On the screen was Sophia’s bracelet, found in the mansion garden. “Who else but you would hurt her? Your brother’s still in the hospital. If you don’t hand Sophia over, I’ll pull the plug on his ventilator right now!”
“Don’t touch Aaron!” I struggled, but he was far too strong. He dragged me outside, shoved me into his car, and drove straight to an abandoned warehouse near Chicago.
In the center of the warehouse yawned a bottomless snake pit, the cold air hissing with serpentine sounds, making me tremble all over.
Ryan tied a rope around my waist and suspended me above the pit. If he let go, I would fall straight in.
“Tell me where Sophia is!” He slashed a lock of my hair with a knife. “If you don’t, I’ll feed you to the snakes!”
I stared at the writhing mass below, my mind going blank. I hadn’t kidnapped Sophia, but he wouldn’t believe me. Aaron was still in the hospital. I couldn’t die.
In desperation, I remembered Sophia once saying she liked to take photos at an old factory on the outskirts of Chicago. Through gritted teeth, I blurted out an address: “She’s… at the abandoned factory outside Chicago!”
Ryan immediately sent men to check.