Chapter 20

Jonathan’s POV

My eyes swept across the dark street, searching desperately for any sign of her, when I noticed a car. Pulling away from the club about fifty meters down the road, moving faster than it should have been in a residential area.

And through the back window, for just a split second, I saw Elena. Her head was lolling against the seat, and she looked unconscious.

My blood turned to ice.

The driver looked back, and our eyes locked. His expression shifted immediately…from cocky confidence to something like panic…and he slammed on the accelerator.

I was already running back to my car.

I threw myself into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and tore out after him, my tires screeching against the pavement.

The car ahead weaved through the traffic, running a red light, cutting off other vehicles. Horns blared and people shouted but I didn't care.

All I could see was Elena’s unconscious in that backseat.

I grabbed my phone with one hand, keeping the other on the wheel, and scrolled through my contacts until I found the name I needed.

Marcus. Former intelligence operative, who was now running a private company.

He answered on the second ring. “Hart. It’s late.”

“I need your help,” I said, my voice tight. “Now.”

“What’s going on?”

“Someone took my Personal Manager. I’m following the car right now. It’s a black Honda Civic, license plate…” I squinted at the plate ahead of me, “…SGP 7284. We’re heading east on Orchard Road.”

“Took her? Jonathan, what the hell…”

“I don’t have time to explain. I need you to stop that car. Block the roads, call in patrol units, fake a roadwork setup, I don’t care. Just stop it.”

There was a pause, then I heard the sound of typing in the background.

“Give me three minutes,” Marcus said. “Keep following. I’ll vector you toward a checkpoint.”

“Make it two minutes.”

The line went dead.

I pressed down harder on the accelerator, my knuckles were white against the steering wheel. The car ahead took a sharp right, nearly clipping a motorcycle. I followed, my heart pounding so hard it hurt.

Hold on, Elena. Just hold on.

Two minutes felt like an eternity. But then, ahead of us were really huge construction trucks blocking the entire road, orange cones and flashing lights made the road totally unpassable. Men in reflective vests stood with clipboards. Making it harder to even pass by.

The Honda slammed on its brakes, skidding to a stop.

I pulled up right behind it, barely putting my car in park before I was out and running toward the driver’s side.

Through the window, I could see Elena slumped in the passenger seat, a dark bruise already forming on the side of her head.

Rage unlike anything I’d ever felt flooded through me.

“Open the door!” I shouted, pounding on the window.

The driver…that smug bastard from the bar…just stared at me, his eyes wide with fear now that he realized he was trapped.

“I said open the fucking door!”

He didn’t move.

Fine.

I grabbed a piece of broken concrete from the side of the road and smashed it through the driver’s side window. Glass exploded inward, and before he could react, I reached through, unlocked the door, and yanked it open.

I dragged him out of the car by his collar, throwing the soon to be dead meat to the fucking ground.

He tried to scramble away, but I was on him before he could get far. My fist connected with his jaw, then his nose, then his jaw again. Blood splattered across the pavement.

“Jonathan!” Marcus’s voice came from somewhere behind me. “Jonathan, that’s enough!”

I hit him again.

“She said no,” I snarled, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him close. “She said no, and you locked her in the car. You knocked her unconscious.”

“I didn’t…I wasn’t going to…”

I hit him one more time, and he went limp.

Hands grabbed my shoulders, trying to pull me back. Marcus and two of his men.

“He’s done,” Marcus said firmly. “Let him go. He will die.

I stepped back, my chest heaving, my knuckles split and bleeding.

Marcus looked down at the unconscious man, then back at me. “What do you want me to do with him?”

“Make sure every camera in this area has its footage wiped,” I said, my voice cold and controlled now. “And take care of him. I don’t care where he ends up, as long as it’s far away from here and he never comes near her again.”

Marcus nodded. “Consider it done.”

I turned and walked back to the Honda, opening the passenger door carefully.

Elena was still unconscious, her breathing shallow but steady. The bruise on her temple looked worse up close, dark purple spreading across her pale skin.

I lifted her out of the car as gently as I could, cradling her against my chest.

She didn’t stir.

“Hospital?” Marcus asked.

“No,” I said. “Back to the hotel. I’ll have a doctor meet us there.”

I carried her to my car, settling her in the passenger seat and buckling her in before getting behind the wheel.

The drive back felt longer than the chase.

She woke up as we were pulling into the hotel parking garage.

Her eyes fluttered open, she looked so unfocused and confused, and she tried to sit up.

“Don’t move,” I said quietly. “You have a concussion.”

“What…” Her voice was hoarse. “What happened?”

“Someone tried to kidnap” I said, pulling into a parking spot and turning off the engine. “He knocked you out when you tried to get away.”

She blinked holding her head as her face twisted cause of the pain, and then her expression shifted from confusion to anger.

“Why did you come?” she demanded, her voice stronger now. “Why did you save me?”

I stared at her. “What?”

“I don’t need you rescuing me, Jonathan. What happens to me is none of your business.”

“None of my business?” I repeated, disbelief flooding through me. “Elena, you were kidnapped. How is that not my business?”

“Because it’s my life!” she shouted, and then winced, pressing a hand to her temple. “It’s my life, and my mistakes, and you don’t get to swoop in and play hero just because you feel guilty about what you said earlier.”

“Is that what you think this is?” I asked, my voice dangerously quiet. “You think I tracked you down and chased that car through half of Singapore because I felt guilty?”

“Didn’t you?”

“No, Elena. I did it because the thought of something happening to you made me lose my goddamn mind.”

She went still, her eyes searching mine.

“You don’t get to do this,” she said finally, her voice breaking. “You don’t get to tell me I have no right to know about your personal life and then act like you have every right to know about mine. You don’t get to push me away and then pull me back whenever it’s convenient for you.”

“That’s not what I’m doing…”

“Then what are you doing, Jonathan?” she demanded. “Because I can’t keep up with this. One minute you’re cold and distant, the next you’re doing weird out of character shit. What am I supposed to think?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but my phone beeped before I could.

It was a message from Lisa.

I frowned and opened it.

It was a video file.

I clicked on it, and couldn’t help but click my tongue. This will be a bit bothersome.

The footage was grainy but clear enough. It showed me dragging that man out of the car, punching him repeatedly while he lay on the ground.

The timestamp showed it was from less than an hour ago.

And at the bottom of the message, Lisa had written:

We need to talk. Tomorrow morning. This can’t get out.

I stared at the screen, feeling something cold settle in my chest.

“What is it?” Elena asked.

“Nothing,” I said, locking my phone. “Let’s get you inside.”

But as I helped her out of the car, I knew this was far from over.