Chapter 1

I was kidnapped. The abductors demanded four million dollars from my mom.

I scoffed. Four million? Chump change.

But my mom? She wouldn't spare a single dime, completely cutting ties with me.

“Your mom’s a real piece of work!” the abductor growled, grinding their teeth.

I nodded. “Tell me about it!”

Three months later, the father I’d never known called. “Don’t worry, son, Dad’s coming to save you!”

My abductor glanced at me, then barked into the phone, “Get lost! He’s mine now!”

In a run-down, dingy room, I was tied to a chair, a woman with a dangerously alluring figure standing beside me.

She held a sharp blade against my neck, and the phone in front of me already had a number dialed in.

“You know what to say and what not to say, right?”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh!”

The cold blade sent shivers down my spine.

The woman grunted softly, then hit the call button.

“Hello, your son is with me, you—”

“Mom, help me…”

Beep, beep, beep!

Before either of us could even finish, my mom had decisively hung up the phone.

“Damn it!”

The woman cursed, dialing the number again.

“I don’t have this son. Don’t bother me!”

The phone was hung up again, and after that, no one bothered to call back.

The air in the room thickened instantly. Everyone was staring at me.

“Your mom’s a real piece of work!”

“I know, right?”

A moment of awkward silence filled the space.

“Chloe, what do we do now?”

This woman, with her sharp looks and even sharper attitude, actually had a pretty nice name.

Chloe blew a puff of smoke into my face, her voice ice-cold. “Kill him.”

Oh, crap! I take back what I just said. Her name is awful!

Wait, she’s ugly too!