Chapter 179
Seeing Sienna trembling on her feet, looking so desperately fragile, Jarred didn’t hesitate. He tapped the speaker button.
Declan’s voice echoed sharply through the dead-silent room. “Boss, we got a hit. The crew that grabbed Owen is Blackthorn p>
Jarred’s eyes went pitch black.
He knew the name Blackthorn intimately.
Three years ago, he was the one who personally orchestrated the raid that sent Blackthorn’s former leader to the international tribunal.
They were a massive, ruthless syndicate that had terrorized Europe for two decades, running everything from arms dealing and narcotics to high-level money laundering.
After their boss went down, Blackthorn took a massive hit, but over the last year, they had violently resurfaced. Their new leader was notoriously more brutal than the last.
Declan continued, “They’ve been tracking Owen for a long time. They tailed him from Capital Hospital all the way to Professor Krueger’s clinic in Germany. Boss, they did this to get to you p>
Jarred’s throat worked as he swallowed hard.
His marriage to Sienna was completely off the books. Even distant relatives in the Sterling family didn’t know she existed, let alone the general public.
How the hell did Blackthorn track down Owen? And how had they been shadowing him for so long without setting off alarms?
He instinctively looked at Sienna, only to find the sheer terror in her eyes had curdled into a visceral, burning hatred he had never seen before.
“Boss,” Declan’s voice pressed on. “We’re still hunting for Owen’s exact location. The extraction team is elite; their anti-tracking protocols are top-tier. We need more time.
But… we did manage to make contact with their middleman p>
“What are their demands?” Jarred’s voice was absolute ice, a lethal rage radiating off him in waves.
Declan hesitated for a agonizing second. “They said… they want you to experience a fate worse than death p>
The words hit Sienna like a physical blow. The last bit of strength drained from her legs, and she completely collapsed sideways.
Jarred lunged forward, catching her firmly against his chest. As his hands gripped her arms, he felt the violent tremors racking her body.
No ransom. No negotiations.
If they had asked for a hundred million dollars, or even a billion, it would mean Owen was still an asset. It would mean he was still alive.
But *a fate worse than death* meant they never intended to keep hostages.
They wanted to shatter Jarred’s mind. And Owen’s life was nothing more than the sacrificial lamb to avenge their former boss.
Sienna understood. And Jarred understood.
She violently shoved Jarred away, launching backward like a wounded animal backed against a wall.
Her eyes were bloodshot, but she fiercely held back her tears. When she spoke, her voice was so fractured it didn’t even sound like her own.
“It was you! Your enemies took him! He’s fifteen years old! He just had his skull cut open, and he can’t even get a safe bed to recover in!
Why should he pay the price for the monsters you pissed off? Why does he have to suffer through hell? Why does my brother have to die for your sins p>
Jarred stumbled slightly from the force of her push. He didn’t offer a single word in his defense. His dark eyes were flooded with suffocating guilt and raw agony as he looked at her.
He opened his mouth. He wanted to apologize. He wanted to swear he would find Owen. He wanted to promise that everything would be okay.
But the words died in his throat. Even to his own ears, they sounded like worthless, pathetic lies.
He was a former tactical operative. He had crushed more high-profile syndicates than he could count. The list of people who wanted him dead stretched from the city limits to the international borders.
He was used to the targets on his back. He was used to the assassination attempts.
But it had never once crossed his mind that the collateral damage would land squarely on Sienna. That the bullet meant for him would strike a fifteen-year-old boy recovering from brain surgery.
“Sienna,” Jarred rasped, his voice tearing at the seams. “I swear to you. I will bring Owen back without a single scratch p>
He reached out, desperately wanting to pull her trembling body into his arms.
But she slapped his hands away.