Chapter 23
Jason, Sean and I arrived at the coordinates without weapons, as the ransom message ordered. We climbed into a small boat tied in the surf.
The island was eerily quiet, only the slap of waves and the crunch of our boots.
“Mom!” A child’s frightened cry cut the still air.
My heart suddenly dropped and I quickened my pace, running forward. Timothy was tied to a chair. A woman with a twisted face pressed a knife to his throat.
When I saw her, my breath caught. “Yuna?”
Even more shockingly, behind her stood a dozen armed men. A few faces I recognized-former operatives from a rival cell in Mexico we had thought were eliminated long ago.
How had Yuna gotten involved with them?
I looked at Jason for answers, but he looked as shocked as I felt.
“I don’t know. I locked her in a psychiatric hospital three years ago. She escaped a year ago and I
haven’t found her since.”
When she saw us, her face twisted as she burst into a wild laugh. “Jason, Scarlet, did you expect this day to come?”
Her eyes glittered with madness.
Jason stepped forward, furious. “What the hell do you want, Yuna?”
Her laughter stopped. A cold, deadly calm took over it. “It’s simple. I want Scarlet dead.”
Sean and Jason moved at once, stepping in front of me. Their protective reflex only fueled the fire in Yuna’s jealous eyes.
She shrieked, “Why does everyone love you? Why am I the one left to rot?”
Her knife inched closer to Timothy’s throat as she spoke and the men behind her pointed their
guns at us.
Sean and I exchanged a look. This was a trap and the situation was razor thin. We needed to keep her talking long enough to find a way out.
I took a steady breath and kept my voice even. “You’re doing fine, Yuna. How are you worse off than anyone?”
She screamed, voice shaking with raw hatred. “You know nothing! I spent two years in that hospital. Their ‘treatments’ nearly drove me insane!”
“I finally escaped, but then traffickers sold me to hell in Mexico!”
“I fought and fought to get close to their leader, thinking I finally had a backer. Then you-”
She pointed at me, “You brought your men and killed him! You left me with these broken men, running for our lives!”
Her eyes went completely wild. “Scarlet, I hate you. You ruined my life!”
She pressed the dagger harder against Timothy’s neck. “You want Timothy? Trade Scarlet for him.”
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Jason did not hesitate. “Never. If this is my fault, take me instead. Trade me for him.”
Yuna laughed like a lunatic and tossed a small knife at his feet. “How noble, Jason. You love her that much that you would rather die.”
“Well, then, stab yourself with that. Do it until I’m satisfied.”
Without a second thought, Jason picked up the knife and began to stab his own thigh.
Again and again…
He filled his own body with holes while showing no expression, only cold sweat dripping from his forehead, but he gritted his teeth without a single groan. By the tenth cut he collapsed to one knee, blood pooling beneath him.
“Now will you spare Timothy and Scarlet?” he whispered, voice barely audible over the waves. However, Yuna’s hatred only deepened. She had slipped entirely into full madness. “No! The more you protect her, the more I will make her die!”
Her voice was a sharp, piercing our ears. “Jason, the only one you should love is me!”
The knife edged even closer and closer to Timothy’s neck. A thin dot of blood appeared.
The pain woke the unconscious little boy and he began crying the next second. “Mom, it hurts. Help me…”
Yuna was irritated by the noise, so she shouted back furiously, “Stop crying! One sob and I’ll kill you!”
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