Dear Ex Wife Please take me back by The Every Woman

ATHENA

"OH MY GOD!" | let out a scream as | step into the empty room.

Tied to a chair and beaten to a pulp is Arnold.

His face is barely recognizable. He's bruised, bloodied, swollen to the point where one eye is completely shut.

Dried blood cakes his temple and lip. His breathing is shallow, wheezing with every inhale like it hurts to be alive.

"How is this possible?" My voice is shaking both from fear and frustration.

If the one we thought had it is here, then who has the damn box!

"It can be anyone!" Luca runs his hand through his hair. "Fuck!" His eyes start to slowly darken as anger starts to

wrap around him, makingtake a step back.

He has the face of someone who doesn't want to relax until someone is on the floor, bloody and broken.

But Arnold's already there.

Honestly | mirror his anger. I'm actually getting more pissed off by the second. It's like someone is toying with us

and it's starting to get fucking annoying.

"Who the hell did this to him?" | whisper, my eyes darting around the room. No signs of forced entry. No bodies.

Just this... brutal aftermath.

"I don't know," Luca growls. "But they left him alive for a reason."

| glance down at Arnold again. His fingers twitch weakly. Whatever fight he had left is long gone.

But we need answers, and fast.

| kneel beside the battered man, my fingers already reaching into the inner pocket

of my coat where | keep a few emergency tools.

"What are you doing?" Luca asks, watching me.

"Waking him up." | grab a pen from my coat and flick the cap off, exposing the sharp metal clip inside. "The

carotid pressure point... right here-"

Before Luca can stop me, | stab the thin metal tip right under Arnold's jawlin deep enough to shock his system

without hitting any fatal nerves.

Arnold jerks up violently in the chair with a scream that echoes off the concrete walls.

"FUCK!" he roars, thrashing as much as the ropes allow.

"You crazy bitch! What the hell-"

"You're welcfor not letting you die, asshole." | snap, grabbing his jaw and forcing him to look at me.

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"You stupid motherfucker!" Luca growls, storming forward. "Do you have any idea of the damage you've caused?

The people you've endangered? | should skin your ass alive!"

Arnold spits out blood and smirks through the pain, "Then why don't you go

ahead, General? Be the psycho | know you are."

Luca's hand twitches near his gun, but | put a hand on his chest.

"Don't. That's what he wants."

His nostrils flare, but he listens.

"Where is the box?" | ask, turning back to Arnold.

His bloody grin stretches wider.

"Go fuck yourself."

Wrong answer.

| punch him hard, right across the face.

"Try again."

He laughs again, short and breathless.

"You don't have it in you, sweetheart."

"Oh?" | lean down slowly, letting him see the rage flickering in my eyes. "Letprove you wrong."

Luca watches in silence as | pull a small vial from my bag. One | grabbed from his car. | hold it up between my

fingers.

"Know what this is?" | unscrew the top. "It's synthetic capsaicin. Basically pepper spray... on fire. And it burns like

a bitch when it touches skin. Everytyou see your sorry ass in the mirror, you'll think ifbecause I'll mark

your sorry ass!"

Arnold's eyes widen for the first time.

"You wouldn't"

Before he can finish, | pour a few drops on his inner thigh.

The scream that tears from his throat is like nothing I've ever heard. Pure agony. His body writhes, shaking the

chair.

"AHHHH! YOU LITTLE... FUCK!"

"I've got more," | say calmly, holding the vial over him. "Next one goes on your eyelids."

"OKAY! OKAY!" he yells. "I don't have the box! | gave it to someone!"

"Who?" Luca barks.

Arnold's chest heaves.

"I was supposed to use it for my election support but sfucker cand

attacked me. You can see the rest!"

"Who?" Luca repeats, impatience in his voice.

"I don't know. Check the footage!"

Arnold whimpers, barely hanging on as his body slumps in the chair again, steam practically rising from his

burned skin.

"I'll call Isabelle to cwith an ambulance." | announce as | push away from him.

Luca's phone vibrates.

He pulls it out, glances at the screen and freezes.

“Luca?” | ask, my voice suddenly small. "What is it?"

My heart is in my throat as | hope it's not what I think it is.

Oh God! Please don't let him die!

Luca doesn't look atwhen he speaks.

"We have to move. Fast."

My stomach twists. "Did something happen?"

His jaw clenches, and when he

finally meets my gaze, his voice in et

panicking. Which is rare because it.... takes a lot to stir Luca. ContentR belongs to s.net>

"Uncle Eli just texted moving on to plan B. Alex's heart stopped. They had to resuscitate him Twice. They don't

know how long they can keep doing it."

s

| don't even realize I'm moving until my knees buckle and | fall back against the

nearest table, my entire body trembling.

No.

Not now.

Not when we're this close.

"We need that box." My voice is strange even to my own ears.

Without another word, Luca storms to the computer terminal in the corner of the room. I'm right behind him,

nearly tripping in my haste. s

He taps into the surveillance system, his fingers flying over the keyboard as he

pulls up the last 24 hours of footage.

We scrub through the tape.

Arnold entering. Alone. On phone.

We fast forward to when two figures walk in.

Wearing dark clothes and their faces covered.

One grabs Arnold from behind while the other delivers a brutal blow that drops

him in seconds.

Luca fast-forwards again, tracking their every move.

Eventually, the men head for the door with the box in hand. But just before the

exit, they stop.

The taller one pulls off his mask.

And | freeze.

That face.

That frown.

"Oh my god." My whisper is barely audible.

"Noah?"

"The one next to him has to be his father," | say.

Wondering why he would do this.

Luca stares at the screen, like he wants to pull them out from the screen and kill

them with his bare hands.

"Motherfucker!" he spits.