The temptation of my brother-in-law-Chapter 134 - One Hundred and Thirty-Four

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Four

Malachi’s POV

The call came at six in the evening.

I was in my office reviewing Marcus Webb’s file when my phone rang. Unknown number. I almost didn’t answer.

"Malachi Blackwood?" A man’s voice. Calm. Professional.

"Who is this?"

"That doesn’t matter. What matters is that we have Cecilia. She’s safe for now, but that can change very quickly depending on how cooperative you are."

My blood went cold. I stood up, already moving toward the door. "If you hurt her—"

"You’ll what? Come find us? Good luck with that. Listen carefully because I’m only going to say this once. Cecilia’s inheritance case gets dropped. She signs everything over to her uncles. She does this willingly, publicly, and permanently. If she does that, she walks away alive. If she doesn’t, well, I’m sure you can imagine what happens to pretty young women who don’t cooperate."

"Let me talk to her."

"No."

"Then how do I know she’s even alive?"

There was a pause. Then I heard her voice, faint and scared. "Malachi, don’t do what they say. Don’t let them—"

The sound cut off. The man came back on. "Satisfied? You have twenty-four hours to convince her to cooperate. We’ll be in touch with instructions."

The line went dead.

I was already calling Maurice. "Cecilia’s been taken. I need her location now."

"Taken? By who?"

"Her uncles. Has to be. They’re demanding she drop the inheritance case."

"I’ll track her phone. Give me five minutes."

I called Rose next. "I need you. Now. Cecilia’s been kidnapped."

"Where are you?"

"Office. But I’m heading to her apartment."

"I’ll meet you there."

I grabbed my jacket and ran. Took the stairs because the elevator was too slow. My mind was racing through possibilities, scenarios, plans. Cecilia’s uncles were desperate, but kidnapping was a massive escalation. They had to know this would bring down hell on them.

Unless they planned to make her disappear permanently once they got what they wanted.

The thought made me drive faster. I ran two red lights getting to her building. Rose was already there, leaning against her motorcycle, dressed in all black.

"What do we know?" she asked.

"They called me. Gave me twenty-four hours to convince her to sign everything over."

"They’re bluffing. They won’t kill her. Too many witnesses, too much attention."

"You willing to bet her life on that?"

"No. But I’m saying we have time to find her before they do something stupid."

My phone rang. Maurice.

"Got her location. Her phone’s still on. She’s at a warehouse on the east side. Same area where Tyler’s been operating."

That stopped me cold. "Tyler’s involved?"

"Can’t confirm, but the location is too close to be coincidence. Sending you the address now."

The address came through. I showed it to Rose. "You armed?"

"Always."

"Good. Because we’re going in hard."

We took my car. Rose checked her weapons in the passenger seat with the casual efficiency of someone who’d done this a thousand times. Two guns, a knife, something that looked like brass knuckles but more sophisticated.

"You think Tyler’s working with her uncles?" Rose asked.

"I think Tyler’s working with anyone who’ll help him hurt this family. If Cecilia’s uncles paid him, he’d take the job."

"This is going to get messy."

"It already is messy."

We pulled up to the warehouse twenty minutes later. It was exactly the kind of place you’d expect for a kidnapping. Abandoned industrial area, no witnesses, plenty of exits. Three cars parked outside. Lights on inside.

"How do you want to play this?" Rose asked.

"Fast and violent. They’re expecting negotiation. We give them the opposite."

"My favorite kind of rescue."

We got out. Moved toward the building. Rose went left, I went right. There was a side entrance, rusted metal door that looked like it hadn’t been used in years. I tried the handle. Locked.

Rose appeared beside me. "Main entrance is the same. We’re going to have to breach."

"Then we breach."

She pulled out something from her jacket. Small explosive charge. "This’ll do it, but everyone inside will know we’re coming."

"Good. Let them know."

She planted the charge. We backed up. She triggered it.

The explosion was smaller than I expected, just enough to blow the lock. The door swung open. We went in.

The warehouse was mostly empty. Old machinery, crates, debris. But there were voices coming from the back. I moved toward them, Rose covering my flank.

We reached a makeshift office area. Through the dirty windows I could see four men. Two I didn’t recognize. The other two were Cecilia’s uncles. And Cecilia was there, tied to a chair, her face bruised, her clothes torn. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Rage flooded through me. Pure, undiluted rage.

"How many exits?" Rose whispered.

"Two that I can see. One behind them, one to the right."

"I’ll take the back exit. You go through the front. On three."

She moved silently toward the rear. I counted to three in my head. Then kicked the door open.

All four men turned. Reached for weapons.

I shot the first one before his hand reached his gun. Center mass. He went down hard.

Rose came through the back. Shot the second hired muscle. Perfect headshot.

