Chapter 153: At his Mercy
Kayden
I shouldn’t be here, I thought as I looked up at the towering building in front of me.
It stood out in the middle of nowhere. I was only here because Julius had sent a message so threatening I couldn’t ignore it.
You still care about hockey? Then come to this address and come alone.
That was all it took.
Now, I was standing at the foot of the structure, staring up into a void of nothing but oppressive darkness.
At first, there was no sign of life. But then, a sharp beam of a flashlight was pointed directly at me from an upper floor.
I raised a hand to cover my eyes, shielding them from the blinding glare. As I did, I felt the familiar vibration of my phone in my pocket.
Rhys had made sure Leo returned it to me after I’d left it behind during Game 1 with the Westbridge Falcons.
Now, an unknown number was flashing on the screen. Or rather, a number I recognized immediately.
Julius.
Ever since I got my phone back, he had been relentless, sending threatening messages about exposing me. I didn’t even know how he’d gotten my number, but he had been harassing me with calls, claiming he was going to destroy me tonight.
I just wanted it all to end. I wanted the looking over my shoulder to stop. So, I came.
I swiped my thumb across the screen, answering the call and pressing the device to my ear.
"Turn on your own flashlight and climb the stairs," Julius ordered, his voice thin and cold. "Take a right on the fourth floor."
I clenched my free hand into a white-knuckled fist, wondering why I was going along with this madness. I could have called somebody.
I should have called Rhys, especially since I’d seen the news on my way here that the game had been canceled.
I knew deep down it wasn’t a coincidence. This was happening because Julius always got what he wanted, and right now, he wanted me here, isolated in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night.
"What kind of sick games are you playing?!" I demanded, yelling into the phone. "If you wanted something from me, you could have approached me during the first game! Why are you acting like a coward and hiding in the dark?!"
The flashlight beam from the building swung mockingly from the right to the left.
"Guess what? I’m right here, and I’m telling you to come up. I truly hope you didn’t inform anyone about coming here, because I have another video of you—one I’ll release online that will destroy you completely. It’ll wipe out everything you’ve built."
At the mention of another video, my heart gave a violent jump. My pulse began to race, thoughts swirling through my head like a storm.
What other video could he possibly have? I wondered frantically. Did he figure out I was an Omega? Even if that were the case, I realized with a sudden jolt that I wasn’t afraid of the secret itself anymore.
What I cared about was control. If I was going to come out, it would be on my own terms, in my own way, and no one else’s.
"I’m heading up right now," I muttered lowly, stepping toward the entrance.
The climb took a few minutes. The stairs were treacherous, littered with rocks and debris that blocked the path.
As I took the final step onto the fourth floor, I inhaled a shaky, deep breath. I knew I was walking into the lion’s den, so I did the only thing I could think of to survive even though Julius had warned me not to.
I dialed Rhys’s number.
When he picked up, I couldn’t manage a full explanation. I just whispered his name.
"Rhys..."
Immediately, he started yelling, his voice frantic on the other end. "Hey, Kayden! Where the hell are you? What’s—"
"Call the cops," I began, but the words were cut short.
Something heavy and blunt slammed into the back of my head. The force was incredible; it made my vision spin instantly. I felt the warm trail of blood begin to slide down my face. The phone slipped from my nerveless fingers and was kicked away into a dark corner by a heavy boot.
Before I could even attempt to recover from the blow, a kick landed squarely in my back, followed by another to my leg. I collapsed to the cold, dusty ground.
A flashlight was clicked on, followed by a much brighter floodlight that illuminated the entire floor.
I squinted against the glare, seeing three figures standing over me, looking down with cold indifference. My vision was blurry, but as it started to clear, Julius’s face was the first I recognized.
His brown eyes were full of contempt. He pointed a shaking finger at me.
"Finally, I have you here, Kayden Vale," he muttered. Then, he burst into a fit of jagged laughter. "How does it feel to be here at my mercy?"
I didn’t give him the satisfaction of a response. I was still trying to orient myself. He wasn’t alone; Mark, the defender who had attacked me on the ice, was there, along with another former teammate I recognized from our Westbridge days. Idris, that was his name or not.
"How!" Julius shouted suddenly, and he lunged forward, kicking me hard in the stomach. "How does it feel to be at my mercy? Answer me!"
I doubled over, clutching my stomach as I coughed out a spray of blood.
"You little bitch!" Julius screamed. He raised a heavy baseball bat, aiming for my shoulder, but Mark reached out and caught his arm.
"Easy, Julius. Easy. If you keep hitting him like that, you’ll knock him out cold, and we won’t get what we’re after."
Julius let out an enraged groan and swung the bat against the nearby wall instead.
Debris sprayed across the room.
"Piece of shit," he cursed. He crouched down to my level, grabbing the collar of my shirt and hauling me up until we were nose-to-nose. "Tell me, how does it feel to know the world that used to love you suddenly hates your guts?" He shook me violently. "I saw all the praises they heaped on you every week. How you suddenly took over the Northern Avalanche!" He scoffed, his breath hot against my face.
"You were supposed to be a nobody. That’s why you were kicked off the Falcons. I hoped that would be the end of your career, because ants like you don’t deserve to be on the same level as someone like me! But then, suddenly, here you are—a ’rising star.’ Hell, you might even get Player of the Year because of your goal stats!"