried to free the girls. He tried to overpower my guards. He fought bravely. I will give him that.”
“Silas…”
“But he failed.”
I gripped the phone.
“Where is he?”
Silas sighed theatrically.
“He is here. Beside me. But he will not be answering you. I had to make an example. I had to ensure you understood exactly what happens when you betray me.”
“Tell me!” I shouted.
“Martin is gone, Adrian. And before he died… he told me exactly where you are hiding Sophie. He told me everything.”
I felt the ground fall out beneath me.
“No…”
Silas’s voice turned cruel.
“By now… my men have reached the safe house. By the time you arrive… Sophie will be here. With me. Where she belongs.”
He paused.
“And Adrian… Martin wanted me to tell you something. He said… tell my brother I chose family. Even if it cost me everything.”
The call ended.
I stood there in the darkness. Tears streamed down my face.
Martin was gone.
My brother. The friend I had trusted. The man who had finally found the courage to do the right thing.
He was dead.
And Silas was coming for Sophie.
I fell to my knees. I screamed until my throat was raw. I beat my fists against the ground until they bled.
Silas had taken everything. My wife. My mother. My sister’s peace. My brother’s life.
And now he was coming for my daughter.
I stood up slowly. I wiped the blood from my hands.
Silas thought he had won. He thought he had broken me.
He was wrong.
He had just given me a reason to burn his world down.
Every building. Every fortune. Every memory.
I would destroy everything he had ever touched.
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And I would make sure he paid for every single life he had destroyed.
With his own.
