Chapter 2

After setting the tag necklace down on the ground, I said, my voice stripped of dignity, “Can you let Lucy down now?”

Palmer kicked my arm away in disgust.

“Give it a rest already!”

As her eyes darted mischievously, she turned and slipped into Theo’s arms. She said perkily, “Here’s the thing. Throw yourself at Theo’s mercy. If he accepts the necklace from you, I’ll release her right away.”

My arms shook violently as I looked up in shock.

“Dean…”

In the back, Lucy’s broken voice drifted over.

I closed my eyes in agony.

Head down, I crouched low.

I pressed my forehead hard against the cold, hard floor.

“Mr. Castell, please take this necklace.”

Theo offered no response.

I kept my head down the entire time.

Not once did I lift my gaze.

Blood from the top of my head ran down like tears, washing over my face.

“Alright. That’s enough. I’ll take it.”

Theo, as if genuinely sorry, helped me to my feet and leaned in to whisper in my ear, “Do you know why Palmer set Lucy up? I told them that Lucy undressed herself and threw herself at me, begging me to take her…”

His remark hit me like a ton of bricks, and something in me snapped.

I raised my leg and kicked him in the gut.

Once Theo was knocked over, I mounted on him and punched him in the face over and over again.

Soon enough, his face was just as bloodied as mine.

Giselle and Palmer screamed for backup to pull me away.

“Theo!”

Finding Theo unconscious, they snapped angry looks at me and uttered menacingly, “If anything happens to Theo, you’ll answer for this!”

Their threats had to take a back seat. Turning on my heel, I stumbled toward Lucy, who remained suspended in the air.

“Hang in there, Lucy… I-I’ll get you down now.”

Getting on my tiptoes, I tried to hook onto the rope above.

From days without food and water, Lucy’s eyes were sunken. Parting her cracked lips, she murmured, “Dean…”

With trembling hands, I brushed the stray hair away from her face and forced a smile before muttering, “Don’t be scared, Lucy. I’ll find a ladder to get you down now.”

Several burly security agents burst in and dragged me out.

“What are you doing? Unhand me!”

Brushing off my struggles, they hauled me away from the warehouse.

“Lucy! Lucy!”

The last thing I saw before I was taken away was a teardrop falling from the corner of Lucy’s eye.

Half an hour later, I was escorted into a room, hands bound and a hood over my head.

“Swoosh.”

The hood was pulled off.

I could barely keep my eyes open due to the glaring lights in the room.

“Smack!”

Out of nowhere, I was struck in the face.

I opened my eyes and saw Giselle, her eyes swollen from crying.

“Dean, Theo is in the ICU because of you!”