Chapter hundred and thirty four

Dallas

The scent of copper hit me before I even opened my eyes. I squeezed my eyes, not willing to open them. Memories of how I ended up here slowly floated into my brain. I remembered having coffee with Jenna, then feeling very weak. The realization of what happened dawned on me. I was drugged.

My eyes fluttered opened but I shut them back as the sudden brightness hit me. A pounding headache slowly crept behind my temple and I felt a weird sensation in my arms and legs.

I tried to move so I could soothe the ache but couldn't. That's when I realized,my arms and legs had been bound to the chair I was sitting on.

I tried to open my eyes again, squinting against the brightness. My vision was blurry but I was able to make out the rough ropes digging into my wrists and ankles.

“About time.” I heard a very familiar feminine voice.

I flipped my head up and stared at the direction of the voice. I blinked multiple times, trying to chase away the blurriness. Whatever sedative they gave me must have been really strong if the aftermath was this bad.

After a few blinks, I finally recognized the figure sprawled on the chair across from me.

“Tabitha? What the hell are you doing here?” I asked in a whisper.

My eyesight wasn't very clear yet, but I could see her face and the scowl plastered on it clearly.

“Shopping for Christmas.” She said, sarcasm dripping in her voice.

I tried to focus on her figure more and only managed to take note of the blood trickling down her forehead before the headache intensified.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to ignore the pain, but it only persisted. The sedative was probably added to the coffee, and I had drank the entire cup.

Jesus Christ!

“Guess the drug hasn't worn off yet.” I heard Tabitha mumbled, but even her voice sounded far away. Like she was several miles away and not a few feet.

“Look, we gotta get out of here. They're all distracted now. No one has bothered to come check on us for hours now and I don't think there's any cameras around. If we don't try to escape now, we might never be this lucky again. I think they're going to kill us.” Tabitha said frantically, her voice laced with intense fear.

At least one of us had gotten the hang of the situation. If whoever took us captive didn't kill us if we try to escape, this persistent headache sure will. I couldn't even get my eyes open and she wants us to escape.

“Do you know why we're being held captive?” I managed to ask.

I expected her to make another snide remark, but she simply sighed. Whoever was holding us captive must have really scared her.

My first thought was Lucien. He was the only person who was actively after my life. But if it were him, taking Tabitha didn't make sense.

Tabitha has never for once helped with anything regarding my mother or Lucien. She was simply Oliver's assistant.

And Jenna was certainly the one who drugged me. I couldn't figure out the connection between the two.

Or maybe Jenna was the one secretly helping Lucien this entire time. Considering I was the reason behind her engagement getting called off, she certainly had motive to want me dead.

She was psychotic enough to think she would get Oliver back if she took me out. She might have partnered up with Lucien because of it. But why take Tabitha?

“My guess is that they took me for informations and they took you as blackmail against Oliver.” Tabitha said.

Well, there goes my theory about our captor being Lucien.

“Informations about what?” I asked.

I cracked my eyes opened slightly to see Tabitha's gaze darting around. She looked really paranoid as if someone might be around to here what she wants to say next.

“Well, since we'll probably die anyway. I should probably tell you.” She mumbledto herself. “About Kang Chemicals. I think it's related to Jason's death in jail. Oliver had me looking into it for the past few months. I think that's what they want.” She said.

I saw her hesitate as if she wanted to add something but decided against it. I had a feeling the information she seem hesitant about was the reason she was here. But I didn't probe further.

“Alright. Let's get out of here.” I tried wiggling out of my restraints, but the ropes were too tight. They only dug into my skin, the more I tried to wiggle out of them.

“I tried that. It didn't work.” Tabitha sighed with resignation.

There was no hint of the woman who had insisted we escaped in her voice. She seem resigned to the fact that we were going to die here.

I wasn't.

It wasn't exactly the first time I'd found myself in a fight or flight situation like this. Although, it was the first time they included restraint.

“They're really going to kill us.” She said, a slight tremor in her voice.

“You keep saying ‘they’. Who are they?” I asked.

She stared at me in confusion.
“You mean, you have no idea who brought you here?” She asked.

I was about to explain how I got drugged when we heard footsteps approaching. I decided to keep my mouth shut.

Soon enough, a woman who appeared to be in her mid forties walked in, holding a phone to her ear. But I was more focused on the man trailing behind her.

I shouldn't have been surprised, but I still couldn't stop the slight tremor that ran down my spine at the sight of him.

Lucien.

Our eyes locked and he flashed me with a wide grin that I know too well. Tabitha was right to be scared. We were definitely not leaving this place alive.

I averted my gaze from Lucien and watched as the woman walked to the other side of the large room and went through a door.

I finally got a closer look at her. She was the woman who served our coffee. Well, that explains how I was drugged.

“Come on, Amanda. Talk to your toy later. We have work to do.” Lucien yelled after the woman. But she ignored him.

Amanda.

The name didn't sound familiar at all. I wondered what she had against me and why she's working with Lucien.

Lucien dropped his gaze on me, the creepy grin returning to his face.

“Well, hello, Dallas. So glad we finally get to see.”

“Hey, Lucien. Back from the dead. Can't say I miss seeing your saggy, old face.” I said sarcastically.

My brain was already calculating ways to escape. I wonder what room Amanda went into and if it could lead outside this place. I didn't even know where we were.

There were no indications where this place could be, except the beam of sunlight cascading into the large room through the cracks in the ceiling.

I need to keep him talking until I figure this out.

“Still got your sharp tongue, but not for much long. I can promise you that.” He chuckled.

“Oh really? What are you going to do to me? Or is it your lady friend that will hurt me because I know for sure you don't have the balls to do it.” I taunted.

I could see him visibly shake with anger. I just hope he doesn't pull out a gun and shoot me in the head. But if Tabitha was right, he wouldn't kill me now. He needed me to get through to Oliver.

“What makes you think I can't kill you right now?” He smirked.

“Maybe because I almost killed you the first time you tried. I can easily do it again. This time, I'll be sure not to fail.” I said.

I heard Tabitha wince slightly. She definitely doesn't know anything about what transpired between Lucien, Atlas, and me.

Lucien burst into laughter.
“What makes you think you would have succeeded in the first time?”

I kept quiet. I needed him to keep talking. Knowing Lucien, he would probably reveal their whole plan while boasting.

“It was all planned from the very first step. The text message you got that day. Everything that happened on the cliff. Well, except the police showing up. But everything else was planned. You were only a means to get to him.” He said.

Oliver. They've planned this entire thing just to use me against him. Panic like I've never known before slowing rose in me. But I didn't utter a single word.

“Do you really think Atlas was the only one who planned your mother's accident? Yeah, he's powerful but not enough to pull all those strings. But you and your boyfriend were gullible enough to believe everything your private investigator said. You didn't even consider the chance that he might have double crossed you. You were only concerned about that stupid will.” Lucien chuckled.

“That ‘stupid will’ was my mother's hard earned property.” I fired at him, despite the panic in me.

Oliver's PI had lied to us. This had all been a trap, and we had fallen into it deeply.

I swallowed hard and asked the question that was burning hot in my mind.

“If neither Atlas nor you was the mastermind, then who was?”

“I am.”

I heard a deep voice say. My eyes snapped to where it was coming from but I couldn't see anyone there.

I didn't need to see the person's face to know who it was. That voice had been etched into my memory, repeating the same words over and over again for the past week.

My biological father.

Ron Jang.