Bab 30: I will still

CONNOR LEAVES THE ROOM WITHOUT GIVING HER AN ANSWER, which only raises her suspicions.

If he doesn't answer her, she will find out one way or another.

Walking out, he leaves the door open. Aubrey thinks it is intentional; he suspects she might try escaping again but Aubrey has no strength left for that.

At this point, whatever happens, happens.

A phone rings.

Aubrey snaps her head up immediately. Her eyes are wide open like an owl's as she scans the room for the ringing phone. She wasn't thinking of escape before but now, she is.

A smile of relief forms on her lips when she finds the small telephone on the dresser. She quickly races through the room for the phone, wasting no time in putting it up against her right ear.

"Hello." She answers, trying to catch her breath.

"Hello sweetheart."

She stops breathing.

"I was hoping you would be the one to pick up the phone."

She opens her mouth to speak but unfortunately, nothing comes out. She suddenly feels cold and terrified from hearing the voice on the other end. Aubrey can already tell who the deep, raspy voice belongs to.

"Kai?" She whispers, her hands begin to shake for a reason unknown to her.

"Oh wow. It is so gratifying to have you call my name." He sounds pleased. "Darling, could you do me a favor finding my brother and putting him on the phone?"

Aubrey's small fingers form a fist. There a lot of things that gets her angry; she isn't able to live a normal life because of the existence of gods and he dares use names on her?

She opens her mouth, about to let out insults when the phone is snatched out of her hands. She gasps, seeing Connor standing behind her, slowly bringing the phone to his ear.

"What do you want?" Connor's tone drips with resentment.

Aubrey stands dumbfounded, listening to their conversation.

"Wow, what a warm way to greet your baby brother." He speaks with sarcasm.

"What is it?" Connor keeps his resentment locked in his voice.

"Fine, brother." He mocks the word. "I want the girl."

"I told you, you are never getting—"

"I am not requesting." His voice drops low, sounding deadly to her ears. "Bring her back to Mid-Bayern before I slit her brother's neck."

The atmosphere instantly changes and it feels like the temperature drops because Aubrey shivers as her eyes grows wider.

Connor turns to shake his head at her, as if reassuring her. "You can't do that. Gemma and Geo are with Brady."

Hearing his words, Aubrey calms down as she takes in a deep breath. However, she still feels disturbed about the escalating situation.

A daring laugh sounds at the end of the line, putting the two of them in trepidation.

"I find it disrespectful that you underestimate my abilities this way." His voice sounds deeper with each word he says. "Did you really think your little minions would be able to hold me off? You better get back before they are truly dealt with."

From the corner of her eyes, Aubrey can see Connor tighten his fists, veins shooting out of his hands.

"Kai, I have warned you already not to touch—"

He is cut off, "You said not to touch her, so I reached out to her handsome brother instead."

Aubrey starts to get shaky and uncomfortable, not knowing what actions to take to make herself at ease. She is also disturbed hearing someone call her brother, 'handsome'.

"Come on, say something. They don't believe me."

Connor and Aubrey can hear slight movements at the background.

"What is your problem, jackass? Get your hands off me."

Aubrey subconsciously moves closer to the phone, hearing the sound of her annoyed brother. She can clearly see the scene playing out in her mind; Kai reaching out to pull Brady to the phone, but Brady never likes physical contact with people he barely knows.

She can hear the sound of Brady smacking Kai's hands away and that gets Aubrey more worried about how stupid Brady would react to make the god angrier.

"Oh no, Brady." She gasps, tears filling her eyes. Her heart aches deeply for her innocent brother.

There's a pause on the other line before Brady responds, "Wait, Aubrey?" The sound of relief is audibly heard in Brady's tone. "Where are you? This random freak just broke into the house, talking nonsense."

"Brady. Listen! You have to get out of there, run—"

Kai interrupts the conversation between the emotional siblings. "He won't be able to leave. Same way, you were unable to move the night of the robbery."

She suddenly gets goosebumps listening to his words.

"You have less than a minute to bring her back here, or else her brother dies."

Before he ends the call, they hear Brady protesting and arguing in the background.

Aubrey closes her eyes, trying her best to stay in control of the situation. She silently prays Brady does not anger the irrational god too much before they can get to Mid-Bayern. Especially with his bad choice of words.

What would she tell her parents if anything happens to Brady? They will not believe her and she will not be able to live with herself.

She opens them back up to peer at Connor still standing straight with an angered expression.

"What are you waiting for? Take me back." Her voice gets louder with panic.

"We are not going anywhere."

His words make Aubrey's heart skip a beat and it feels like someone's hand is around her throat, squeezing hard as she tries to breath.

"What do you mean? Take me back!" She orders. "You can snap your fingers and such, so do it!"

Connor gets upset by her tone and turns to her with a fierce look that is able to make Aubrey submit but she holds her ground.

"You are not going to Mid-Bayern. This is your home and it will forever be."

Aubrey is lost for a moment, unsure of how to respond to his blatant words. "Are you insane?" She shouts at him. "Did you not hear him? My brother is going to get killed!"

Connor looks away from her, his fists tightening more.

"You can't tell me he was just joking. You said Kai is dangerous and capable of doing anything. I will not let someone like him get close to my family."

"You have no family."