The sound of the approaching car grew louder, and Valerie's heart hammered with hope. The engine roared closer, then cut off abruptly.Car doors slammed. Footsteps. Running."VALERIE!" Rick thundered from outside. She had never been so relieved to hear anyone in her entire life."IN HERE!" she screamed back, her voice cracking with desperation. "RICK, I'M IN HERE!"The door burst open with a loud crash. Rick stood in the doorway, his chest heaving, his green eyes wild as they swept the warehouse until they found her on the floor."Jesus Christ," he breathed, rushing toward her."Rick!" Valerie sobbed, struggling against her bonds. "There's a bomb! Aaron set a timer! I don't know how much time is left!"Rick's face went pale as he dropped to his knees beside her, his hands immediately working to untie the ropes around her wrists. "How long ago did he leave?""I don't know! Maybe five minutes? Maybe less!"He tried untying the knots, but they were tight, so tight that his attempts only
They sat in silence for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes. Valerie could hear Aaron's ragged breathing behind her, could smell the stale alcohol and desperation that seemed to cling to him like a second skin."Aaron," she tried appealing to him again. "Let's think about this. You don't want to do something you can't take back.""Can't take back?" He laughed "Everything that has happened to me in the past month can't be taken back. The things your boyfriend did to me can't be taken back. So why should I start being careful now?"Valerie's mind raced, searching for the right words, the right approach. She'd built an empire on her ability to read people, to find their weaknesses and exploit them. But sitting here with a knife to her throat, those skills felt useless."What exactly do you want from Rick?" she asked, trying to keep him talking. "If you hurt me, he'll just hunt you down. You know that, right?""Let him try," Aaron snarled. "I'm already a dead man walking.
Days after her confrontation with Rick, Valerie threw herself into contracts, board meetings, and everything work-related just to keep her mind occupied.It had been five days since she'd walked out of Rick's apartment, and she'd managed to avoid all thoughts of him during business hours. But the nights were different. In the quietness of her room, with nothing but her own thoughts for company, his words echoed in her mind: *"I educated him. There's a difference."*She'd replayed their conversation countless times, trying to reason out her reactions. Had she overreacted? Had she taken things too far. I mean, Aaron did try to molest her, but that didn't give Rick the right to lock him up for a month! One whole month!!Her phone had remained silent since then. No calls from him, no texts asking how she was doing. It was as if their weeks together had meant nothing to him, as if she'd simply imagined the intimacy between them.Maybe she had.That Tuesday evening, she found herself starin
The next day being Sunday, Valerie still couldn't stop thinking about Aaron's words. They replayed in her mind like a broken record - *"What kind of man tortures someone for weeks and then comes home to fuck you? He is a monster!"*She'd spent the entire night tossing and turning, staring at the ceiling of her bedroom, trying to reconcile the Rick she knew with the man Aaron had described. The Rick who held her tenderly, who made her breakfast, who looked at her fondly - could that same man really be capable of keeping someone chained in a basement for weeks?By noon, she couldn't stand it anymore. She needed answers.She grabbed her keys from the key tray, ready to drive herself to Rick's apartment, but then Aaron's desperate look flashed through her mind and she stilled. He was still out there somewhere, loose and clearly unstable. The last thing she needed was another confrontation.So she texted Steve instead to get the car ready. Minutes later, they were on their way to Rick's a
Valerie sat frozen in the back seat, her heart still racing from the confrontation with Rick. The last thing she needed right now was another crisis. But here was Aaron Calder, on his knees in the middle of the road like some deranged human.She waited, watching through the tinted windows as her security team mobilized. Steve's hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, his eyes fixed on Aaron."Ma'am," Steve said quietly, "the team is in position."Valerie could see them now - eight men surrounding Aaron from different angles."Grab him," Valerie ordered through her earpiece which was now connected in call with the security men. "Get him away from the car."She watched as two guards moved in and grabbed Aaron's arms. But as they began dragging him away, Aaron started struggling against their hold."Valerie!" he screamed desperately. "Please! Just listen to me! I need to talk to you!""Keep moving," she instructed her men, but Aaron's pleas grew more frantic."I'm begging you! Five min
Valerie glared at him, her chest heaving with frustration. Did he have to be so cruel about it? So dismissive?"You don't have to sound so rude about something I already know, Rick," she snapped.He stared at her for a long moment, then sighed heavily, running a hand through his dark hair. "What do you want, Valerie? You said you were here to say something?"The cold facade was back in full force, and Valerie hated it with every fiber of her being. He was speaking to her like he had on that first night - regarding her like something that wasn't worth his time, like she was nothing more than an inconvenience. She didn't like this side of him at all.But what did she expect? She had started this. They were having something good, something beautiful, but Valerie - the ever-complicated Valerie - had decided to destroy it because she was scared. Scared of what they were becoming, scared of how vulnerable he made her feel.She cleared her throat, steeling herself for what she had to say. "