Chapter 6 47:59:59

Ivy’s POV

The rain stung my eyes as I scrambled on my hands and knees, water soaking through my work pants. My nails scraped hard against the rough concrete, bleeding slightly, but I couldn’t care less. Inches away from the dark, roaring storm drain, my fingers closed around the box.

I clutched it to my chest, gasping for air. "Got it. I got it."

Wiping the mud off the box, I dragged myself up and flagged down a cab. My whole body was shaking so hard the driver kept staring at me in his rearview mirror, but I couldn't waste a second explaining to a stranger. I just shoved a twenty-dollar bill at him and screamed the location on 4th Street.

I had minutes left on my countdown. Just minutes.

When the cab pulled up near the abandoned alley on 4th, I sprinted out into the downpour. A black SUV sat idling in the dark, its headlights blinding me. Two massive men in coats stepped out first, their faces cold and completely unbothered by the rain. Then, the rear door opened.

The woman stepped out under a broad umbrella held by one of her men. I didn't know her name—she hadn't bothered to introduce herself when she grabbed Tessa. 

But to me, she was just a nightmare in a tailored trench coat.

"You're late," she said in a flat tone.

"I have it," I panted, clutching the box. "I have the ring. Just let my friend go. Please."

One of the enforcers snatched the box from my hands. He popped it open, pulled out the gold band, and clicked on a small, handheld light. He angled the beam over the diamond, squinting through the hard rain.

A second later, a sneer twisted his face.

Before I could even process the look on his face, he threw the ring straight at my chest. It hit my sternum hard enough to make me wince, bouncing off me and landing in a puddle by my feet.

"You stupid little bitch," he spat. "You trying to play us?"

I froze, my breath catching in my throat. "What? What are you talking about?"

The woman stepped forward, her leather boots splashing through the water. Before I could back up, her hand shot out, her gloved fingers clamping around my jaw. She squeezed tight, tilting my head back until I was staring straight into her icy eyes.

"Do you think this is a game?" she whispered, her voice dangerously calm. "You brought me a cheap piece of glass?"

My heart hammered against my ribs. "No... no, that's impossible. You're wrong! It was tested today at the office—“

The woman let out a low chuckle. “What a thief. Testing a stolen ring. Did you swap after finding out it was real?” She said with a twisted expression.

“No—no no..” I stuttered trying to shake her hands off my jaw.

“Why else would he toss the ring aside? Hmm?” She mutter through gritted teeth, her grip on my jaw clamping hard.

My mind started spinning out of control, racing in a hundred different directions at once. ‘How? How could it be fake?’ Owen had literally just tested it in the office today. 

The tester clicked green. It was a real diamond. Could Owen have made a mistake? Did he read the machine wrong? Or... wait, did I misplace the ring? No, it had been on my finger till I dropped it off at the apartment. I never misplaced it.

‘Did Julian lie to me?’

The thought crept in  my mind, but I shook it off immediately. No. No way. Julian loved me. He was my boyfriend. Sure, he is— currently not available now, but he wouldn't do such thing as stealing a diamond ring just to propose to me. 

He told me he got the ring cheap from a friend. 

My eyes lit up. He didn't know anything about this high-end jewelry, otherwise he would opened up when I asked. He probably got scammed by his own friend!

"He—we didn’t steal it!" I screamed, my hands shaking uncontrollably in the downpour as the woman tightened her grip on my jaw. "He didn't know. His friend sold it to him. Julian doesn't even know what a real diamond looks like.”

"I don't give a damn about your boyfriend's friends," the woman sneered, shoving my face backward so hard I stumbled into the 

 wall behind me.

She snapped her fingers. One of her men grabbed my arm, slamming me against the cold brick, while the other pulled out a knife from his belt. He pressed the flat edge of the blade right under my ear, the cold steel biting into my skin.

My breath hitched. "Please..."

The woman pulled out a smartphone and tapped the screen, turning it toward my face.

My heart stopped completely.

On the screen was a live video feed. Tessa was tied to a chair in a dark room, with tape across her mouth. Her eyes were wide with terror. Standing right behind her was another guy in a black mask. As I watched, he raised a hand and backhanded Tessa across the face.

She let out a muffled scream, her chair wobbling hard against the floor.

"NO! STOP IT! DON'T HURT HER!" I sobbed, thrashing against the man holding me, but the knife pressed deeper into my neck, drawing a tiny drop of blood.

"Listen to me carefully, Ivy," the woman said, leaning in so close I could smell her perfume. "I don't care about your office drama. I don't care who lied to who, or who sold what to who. What I care about is my $1 million diamond. And right now, it isn't here. So you either give me a million dollars in cash, or you bring me the real diamond.”

My eyes flew wide open. "I don't have a million dollars." I choked out through my tears. "I'm just a secretary. I work at a corporate office. I don't have that kind of money. That is your diamond. I don’t understand what you’re saying, this has nothing to do with me.”

"Oh… really? Then you better start digging," she said, her voice devoid of any human emotion. "You have 48 hours to bring me $1 million in liquid cash, or the real stone. If I don't have one of those two things in two days, your friend’s body goes into a concrete mixer."

A shiver ran through my spine hearing that. Judging from how serious she looked, I could tell she wasn’t bluffing.

Julian gave me that ring. He gave it to me. But where was he now?

"I don't even know where Julian is!" I cried out, the truth spilling out of me in desperation. "He already resigned. He’s not in the apartment, and I don't know where he went. This has absolutely nothing to do with me.!

The woman paused for a second, staring at me like I was the dumbest creature she'd ever seen. Then, a slow smile spread across her red lips.

"Then I'll leave you with a little thought to keep you warm tonight as you look for my ring," she whispered, stepping back as her enforcer released my arm. "Either your sweet little boyfriend played you for a complete fool and ran off with my stone... or the people he actually stole it from have already put him at the bottom of the river."

She turned on her heel and climbed back into the warmth of the SUV. The door slammed shut.

The guy with the knife shoved me to the ground. "Tick-tock, girl."

They pulled away, the tires spraying dirty 

 water all over my soaked clothes.

I lay there on the cold pavement for a long moment, my chest heaving as the rain beat down on me. My neck stung where the blade had touched it, but I couldn't feel the pain. I couldn't feel anything except a suffocating, paralyzing horror.

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

With numb fingers, I pulled it out.

It was a text from an unknown number. 

Attached was a clear photo of Tessa, bound and bruised in that dark room. Beneath the picture was a bold red digital clock, counting down in real time:

47:59:59

47:59:58

I stared at the blinking numbers, my tears mixing with the rain on my face.

Forty-eight hours. 

They weren’t bluffing. I had Forty-eight hours.