Chapter 9 - The Devil's Offer
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Before Charlotte could reach the kitchen, the front door of her apartment violently shattered inward.
The wood splintered, the deadbolt tearing entirely out of the frame. Two massive men in tactical gear stepped inside, their guns drawn, blocking her only exit.
Silas Blackwood strolled in behind them, casually brushing a snowflake from his expensive cashmere coat.
“Charlotte,” Silas smiled, looking around the cramped, drafty apartment with overt disgust. “Look at how far you’ve fallen. From the king's bed to a bakery attic.”
“Get out,” Charlotte demanded, raising the iron poker despite her trembling hands.
Silas laughed, a dry, cruel sound. His eyes dropped to her massive, seven-month pregnant belly.
“Well, well,” Silas murmured, his eyes glittering with malice. “It seems my intelligence was correct. You’ve been busy baking a little problem for my family.”
“Damian will kill you for this,” Charlotte threatened, backing slowly toward the kitchen.
“Damian thinks you’re a ghost,” Silas corrected, pulling a thick envelope from his coat. “He thinks you abandoned him because you were too weak for our world. He doesn't know about the little parasites growing inside you.”
He tossed the envelope onto the small dining table.
“Five million dollars in untraceable bearer bonds,” Silas said smoothly. “It’s yours. On one condition.”
“I’m not taking your money,” Charlotte spat.
“You will take the money, you will go to a private clinic I have arranged, and you will terminate the pregnancy,” Silas ordered, his smile vanishing completely. “You will erase Damian’s mistakes, and you will disappear to Europe.”
Charlotte’s blood ran ice cold. She placed both hands protectively over her stomach.
May you like
“They are seven months,” she gasped in horror. “They are viable. You’re asking me to murder my children.”
“I’m asking you to choose your life over theirs,” Silas countered, drawing a silenced pistol from his coat. “Because if you refuse the money, my men will cut them out of you right here on the floor, and I will burn this building to the ground.”
