119
Ellen’s POV
The walls of our mansion seemed to close in around me as the weight of the investor’s withdrawal sank in. My father and I sat in stunned silence, the enormity of our situation pressing down on us like a suffocating blanket.
“How could this happen?” I muttered, my voice barely above a whisper. My father, pale and shaken, had no answer.
Before we could begin to process the disaster that had just unfolded, the phone father used to message Kamille rang, shattering the silence. I picked it up, and my heart sank as I saw Kamille’s name on the screen.
“Father, please let me take it,” I said to him.
“Are you sure about that?” He asked as he passed the phone and the vocoder.
I took it from him and picked the call.NôvelDrama.Org © content.
“Ellen!” Kamille’s voice was frantic and filled with raw panic. “I don’t care about anything else. I want my kids back! What have you done with them?”
I didn’t refute that it was me, nor did I affirm it wasn’t. The vocoder would do it’s fucking job, while I will do mine anyway.
I took a deep breath, trying to maintain control. “If you want your kids back, you’ll need to pay us the one million dollars we told you about,” I said, my voice cold and unyielding.
“One million dollars?!” Kamille screamed. “Where the hell am I supposed to get that kind of money?”
“That’s your problem,” I retorted. “If you want to see your kids alive, you’ll find a way.”
Before she could respond, I hung up the phone and let out a scream of frustration. “Why the fuck can’t our victory outlive a week?!”
“I have been wondering the same thing. Soon the money paid in compensation will be expended. We will have nothing left,” Father replied tiredly.
Where has his zeal gone? I felt like I was on the verge of a breakdown.
Mr. Finley rushed in with a gun in his hands. “Miss Ellen, Sir, the mansion has been infiltrated by Zeke’s men. They’re inside the house.”
“What?” I shouted, my mind struggling to keep up with the flood of disasters. “How did they get in?”
“We don’t know,” Finley replied, his voice trembling. “But they’re here. We need to act fast.”
Before I could respond, Max burst into the room, his face pale with fear. “There’s more,” he said breathlessly. “The mansion has been infiltrated by someone else too. He’s killing anyone he sees.”
I felt a cold wave of fear wash over me. “Who? Who’s doing this?”
“We don’t know,” Max said, his voice shaking. “But he’s ruthless. We need to get out of here.”
I turned to my father, my heart pounding. “What do we do?”
My father, usually so composed, looked utterly defeated. “Max, make sure my wife is safe in her room.”
Max’s face fell. “I’m sorry, sir. She was in the living room when they came in. The police have already taken her.”
I felt like the ground was slipping away beneath me. “Call more men!” I yelled, panic rising in my chest. “We need more security!”
“We don’t have the money to hire more security,” my father said quietly. “We’re out of options.”
Desperation clawed at my insides. “Then what do we do?”
“We abandon the mansion,” my father said, his voice hollow. “We may have to fight our way out. It’s our only chance.”
Zeke was here for the kids, then who was the other son of a bitch?
The realization hit me like a punch to the gut. We were truly finished. Our once-mighty empire was crumbling, and we were powerless to stop it. But I couldn’t afford to dwell on our defeat. We needed to move, and fast.
“Let’s go,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt. “We need to get out of here before it’s too late.”
We moved through the mansion with a sense of urgency, the sound of our footsteps echoing in the grand, empty halls.
As we reached the entrance, I could hear the chaos outside. The sound of gunfire, the shouts of men, and the distant wail of sirens created a symphony of terror. My heart pounded in my chest, but I forced myself to keep moving.
We entered into the elevator that would take us directly to the ground floor without having to make a stop on the second floor.
But as soon as we got out of the elevator, We came face to face with Zeke. “Zeke?” I called.
“Move out,” Andrew, his Chief Security, ordered, motioning his gun towards the living room.
We arrived at the center, but Zeke was yet to say anything. “What do you think you are doing? I’m pregnant with our child!” I yelled at him.
“Our?” He mocked. “I have proof that your pregnancy doesn’t belong to me. Would you like to see it?” He sneered.
Before I could respond, the sound of approaching footsteps caught our attention. We turned to see a figure emerging from the shadows, a look of cold determination on his face.
As he emerged with huge men dressed as mercenaries, without warning he shot at the security around us, including Max and Mr Finley.
“Who are you?” My father demanded. I could hear his voice trembling with a mix of fear and defiance.
The man stepped forward, his expression unreadable. “My name doesn’t matter,” he said, his voice calm and chilling. “What matters is that you’re all complete too soon and with one knock out, I would have avenged Kamille properly.”
Kamille the conniving whore seemed to have men who were willing to die for her. Why did I have to be so unlucky?
Panic surged through me as I realized the true extent of our predicament. We were trapped, outnumbered, and outgunned.
“What are you doing here Chris?” Zeke asked in the coldest tone I have ever heard coming from him.
“Don’t worry Zeke, I promise I will only take what belongs to me and leave,” The man replied and smiled in the most sinister manner ever.
As the man stepped closer, I felt a cold sweat break out on my forehead.
It definitely was going to be a freaking long night.