Page 33 of Fated Love with You

“I swear.” He swallows. “I didn’t talk. I didn’t say anything about her.”

“This isn’t up for debate.” I walk over to him. “I have all the evidence, but I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll let you choose how you want me to handle this.”

“I really didn’t say anything.”

“You can go six feet under today, vanishing without anyone ever discovering your body, or you can vanish slowly and painfully. Same outcome. Different timeline.”

“They’re expecting a call from me.”

“Oh? Who isthey?”

He sucks in an unsteady breath, shivering as the freezer’s vents blow directly against him.

“I don’t appreciate it when I have to repeat myself.” I pull out my phone and adjust the temperature control—lowering it from zero degrees to negative twenty degrees.

The vents blow harder and harsher, and a couple of my men exchange glances.

“You have five seconds to answer my question,” I warn. “You know I hate waiting.”

“Rush Banks.” The words rush out of his lips, and my blood runs cold at the sound of that name.

“It was him and his team, sir,” he continues, his teeth chattering. “I’m sorry.”

“Because you got caught, I’m sure.”

“I only told them what they already know. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“I see.” I lower the temperature again. “If it were just me, I’d care a lot less. But you brought someone I like into this. And you could’ve gotten her killed.”

“No, they promised it was just a ransom.”

I raise an eyebrow, debating whether I should end him here and now. “I had to lie to her and say they were journalists,” I say. “Because if she knew the truth, she’d probably never talk to me again.”

“Sir—”

“I even had to keep a straight face when I told her I only intended to ‘hurt’ them,” I say. “You made me lie to her twice.”

“Sir, please…”

“If I hadn’t caught on to what you did, they could’ve followed her to New York. They could’ve found my daughter.”

“Daughter?”

“There were condoms in the trunk.” I grit my teeth. “Duct tape. Weapons. Rope… They lied to you like you lied to me.”

It takes everything in me not to snap his neck on the spot.

“How much did they pay you for the intel? Was it more than the money you stole from me?” I step closer. His mouth moves, but no words fall.

“Tick-tock, Austin. The longer you stall, the worse this ends.”

“Five hundred thousand.”

“I would’vegivenyou that.”

“I’ll work it all back for the rest of my life to show you how sorry I really am… Please just let me go.”

“Come again?” I raise an eyebrow.