That left the uncles.

The older one, Richard, pulled a gun. Pointed it at Cecilia’s head. "Don’t move or she dies."

I stopped. Kept my gun trained on him. "You’re not walking out of here, Richard. Best case scenario, you put the gun down and we call the police. Worst case, I kill you both and make it look like self-defense."

"You won’t risk her life."

"Try me."

Rose had her gun on the younger uncle, Marcus. "He’s not bluffing. I’ve seen him do worse."

"This is business," Richard said, his voice shaking. "Just business. She signs the papers, everyone walks away."

"You kidnapped her. Beat her. Threatened her. That’s not business. That’s felony kidnapping, assault, and about ten other charges that’ll put you away for life."

"We’re family. She won’t press charges."

"I will," Cecilia said. Her voice was hoarse but strong. "I’ll press every charge I can think of. I’ll bury you both."

Richard’s hand tightened on the gun. "Shut up."

"No. You tried to intimidate me. Tried to scare me. Tried to take what my father left me. But you failed. You’re weak, pathetic men who can’t accept that a woman outsmarted you."

"I said shut up!" Richard pressed the gun harder against her temple.

That’s when Rose moved. Fast. Inhumanly fast. She crossed the distance before anyone could react. Grabbed Richard’s gun hand. Twisted. The gun went off but the bullet went wide. She slammed his face into the wall. Once. Twice. He collapsed.

Marcus tried to run. I caught him before he reached the door. Slammed him against a crate. "Where’s Tyler?"

"I don’t know what you’re talking about."

I hit him. Hard. "Try again. Where’s Tyler?"

"I don’t know! We hired some guys through an intermediary. Never met them. Never got names."

"Lying."

"I’m not! I swear! We just wanted to scare her. That’s all. We didn’t mean for it to go this far."

I hit him again. He went down.

Rose was untying Cecilia. "You okay?"

"I’ve been better." Cecilia tried to stand but her legs buckled. She grabbed Rose’s arm for support. "I don’t think I can walk. They drugged me earlier. My legs aren’t working right."

I looked at her. At the bruises. The fear. The vulnerability. And I felt nothing. No urge to comfort. No instinct to touch. Just cold calculation about how to solve the problem.

Because I didn’t want to touch anyone. Not anymore. Not since Alicia. The thought of putting my hands on another woman, even in this context, even to help, felt wrong. Felt like a betrayal of something I couldn’t name.

"Rose," I said. "Can you carry her to the car?"

Rose looked at me for a long moment. Understanding flickering in her eyes. "Yeah. I got her."

She bent down, scooped Cecilia up with surprising ease. Cecilia wrapped her arms around Rose’s neck, too exhausted and hurt to protest.

I pulled out my phone. Called Maurice. "Call the police. Send them to the warehouse. Anonymous tip about a kidnapping. Make sure they find Cecilia’s uncles here with evidence."

"On it."

Sirens in the distance. Getting closer.

"We need to go," Rose said. "Police can’t find us here."

She was right. We couldn’t be connected to this. Not directly.

Rose carried Cecilia to my car. Set her gently in the back seat. I got behind the wheel. Rose took her motorcycle.

We drove away slowly, carefully, like we had nothing to hide.

Cecilia was quiet the whole drive. Just stared out the window. Processing.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked.

"Home. I just want to go home."

"Your apartment isn’t safe. They know where you live."

"I don’t care, Malachi. I just want to go home."

She sounded scared. Detached.

"Fine. Rose can take you then."

"Home. My apartment. I just want to go home."

"Your apartment isn’t safe. They know where you live."

"I don’t care. I can’t. I can’t go to the mansion. I can’t face everyone right now. Please. Just take me home."

I understood that. The need to be alone. To process without witnesses.

"Okay."

We drove to her apartment building. Rose followed the whole way. When I pulled up to the entrance, I texted her.

Stay close. Make sure no one followed us.

Already on it. And Malachi? You might want to figure out whatever’s going on with you. Because that back there was weird.

I didn’t respond. Just waited while Rose helped Cecilia out of the car.

"I’ll get you inside," Rose said, supporting Cecilia’s weight.

I watched them go into the building. Didn’t follow. Couldn’t make myself follow.

Rose came back out a few minutes later. Got on her motorcycle without a word. Drove away.

My phone buzzed. Text from Maurice.

Police found them. All three men in custody. Evidence everywhere. They’re done.

Good. That was one problem solved.

But Tyler was still out there. Marcus Webb was still planning something. And Emily’s killer was still walking free.

And I was losing my mind over a woman I couldn’t have. A woman who was married to my brother. A woman who made everyone else cease to exist.

This obsession was going to destroy me. Was going to make me cruel. Was going to turn me into someone I didn’t recognize.