<b>Chapter </b><b>177 </b>


    Niki’s POV:


    This… was a new low.


    I hade to realize one huge, undeniable fact at this point. And it was that Sergei truly was the bane of my existence… the root <b>of </b>all the problems and all the pain in my life. The only thing good he’d ever done was be a sperm donor. I found myself thinking, in a moment of pure, unadulterated cynicism, that if only he’d birthed one child and then be infertile, or better yet, died, then we wouldn’t have had to go through all this.


    That bastard, Lazar. What was he going to do? No, what was I doing here?


    Even if I was a billionaire and more often than not a normal business owner, it’s not like I hadn’t learned how to fight. I had a red belt in jiu–jitsu, and getting involved in fights had beenmon in my teenage years. Most of which consisted of fighting with my father’sckeys.


    I was strong, it wasn’t easy for someone to over power me. However, brute strength could only have gotten me so far… this was my own inattentiveness. If I hadn’t been so baffled by the day’s events, so wrapped up in the phantom killer, and made sure to check the driver was my usual one instead of a man sent by Lazar, then I wouldn’t havended in such a mess.


    I had been so caught up in trying to contact Mkai, about what I’d found, that by the time I realized that we were not headed towards the office, it had been toote. I had already inhaled whatever scentless drug had been administered in the car’s venttion system. It was a stupid, amateur mistake, and the rage that came with it was a burning, painful thing. Fucking bastard.


    I had been thankful that I’d told Benjamin to not let Elena leave. My final, most desperate order. However… Lazar had reached Elena either way. The thought had been gnawing at my insides for the past two hours. I just hoped that Benjamin wouldn’t be so much of a waste of space and money, as to let Elena just leave with Lazar. The thought of her, walking into a lion’s den, was a far worse torment than being chained up in this dungeon.


    It had been two hours since Ist talked to them, since Ist heard her panicked voice on the phone. I looked around the dim, cell- like room. The only light was a single, dim bulb hanging from a chain in the ceiling. There was barely any hope of getting away. Maybe if I had my watch on, the one with a built–in tracker, then it would have been easy for my men to track me. But I was left with nothing but pants on. Not even a belt. I was tied to the chair with not handcuffs or ropes, but actual chains, thick, heavy chains that even I wasn’t powerful enough to break through or slip my hands through.


    I had been sitting here this long counting down the seconds. It wasn’t hard for me to zone out. Someone like me, who’d spent nights just counting seconds, unable to sleep, it was easy. The monotony of the situation felt dull, like I’d gone numb somehow. But it wasn’t difficult. The years of insomnia had prepared me for this kind of torture.


    In fact, up until a couple of months ago, when my insomnia had resurfaced because of Elena’s absence, that’s how I’d spend multiple nights. Walking in the living room, looking at the floor–to–ceiling view of the city, spotting her mother’s house. Even if it looked like an ant from that far away, a tiny, insignificant speck in the vast expanse of the city, my eyes stayed stuck to that house. from midnight till dawn. After which, I’d snap out of it when the rm rang, the sound pulling me back to a reality she was no longer a part of.


    That’s when I heard a thunk, a sharp, metallic sound, like a baton hitting the jail cells. I turned my head to the side slowly, watching as the man moved to unlock the door and walked in. He was the same man I had seen before who’d brought the phone down to me to talk to Elena. A man with a cold, predatory gleam in his eyes. I didn’t recognize who he was at first nce, but after a while, I had. This was Frank, wasn’t it? The one who’d hit Mielle’s car and killed Anthony–the one driving the car–along with Mielle.


    What a farce. And he’d acted so innocent. It wasn’t a surprise, though… that’s how ny percent of the poption was <b>once </b><i>you </i>took down the fake persona everyone wore in Velhaven, signifying that it was the safest city in the world. When the truth was that


    it wasn’t safe, it was quiet..


    Silenced by the people who ruled it. The same people who would kill an innocent man in a car ident and then walk away, pretending they had no part in it.


    I watched as the man stalked forward, his footsteps echoing in the silence of the room, and pulled out something from his pocket. A syringe. The needle a thin<b>, </b>silver thing that glinted in the dim light.


    Drugs. Fucking hell. This wasn’t good. I looked at the man, not showing any fear or agitation which was slowly growing inside me.. Struggling won’t do me any good, because no matter what I did, getting out of these constraints would be impossible.


    He moved forward, and the syringe injected something in my neck, a sharp, stinging pain that quickly turned to a cold, numbing sensation. I waited as the drug took over. Not fighting it, just letting the darkness im me. My vision blurred, the single light bulb morphing into a chaotic, dizzying star. My thoughts slowed, bing sluggish and disjointed. I could feel the coldness spreading through my limbs, a creeping paralysis that was both terrifying and strangely peaceful. And then, everything went ck.


    By the time I woke back up,ing to my senses, I had been relocated. I looked around to see absolutely nothing. It was dark, a total, pitch–ck void. I felt something on my head. I had been blindfolded, it seemed. My hands were still tied. I was in a chair, a different one this time, cold like metal against my bare back. The smell of dust and cement hung in the air. Was this a construction site?


    “Awake are we?” A familiar voice spoke, a low, mocking sound.


    I clenched my jaw, my voice a low. “Lazar… you do realize that doing this won’t benefit you in any way, right? You’re making a huge mistake… You will only end up like Dmitri.”


    The atmosphere went silent. And then, he beganughing, a wild, unhinged sound that made him sound like a maniac. “Ah, the arrogance of the rich and mighty. You don’t need to worry about my benefits. As for Dmitri… he ended up the way he did not because of his mistakes, but because of his arrogance. Like yours.”


    I frowned at his words. He’d worded it like he’d wanted… oh.


    Why was I surprised? Maybe because I’d seen him side with Dmitri and be his partner in crime so much that I had believed he was actually Dmitri’s friend. Even this act of his kidnapping me, I had initially believed it to be revenge for Dmitri. I had thought that the letter–the one who’d been found in Haider’s crib–was left by him. Although that conjecture I had arrived at only in these past couple hours. But it finally clicked that it had been an act. A performance. A long, borate deception. He never cared for Dmitri. He only cared for himself.


    Even so… I didn’t feel any pity for Dmitri. He was a ruthless scum, who got what wasing to him.


    “Now… let’s not waste any more time, shall we?” He said, the cold, mocking tone back in his voice. I frowned as I heard a click. A tell–tale sign of a gun being cocked.


    ed a lot “Bring her in…” Theard him sav. and I felt a bad premonition dawn on me. A cold. gut–wrenching dread that felt like a punch to the


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