Chapter 89: Fearless

Michael’s POV

I kept the call connected as I drove.

Emerald’s breathing came faintly through the phone, mixed with the low hum of the Jeep’s engine and the sounds of passing traffic.

And every small change in her breathing kept my attention fixed on the call.

I followed the road she had mentioned earlier and used the information I had already gathered to determine the direction they were taking.

The fact that Paul had ordered her to continue driving for several kilometres told me that he was not taking her anywhere within the immediate area.

This was not something he had decided to do on impulse. He knew where he was going.

"Why did you come back?"

Emerald’s voice came through the phone, tense but controlled.

Instead of answering, Paul laughed. "You’re still asking me that after all these years?"

"Yes." The single word came from her without hesitation.

"Your mother told you I was dead to you, didn’t she?"

Emerald did not respond, so he continued, "She has spent your entire life making sure you hated me."

My hands tightened around the steering wheel.

"Don’t talk about my mother." The change in Emerald’s voice was slight, but I heard it.

Paul laughed again. "Why shouldn’t I?"

"Because you don’t have the right to," she said, and her voice became sharper. "You kidnapped me, and now you want to act as though you were the victim?"

Paul fell silent for a moment before his voice hardened. "You don’t know what happened."

"I know enough." I felt her voice tighten.

"No, you know what those people told you."

"Those people?"

"The Hugos." His voice carried open contempt. "The great Hugo family. They took you from me and raised you to believe that everything they did was for your own good."

I changed lanes and continued driving. The road ahead was busy, but my senses remained fixed on the direction Emerald was travelling.

Paul continued speaking. "Do you really believe they were innocent?"

Emerald did not answer, so he continued, "I made mistakes."

My expression darkened. There it was. The excuse. He was trying to reduce what he had done into something smaller than it was.

"But I was your father."

"You stopped being my father when you refused to let me go."

The car fell silent again for a second, then Paul said, "You don’t know what you’re talking about."

"I know that they paid the ransom."

My grip tightened further.

"They paid you to let me go," Emerald continued. "You took the money and kept me anyway."

Paul’s breathing changed. "You think I wanted to let you go?"

"No," Emerald replied. Then he asked her, "Then why should I have?"

My eyes narrowed, sensing that the answer had come too effortlessly and with too much honesty.

Emerald fell quiet. I could imagine what that silence meant. She was afraid, but she was also listening.

Paul spoke again. "I spent fifteen years in prison," he said, his voice lowering. "Fifteen years while those people continued living their perfect lives."

"You went to prison because of what you did," Emerald said to him.

"I went to prison because the Hugos had money and influence."

"No," Emerald reminded him. "You went to prison because you kidnapped a child."

Paul laughed without humour. "You sound exactly like them."

"And you sound exactly like the criminal you have always been."

My jaw clenched. Emerald had been taken at gunpoint, yet she still refused to bend her head to him.

Paul’s anger became obvious. "Watch your mouth."

"Or what?"

"Emmy."

"I am not afraid of you."

That was not entirely true. I could hear the fear in her breathing, but Paul did not need to know that.

Emerald was frightened, but she was not helpless. She was trying to keep him talking and to understand what he wanted.

Paul was silent for several seconds, then he laughed again. The sound made something inside me turn cold.

"You really have become a Hugo."

"I’ve always been a Hugo."

"No. You were born my daughter."

Emerald did not respond this time, prompting him to continue, "And that old Hugo must be getting closer to his grave now."

My eyes narrowed.

"In no time, he should announce his will, and you would get a share of it. Maybe he will even give it to you earlier if he knows that I have you."

My expression darkened. There it was. The reason. Paul had taken Emerald because he wanted money.

My hands tightened around the steering wheel as I listened.

Paul believed that by taking Emerald, he could use her against the Hugo family. Whether he intended to demand an early transfer of her inheritance or use her as leverage to force the family into giving him money, I did not yet know.

The details did not matter at that moment. Paul had already revealed enough. Emerald was his leverage.

I accelerated.

Draxen pressed closer to the surface, furious. I did not need to speak to him. I was angry enough on my own.

The road ahead began to change as the traffic grew thinner. Paul started giving Emerald more specific instructions, and I listened carefully to every word.

"Take the next right."

I followed their route.

"Keep going."

A few seconds later, Emerald spoke. "We are leaving the city."

"You’re very observant," Paul chuckled.

"Where are you taking me?" Emerald probed.

"You will find out soon enough."

My senses stretched further as I followed the route through the information I had gathered from their conversation.

Then Paul spoke again. "Take the road on the left."

Then I heard the engine change as she slowed down. "I don’t like this road."

"I didn’t ask whether you liked it."

The road Emerald turned into was quieter, confirming what I already suspected. Paul was taking her somewhere isolated.

I increased my speed, and soon, I caught sight of her Jeep ahead of me. My eyes fixed on it immediately. Relief came first, followed by rage.

Paul was seated behind her.

I kept my distance as I followed them through another turn and onto a narrow path surrounded by trees. A few buildings stood in the distance, but the area was largely secluded.

Emerald’s Jeep finally slowed down and came to a stop. I pulled over a short distance away and switched off the engine.

The call was still connected, and I could hear everything clearly.

A door opened, then another. Emerald and Paul got out of the Jeep. They left her phone inside the vehicle.

I could no longer hear them through the call, but I didn’t need it as I had already pulled up.