Taming My Sugar Mommy-Chapter 25: Warning

The Miami hotel suite felt like a cage made of luxury. Isabella stood by the window, her reflection ghosting against the neon-stained skyline, phone gripped white-knuckled as she waited for news. Six hours since Liam had been taken. Six hours of silence that scraped against her nerves like sandpaper.

The city sprawled below, a maze of lights and shadows where anything could be happening to him. "Where he could already be—"

"No." She wouldn't let her mind go there. Not after everything he'd sacrificed. The memory of that gun pressed against her temple made her skin crawl. The way Liam's eyes had changed when they'd threatened her, the careful calculation replaced by raw fear.

Christina shifted on the expensive couch, her usual composure cracking. "Still nothing from Marcus?"

"No." Isabella's word carried steel beneath the exhaustion. Her head of security had vanished right when she needed him most, going dark just after the incident. It didn't sit right. She punched in another number, this one memorized by heart.

Diana answered on the second ring. "Ma'am."

"Pull the security footage from the venue. Last hour before the incident. I need to see everything about who took him." Isabella kept her voice steady, controlled. Control was all she had right now.

"Understood. Give me ten minutes."

"Make it five." She ended the call, letting her arm drop. The silence in the suite pressed against her skin.

Christina ran fingers through her perfectly styled hair, messing it up for the first time Isabella could remember. The event was supposed to be routine - a simple meeting with potential investors. Now everything had gone to hell. "What if they've already—"

"Don't." Isabella's tone could have cut glass. "We're getting him back."

Christina nodded, but worry shadowed her face. They both knew what kind of people operated in their world. What happened to those who crossed the wrong lines.

The minutes stretched like torture until her phone buzzed again.

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"Talk," Isabella answered.

Diana's voice carried tension. "I've got the footage. It's not good."

Isabella's stomach tightened. "Tell me."

"I can see Roberts and his team positioned around the venue, but the two men who took Liam? The footage is... corrupted."

"Corrupted?" The word tasted wrong.

"Glitches. Static. Like someone tampered with the cameras. Professional job too - they knew exactly which angles to hit. This wasn't random, Isabella. They knew our security protocols."

Christina straightened. "Inside job."

Isabella breathed slowly, containing the rage building in her chest. "Send me what you have."

"Already did." A pause. "What's your next move?"

Isabella ended the call without answering. She turned to Christina, mind already assembling plans, when the door opened.

Marcus walked in.

Something about his casual stance made Isabella's skin crawl. He looked around, frowning. "What's with the—"

The slap echoed through the room before he'd finished speaking.

Marcus took the hit without reaction, his jaw tightening as his hand brushed his cheek. His gaze flicked between Isabella and Christina, unreadable, before settling back on Isabella.

Christina took a step back, her hand slipping into her purse where Isabella knew she kept a .380.

"Where the hell have you been?" Isabella's voice shook with fury. "Liam's been taken. Six fucking hours ago. And you—my head of security—were nowhere to be found!"

She pulled up her phone, thrusting the screen in his face. The red dot blinked steadily. "Someone corrupted our cameras, disabled our security protocols, and forced him to surrender himself." Her eyes narrowed. "Start talking, Marcus. Now."

"I was handling other matters," Marcus said stiffly, but his eyes fixed on the tracking signal.

"Other matters?" Isabella's laugh was brittle. "I'm your boss. Everything goes through me. Every. Single. Thing." She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "If I find out you had anything to do with this—"

"You don't want to make accusations you can't take back," Marcus cut in, but there was something uncertain in his stance now.

Isabella's phone buzzed again. The red dot had stopped moving.

They had a location.

---

The hood came off Liam's head like ripping off a bandage, leaving him blinking in harsh fluorescent light. His arms ached from the restraints, but his mind stayed sharp, taking in everything.

Concrete walls stretched up into shadows. The air carried traces of oil and damp. Two men in expensive suits stood before him, but his attention fixed on the figure behind them.

A man in a mask.

Liam kept still, kept quiet. Waited. His training kicked in - analyze, assess, find weaknesses. But something about this setup felt wrong. Too personal for a random kidnapping.

The masked man tilted his head, studying him. When he spoke, his voice came distorted, almost mechanical. "Look who we have here. My men say you put up quite a fight back there, lover boy. Until we found your weakness, of course."

Liam said nothing. Just watched. Calculated.

The man stepped closer, confidence in every movement. "Do you know what you are to Isabella?"

'What kind of question is that?' Liam thought, keeping his expression neutral.

"You're just a toy to her," the masked man continued, circling him slowly. "After she's done, she'll dump you back on the streets where she found you. Don't think she's being nice because you're her employee or whatever you think you are." He stopped in front of Liam. "Don't get too comfortable in her world. She'll use you up and throw you away."

'This lunatic doesn't know what he's talking about,' Liam thought, his jaw clenching.

"I'm giving you a chance here," the mechanical voice softened, almost sympathetic. "Walk away from her. Now. Before you're in too deep. Because if you stay..." The mask tilted slightly. "Well, let's just say I won't be this nice next time we meet."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Liam finally snapped, frustration breaking through.

"You have until tomorrow night. Leave her, disappear, start fresh somewhere else. Or stay, and find out exactly what happens to people who don't listen to my warnings." He nodded to his men. "Think about it carefully."

The hood went back over Liam's head. This time they weren't as gentle. As they led him out, the masked man's distorted voice followed him. "Remember - tomorrow night. Your choice."

They drove for what felt like hours, taking turns that seemed designed to disorient him. When they finally stopped and removed his hood, he was back near the venue, his phone and wallet still in his pockets. A warning, not a robbery. A message, not a ransom.

'What the hell was that about?' Liam thought, watching the black car disappear into Miami's neon-lit streets. The man's words echoed in his mind, leaving him with more questions than answers. This wasn't about money. Wasn't about business. This was something else entirely.

His wrists ached from the restraints, and his ribs throbbed where they'd pinned him down. He pulled out his phone, saw the missed calls from Isabella. His finger hovered over the call button.

This wasn't over. Not by a long shot.