She Took The House The Car And My Heart

LeftWith Walls, Wheels, and Wounds 264

Chapter 264 Kristian Appeared

“Ms. Briggs, are you pleased with your new surroundings?” Brendan stood tall, dressed in a sleek, camel coat,

one hand casually gripping a pink suitcase.

Freya's eyes drifted to the suitcase,

Something told her the grudge Brendan held against Kristian had everything to do with whoever that prok

suitcase once belonged to.

Keeping her voice even, she met his gaze and replied, “Illegal weapons, a private army-you do know there

charges alone could lock you away for a long, long time, don't you?"

"I'm aware," Brendan replied, utterly unfazed, "but what of it?"

Freya's brow tensed just slightly. This was going to be difficult.

"Sir, he's arrived," a guard announced, approaching briskly.

Brendan's lips curled, a subtle smirk tugging at the corners. "Bring him in.*

And just like that, Kristian was led forward.

He wore nothing but a white shirt, pale from the cold, yet he carried himself with the kind of commanding

presence that made the entire space feel like it belonged to him.

Freya's eyes locked onto his. Kristian looked back.

No words passed between them.

After confirming Freya was unharmed, Kristian turned to Brendan and cut to the chase.

Even though he was the one taken hostage, he carried himself with the quiet command of a man still in control,

as if the entire room answered to him. "I'm here now. Care to explain what this is all about?"

"Gladly," Brendan answered, smiling.

But just as Kristian opened his mouth again, he caught sight of a gun being raised-aimed directly at Freya's

head.

His eyes darkened, voice cutting through the tension like ice. "Let her go."

"I will," Brendan said smoothly, twirling a dagger in his other hand before offering it

to him. "Take this and ot your left wrist. The blood needs to cover that stone over there. Only then will she be

released."

He pointed at a spot outlined in red.

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Chapter 264 Kristian Appeared

Kristian's eyes followed the motion. "And if | do it, she walks free?"

"That's the deal." Brendan nodded.

Without hesitation, Kristian reached for the dagger.

Freya suddenly understood something and tried to stop him. "Kristian, don't do it!"

The pink suitcase. The wrist-cutting. Dora Isle.

It all ctogether.

This wasn't about power or politics-Brendan was after revenge. For a girl.

"Brendan, | know what this is really about," Freya said sharply. "And honestly, don't you think this is all just a

little childish?"

"Calling it childish just proves you've misunderstood." Brendan clearly didn't buy it. His gaze shifted to Kristian,

whose hand hovered uncertainly in mid-air, and he said with a cold edge, "I'll count to three. If that blade doesn't

slice, Freya's the one who'll pay the price."

Kristian looked at Freya again.

She saw Natasha returning from the sea, and in that split second, a bold, dangerous idea flashed in her mind.

She met Kristian's eyes.

That look-it made him second-guess his instincts. Could he really be reading her right?

"Three!" Brendan began the count.

Freya kept signaling with her eyes.

At that moment, Kristian understood her meaning. He reached for the dagger in Brendan's hand.

Then, in one fluid motion, flipped it around and drove the blade right up to Brendan's throat.

"Mr. Hoffman!" the guards cried, panicked.

Brendan lifted his hand to halt them, that sly smile of his twisting into something a little more unhinged-wild,

almost manic.

He ran his fingers along the handle of the pink suitcase with unsettling ease, his voice low and mocking as he

drawled, "You really think this little stunt can shake me? Kristian Shaw, you're far too naive."

Brendan spoke each word with slow, deliberate clarity.

He didn't even flinch at the dagger pressed against his throat-his voice cold and commanding as he barked,

"Break Freya's legs!"

"If anyone touches her," Kristian said through gritted teeth, "I'll kill him on the

spot." Kristian shoved the blade even closer.

But his threat didn't shake the bodyguards in the slightest.

Like lifeless machines, they raised their guns and aimed straight at Freya's legs.

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Chapter 264 Kristian Appeared

In a flash, Freya sprang into action-snatching the gun from the man beside her

and knocking him to the ground with a swift kick.

Seizing the chaos, she shoved Ashley toward the cliff and shouted down to Natasha, "Get her safely back to

Alerith!"

"What about you?" Natasha cried out, startled.

That was when it hit her-Freya was K.

The moment Natasha had stepped outside the signal-blocked zone on the yacht, she'd opened her laptop to

track her mentor-only to stumble across a letter that left her stunned.

That's when the truth dawned on her: Freya was K, the mentor she'd been searching for.

Haunted by Brendan's words, Natasha had rushed back to save Freya.

But now, Freya had shoved Ashley down toward her, yet hadn't followed.

Natasha called her nagain, but all she got in return was the fading outline of her figure.

Natasha dragged Ashley out of the water. The yacht kept drifting away as she stared up at the figures on the

cliff, finally yelling, "K!"

Freya didn't look back.

She knew escape wasn't an option.

If either she or Kristian tried to leave, Brendan would give the order and everyone would be shot.

But Ashley had no part in this, and Natasha had once helped Brendan. That favor might be enough for him to

let them go.

And in truth, Brendan was thinking the same.

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He had briefly considered dragging Ashley down with him, but now that she was out of reach, he let it go.

"I should've guessed you were K," Brendan said with a broader, almost gleeful smile. "You ought to be glad you

didn't try escaping earlier, or you'd be riddled with bullets by now."

“Brendan Hoffman, if you call off your men, you might still get a lighter sentence," Freya said, voice firm and

every syllable sharp. "Dragging everyone down with you is pointless."

Brendan looked down, a gravelly laugh rumbling from his chest.

He actually looked amused.

"Sentence?" he echoed. "No one has the power to sentence me."

Freya's brow knit with unease.

Brendan didn't resist as Kristian held the blade steady at his throat. "You'd better

be real careful with that dagger," he warned. "If you slip and kill me, the entire island's going up in flames."

"What did you do?" Freya asked, a cold wave of dread rushing through her.

"Oh, nothing too tic," Brendan said with a casual shrug, "just had a bunch of

explosives rigged all over

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< Chapter 264 Kristian Appeared

this island. If my vital signs flat line, they'll trigger the blast."

Freya genuinely thought he was out of his mind.

Brendan kept talking, disturbingly calm. "Kristian, do you know why I had you wait

by the sea all righ

"Because of Dorothy," For the first time, emotion flickered across Brendan's face. "The night they sentenced her

boyfriend to death, she sat by the sea in a thin white dress... and never moyed, not even once."

Kristian couldn't make sense of it. What did that have to do with him?

He was only trying to buy time-buy tfor his reinforcements to arrive.

"It all started with you," Brendan said, voice low and venomous. He flicked his

eyes to Kristian, the dagger now slicing a fine thread of blood along his neck-he didn't even seem to notice.

"You went to the police. You gave them the clues." Brendan's voice was sharp as a blade. "You got her boyfriend

killed. And you got her killed too."