He Didn’t Kidnap Me. Not Exactly novel Chapter 309

Chapter 309

isy’s POV)

Okay. So. Let’s take stock of the situation, because apparently my life had decided a shooting drill’s worth of tension wasn’t enough and needed to triple it

for dramatic effect.

Nico and his men on one side.

Volkov and his army of terrifying, unblinking bodyguards on the other. And now, wedged into the mix like the world’s worst party crasher, an actual pote special forces unit, guns drawn, faces set in the specific expression of people who had clearly stopped believing in happy outcomes several years into this

job.

Nobody was smiling. Nobody looked like good things had ever once happened to them, in this life or any previous one. Every single gun in this courtyard was currently pointed at someone else’s chest, and there were, by my extremely unscientific count, a truly unreasonable number of guns.

This was, and I cannot stress this enough, the exact scenario every action movie built its climax around, except I was standing directly in the blast radius instead of eating popcorn six feet from a screen, and there was a very real chance I’d get to experience the ending from the wrong side of a bullet.

Roman Volkov. The police chief’s voice cracked through the tension like a whip, aggressive in the specific way you’d expect from a man staring down an entire private army. “You, and everyone affiliated with you – every gang currently standing on this ground – you’re all under arrest. Drop your weapons. Get

on your knees. Hands in the air. Now

Volkov didn’t so much as glance at him.

He turned to DeLuca instead, entirely unbothered, like the chief’s voice had simply failed to register as a sound worth acknowledging.

So, he said. “You somehow managed to drag these men here. Involved your little police friends too. A faint, condescending amusement touched his voice.

“Do you consider that brilliant?”

DeLuca stepped forward.

“What you think of this is none of my business,” he said. “But I want you to understand something/clearly. None of these guns are putting a bullet in your head. That belongs to me. I promise you that.”

The certainty in his voice should have comforted me.

It didn’t. It scared me, actually, the same specific flavor of scared that had been building steadily since the second I’d stepped foot in this courtyard, except now it had multiplied itself into something that felt structurally unstable, like the whole scene might collapse the second anyone so much as sneezed.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Nico barked suddenly. “What kind of stupid game is this?”

He rounded on DeLuca.

“Why the hell are you here? Don’t you dare think you get to interrupt my operation.”

Don’t worry, Nico, Deluca said, calm as ever. “I’m in support of your operation. That’s exactly why I brought you here.”

Brought me here? Nica’s confusion sharpened into something closer to fury. What is that supposed to mean?

T

1:3

15:02 Fri, Sep 4

Chapter 309

DeLuca didn’t answer him. He simply turned away, which felt, honestly, like an incredibly bold move given the current gun–to–human ratio in this courtyard…

aid drop your weapons and put your hands up!” the chief barked again, louder, more strained, the kind of order given by someone who could feel the sination slipping out of his grip and was trying to yank it back through volume alone.

Nobody moved.

If anything, every hand around me tightened further, fingers sliding fully onto triggers, postures locking into place like the entire courtyard had collectively

decided this was the final act.

Something in my chest screamed that I had to do something. That whatever thin thread was currently holding this scene together was about to snap, and once it did, there’d be no walking any of it back.

So, obviously, my body decided the correct response was to fling both hands into the air and yell.

“Wait, wait, wait, everyone!”

I spun in a slow circle, hands raised, addressing every furious, heavily armed group currently occupying this courtyard like I had any authority whatsoever to

do so.

Every single face turned toward me.

Which, in hindsight, should have been the moment I panicked and stopped talking.

It was not that moment.

“I just. Okay, hear me out,” I said, my voice climbing into territory that even I recognized as unhinged. “Guns are not the answer here. Like, statistically, historically, guns have never solved a single interpersonal conflict in the history of interpersonal conflicts. You know what solves conflict? Communication. Love, actually. Basic human love, the kind you’d show your neighbor, or your dog, or- okay, this is going to sound random, but bear with me — think about

geese.”

Nobody looked like they were bearing with me.

“Geese mate for life,” I continued, at full unstoppable velocity now. “They don’t just shoot each other because things got tense at the pond. They work through it. And also, honestly, I feel like whatever higher power any of you believe in God, whoever, the universe, geese, I don’t know your personal situation would probably prefer everyone just put the guns down and had a nice, long conversation about their feelings instead of turning this beautiful, if extremely criminal, courtyard into a crime scene.”

I was fully aware, somewhere underneath the panic, that none of this was landing. That I sounded less like a peace envoy and more like someone who’d had a mild stroke mid–TED talk. I kept going anyway, because stopping felt worse than the humiliation of continuing.

“Daisy!” Nico’s voice sliced through my momentum like a blade. “This is not the time for your nonsense. Move aside and zip it.”

The words hit harder than I expected, and I hesitated, genuinely stung.

Then the sting curdled into something sharper.

I never expected this of you, Nico, i said. “Deluca was your friend, Your hest friend. And you did this to-

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify