30. Callie

The Crane Enterprises building stretches before me like a gigantic statue, utterly stoic upon my approach. For years it was a symbol of comfort. A sign that I would soon be at my desk, ogling my hot boss from a distance. I never could have dreamed I’d end up like this back then.

Never did I dream that I’d know what his lips tasted like. What his cock felt like. Nor did I ever think I would bag two other insanely attractive men also interested in me and not have to choose which one I wanted to be with. That kind of acceptance was glorious.

Each step closer is weighed down by the understanding that this was the last time I would ever walk through those doors. The last time I would ever think of this company, or those men, with fondness in my heart. I needed to ignore the love blossoming in my heart, and ignore the sharp ache that was slowly taking its place.

Once Sawyer read my letter, it would be all over.

No more secret smiles. No more kisses and touches. No more love.

I prayed Bianca would be okay. The men I loved had good hearts and I was certain they would do something to help her, even just because it would mean getting one over on Eli. I was partly curious if Bianca would end up telling them everything, but in the end, I was sure it wouldn’t matter.

I’d already said goodbye to my mother, and the last tear-stained portion of my letter was a plea for them to try and help her. If Eli punished her to hurt me, she would have no idea what was going on. She didn’t deserve to suffer for that.

I was going to jail, wasn’t I? What I did was definitely illegal and I wouldn’t be surprised if Sawyer did everything he could to see me locked away for spilling company secrets. I think I’d always known that somewhere in the back of my mind. I just hadn’t cared.

My fear of Eli and my desire to protect my mother had always been stronger.

My attempt now to do the right thing was too little, too late. But I couldn’t keep quiet any longer, not when Eli was targeting the innocent people in my life.

As for the baby… I had no idea what to do there either. I left that part out of the letter. Confessing my love for Sawyer and the others is the last pain I can inflict on them. They went from crushes to such strong pillars of support in my life, caring for me in ways I had never experienced.

Telling them I’m pregnant felt like too much, so that secret I will keep.

For now.

The building draws closer and my steps falter. Each one is slower than the last and the backs of my thighs start to tremble. My life, as I knew it, was about to be over.

Suddenly, something solid collided with the back of my head, sending me crashing forward onto my hands and knees. A yelp of pain tore past my throat but when I tried to take a breath to gather myself, something rough was thrust over my nose and mouth.

My next breath was dragged through the rag, and the pain flaring at the back of my skull dulled instantly. The sharp pebbles digging into my palms faded to a dull ache and darkness washed over me in seconds.

Consciousness trickled back to me slowly. Pressure around my wrists was the first thing that alarmingly alerted me when I tried to lift my arm and brush hair out of my face. I couldn’t. Something was weighing both my arms down. I curled my hands into a fist and tried again, but the pressure increased to match my struggles. Confusion wormed through my dull mind, and I fought to open my eyes.

Glaring bright light blinded me so I snapped my eyelids shut and groaned. The throbbing at the back of my skull was slowly letting itself know, and with it came a dry nausea that felt like something was forcing my throat open.

I was going to be sick. Fuck, I was going to be?—

A palm collided sharply with my face, causing my head to snap up and backward. My eyes flew open, burning from the bright light within the room, but the slap was more than enough to sharpen my senses immediately.

I was upright, restrained in a chair in a hotel room with spital blinds over the windows and a four-poster bed in the far corner. The muddy brown walls and tan carpet didn’t scream luxury, which was a surprise given the fact that Eli Talbot was seated in front of me.

“Eli?”

“About fucking time you woke up,” Eli snarled and he balled up his fist. Throwing the punch, it was angled toward my body, and a cold terror gripped me.

“Wait! I’m pregnant!” I screamed, trying to curl up in the chair to protect my body.

Eli paused, his fist a few inches away from my body and then he laughed. It was a cold, dry sound like a gust through a brown paper bag. “Are you really?”

“Yes,” I gasped, tears brimming in my eyes. “I am. Please, please don’t… please.”

“Well ain’t that just the fucking cherry on the fucking cake.” Something was holding Eli back from following through with the punch. I didn’t expect him to have so much respect for me in that regard, but even cruel men like him seemed to have their limits.

“I don’t understand. What am I doing here? What are you even doing?”

“Me?!” Eli stood so fast that he knocked his own chair backward. It clattered down, and he kicked it aggressively out of the way. “You’ve got a lot of cheek daring to ask me that when you’re the one that screwed me over, you little bitch!”

“What?” Shit, what did I do? I didn’t do anything, did I? Did he find the letter to Sawyer?

“Don’t try to act all innocent!” Eli was on me in seconds, fisting his hand into my hair and dragging my head so far back that my throat pulled tight. My breathing became hoarse when he clamped his other hand over my jaw and pinched into the joint.

“You fucking little snake. Not just the dumb pretty face you like to act on, are you?”

“Please,” I sobbed weakly past his grip. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes you do!” He roared down at me, flecks of spit burning into my skin. His grip tightened so harshly that for a second, I feared he was about to pop my jaw right out of its socket.

“Please—”

“My patent got rejected. Did you know that? Did you have a laugh about it with the men you’re fucking? Was it all just some big fucking joke to you? Well, let me tell you, by the time I’m done destroying your life, I will be the one laughing!”

“I have— no idea what you’re talking about!” Forcing the words out around my desperate gasps for air, I stared up into his hateful eyes and whimpered.

Eli snarled and released me. My head fell forward, chin to chest, while I wept.

“It turns out you stole some old fucking design that Sawyer had already shelved after Kane pointed out the similarities on it to an old project belonging to someone else,” Eli spat. “He took great pleasure in telling me that last night!”

Eli stalked around the room in front of me, repeatedly dragging his hand through his hair.

“So now PRISM looks like a fool for trying to sue with an old design that they didn’t even use, and I’m facing a lawsuit of our own from the real manufacturer behind the design you stole. Do you have any idea the level of damage you’ve done?!”

He ended up screaming in my face and his palm collided with my face once more.

“Please,” I gasped as a copper tang sprayed through the inside of my mouth. “I didn’t know. I stole what you asked me to steal. I didn’t know it was the wrong one!”

“I don’t believe you!” Eli curled his fists into the front of my shirt and hauled me upward, chair and all. The bindings around my wrists and ankles bit into my flesh from the weight of the chair, and I sobbed harder.

“Where is it?!”

“I don’t have it! I don’t have it, please. I don’t know where it is, I don’t know what you need, please I’m sorry. Please, please!”

Eli released me with a snarl of disgust and I landed with a clatter. The chair tipped dangerously to the side but I was able to remain upright through instinct. My heart pounded in my ears and each breath burned my throat from the leftover chemicals lingering inside me.

I stole the wrong thing? How was that even possible?

“Fine. You’re fucking useless, so I guess I’ll just have to do it myself.” Eli approached the wooden table near the window and picked up a phone.

My phone.

“Once I disappear your mother, I’ll make Sawyer give me the patent.”

“What?” I lifted my head and tried to clear my tears by blinking quickly. “No, you can’t! She didn’t do anything!”

“And neither did you, you fucking bitch!” Eli yelled. “If you had, no one else would have to suffer!”

“Please! You can’t do this. You can’t hurt her. What the fuck is wrong with you!” My terror gave way to anger and I pulled hard at my restraints. The chair rocked back and forth and I yelled out, furious that even now, he was using threats. There was no way I could have known I got him the wrong file.

Fuck!

Then, I started to scream. It was the only thing I could think of since we were in a hotel and if I was lucky, someone would hear me and come looking. A flash of white-hot rage passed over Eli’s face and he snatched something else up from the table. He approached me and it became a battle as I screamed louder while he put me in a headlock and taped my mouth shut. The tape circled my head, catching my hair but the pain barely registered.

My screams faded. The tears were making it difficult for me to breathe through my nose. Instead, all I could do was glare at Eli as he returned to my phone and dialed a number.

Was he calling the facility? Was he going to get her carted somewhere I would never see her again? I hated him. I hated him with everything I had and I poured that hatred into my glare as he smoothed his hair and straightened his silver tie.

“Why hello.” Eli’s voice was suddenly a lot calmer. “Callie? Oh, don’t you worry, Sawyer. She’s right here with me.”

Sawyer? Why was he calling him? Taking as deep a breath as I could manage, I screamed as loud as I could through the tape but the effects were minimal. I barely made any noise and certainly not enough to reach the phone.

Eli smirked coldly at me.

“To talk? Yes, I think that would be a great idea if you want to see her alive again. Meet me by the river. And come alone.”