Chapter 6: The Long Leash
Beatrice POV
The inside of Juno's car felt real to me. For a kilometre as the yellow streetlights went by I kept my head against the cool glass. I closed my eyes. Breathed, trying to clear my mind. I thought the nightmare was over. I thought the drama at the Grand Imperial Hotel was behind me.
I looked at Juno. Her hands were gripping the steering wheel hard. She was driving with a focus on navigating traffic as other vehicles squeezed past us.
"Bea you are shaking " she said, her eyes darting to the side mirror before she changed lanes.
"It is the drug " I muttered, rubbing my temples where a headache was forming. The Peters guard had put in that the food was still affecting me. "How did you get the police to move that fast? You know how the station in this area behaves. If you don't hold something they will tell you there is no fuel in their patrol vehicle."
Juno let out a sound. Not a laugh, just nerves. "I did not go to the station Bea. I called my uncle's contact at the command. I told them it was a kidnapping happening inside the penthouse. I shouted Caspian's name and Peter's name. The mention of those names made the management move. They did not even argue."
She tapped my knee with one hand before returning it to the wheel. "Just try to calm down. We are heading to my place. Once we enter the compound we will lock the gate. You are safe now Bea. We got him."
I wanted to believe her. I wanted to relax and let the tension drain out of my legs. But Peter's parting words were stuck in my head: This is not over. The papers are. You belong to the Moretti name.
He did not look like a man who had just lost. When those officers were shoving him toward the door his face was calm. He looked at me like a creditor looks at a debtor who thinks running away means the debt is gone.
A kilometre back inside a dark transport van, the plastic zip-ties around Peter Morettis' wrists were already on the floor. He did not even need to twist his hands; the officer sitting opposite him simply severed the plastic with a pocketknife.
The officer did not look up from his phone. He handed Peter a bottle of water.
"Where are they now?" Peter asked. His voice was smooth without anger or panic. He adjusted his shirt collar.
"They have crossed the bridge, " the officer replied, tapping his screen to show a live tracking map. "They are heading toward the axis. We have two vehicles following the sedan. The silver one and the small delivery bus."
Peter took a sip of the water then capped the bottle. He did not. Comment. He just looked bored like a businessman waiting for a transaction to finish.
The moment his guard informed him that I was making delays inside the bathroom Peter knew I was trying to escape.. In a city where his family's financial backing carried weight, you do not play against the person who owns the terrain.
He knew which command Juno's family would try to contact. A single phone call from his assistant turned the raid into a theatre. It was more efficient than causing a scene in the hotel lobby.
"Sir, do you want the boys to intercept them at the junction?" the officer asked, looking up from the phone.
"No, " Peter said, his voice dropping into that tone that ended discussions. He looked out the window at the dark streets. "If you bring her back now she will spend every hour looking for the exit. Her mind will still be calculating the move."
He leaned his head back against the panelling.
"Let them get to the house, " Peter continued softly. "Let them unpack, lock the protectors and feel that temporary relief of having outsmarted me. Let her friend give her water. I want her to believe she is secure tonight."
He lifted his arm checking his watch.
"She thinks this city has corners where my eyes cannot reach, " he murmured. "She forgets who laid the foundation of the walls she wants to hide. Let her sleep. Tomorrow morning when she wakes up to the street sound she will realise that the air she breathes still belongs to the contract. Keep the tracking tight. Nobody leaves that house and no one boards a transport out of the state."
Juno's house was a fenced bungalow at the end of a narrow closet. The neighbourhood was dark; the public power supply was out, leaving the air with the roar of small generators. The tyres crunched over the gravel as Juno steered the car into the driveway and killed the engine.
The sudden silence inside the cabin was heavy, broken by the rhythmic pinging of the cooling exhaust pipe.
"We are here " Juno said, taking a breath as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "Let us get inside before the rain starts. The sky is already looking heavy."
I opened the passenger door, my legs feeling hollow as my feet hit the earth. The night air was thick and humid, smelling of rain as I followed Juno up the steps onto the small veranda watching her hands shake slightly as she fought with the heavy padlock.
"I have some food inside, " Juno said, her voice rising slightly. She was trying too hard to sound normal.
"You will change your clothes, try to eat something, and then take the room. I will handle the parlour couch."
I did not answer her. My eyes were fixed on the mouth of the street just outside the wall.
A silver sedan had just turned into the closed. It did not have its headlights, on only the small parking lights. It did not speed up. Pull into any empty spaces. It just rolled slowly past Juno's compound.
As it passed beneath the light of a neighbour's gate lamp I saw the driver's clear silhouette. He did not look away. He turned his face toward the veranda, his eyes locking directly onto me.
The car did not disappear around the bend. It pulled up under the shadow of a tree a few houses down. The brake lights flared red for a second then died as the driver cut the parking lights.. The engine remained on. A low vibration that travelled through the concrete steps into my feet.
"Bea enter inside now " Juno whispered, her keys jingling loudly as the heavy padlock finally clicked open. "Why are you just standing there staring at the road?"
I looked at the silhouette of the car down the street. Then I looked down at my fingers still trembling against the strap of my bag. The realisation settled over me like a weight.
The high command had not saved me. Juno's family contacts had not outsmarted anyone. Peter had simply unlocked the door himself, stood back and watched us run into the coordinates he had already mapped out for us.
"Juno " I said, my voice barely lifting above the generator noise. "He knows."
"Know what? Move inside so I can lock this iron protector please."
"The police, " I said, turning my head to look at Juno's face. She looked tired.
"They didn't arrest Juno. They work for him. The whole raid was faked. He let us go."
Juno stopped moving her hand on the cold gate. She turned to look down the road at the car parked under the tree.
The car was still running. I saw Juno understand. Her face lost the colour it had. She stared at the car.
We didn't get out of the deal. We're just free, for now. Peter is probably sitting in the dark waiting for us to make our move.
