Read Online Chase You To The Sun by Jocelyn Han - Free Book Online Page A

poetry volume after what felt like minutes, his eyes were still on her, his gaze unflinching. Bruce was appraising her with unsettling intensity, a sly smile tugging at his mouth. Suddenly, Lana forgot all about his apparent vulnerability. This man was dangerous – and the last thing she should do was provoke him in any sort of way.
    “It’s time,” John announced, just as she was getting up to feign a visit to the bathroom in order to get away from Bruce’s private stare. The hacker was holding up his pad.
    “Good.” Bruce got up and slowly extended his hand toward her. “We’re going to talk to your father.”
    Lana gingerly slipped her hand in his as she jumped to her feet. Oh, shit. Admittedly, this was a friendlier gesture than him roughly seizing her upper arm, but right now, she’d prefer him pushing her around.
    “Let’s go to the comm room.” He pulled her along to the dark corridor behind the stairs. “We have a window of ten minutes for safe communication, so keep it short.”
    “Okay.” Lana’s heart skipped a beat when his thumb lightly brushed the back of her hand. It made her entire face heat up. Thank God it was so dark here. “Any stuff I’m not supposed to mention?”
    “You will speak to him in English,” Bruce replied. “My Russian is a bit rusty.”
    She almost sighed with relief when he let go of her hand to push open the door to what looked like a study. Shelves stacked with hard drives and folders lined the walls on either side of a large desk in the middle of the room. The desk faced a window looking out over the garden, now covered in darkness. An old-fashioned video screen sat on a table to the left of the desk. It flickered to life when Bruce pushed a few buttons on the console wired to the monitor.
    “Have a seat,” he said, pulling up a stool from somewhere and planting her in front of the video screen. “He’ll come on in a minute.”
    Lana waited, hyper-aware of Bruce silently standing behind her. When the screen suddenly fizzed with loud static, she eagerly leaned forward, tears pooling in her eyes when her father’s face appeared on the monitor. “Oh, papa ,” she cried out, her voice cracking. “ Ya rada tebya videt .”
    A heavy hand clamped down on her shoulder. “In English,” Bruce warned her.
    Crap. Lana cowered, correcting herself. “I’m so happy to see you, dad.”
    “How are you, Sveta?” Mr. Ivanov said, his voice unsteady. “Oh God. This should never have happened. I can’t lose you.”
    “Nothing will happen to your daughter as long as you follow the instructions I sent you earlier in the day,” Bruce said, lowering his head to look into the camera. “She’s been a good girl so far.”
    Lana shifted uncomfortably on her stool. She’d been anything but a ‘good girl’, and it made her feel incredibly guilty. “I’m okay, dad. Nobody’s hurt me.”
    “About your demands,” Mr. Ivanov addressed Bruce directly. “You’re going to have to give me some more time to meet them.”
    “Why should I?” Bruce replied icily. “You’ve had years to meet them. To be honest, my patience is wearing thin.”
    “What you’re asking of me is not easy.”
    “Dad.” Lana locked eyes with her father. “What is Bruce asking you to do?”
    Mr. Ivanov paled visibly. “He’s asking me to stop supplying gemstones to Mars and Luna. And to pay him a ransom of one billion rubles.”
    “Will he release me after that?”
    “I don’t know.” Mr. Ivanov raised his hands helplessly.
    Lana thought quickly. If Bruce wanted her dad to stop shipping tourmaline and emerald to the richest Elite colonies indefinitely, setting her free wouldn’t help his cause. After all, her dad could turn the supply chain back on once she was home again. The only way for Bruce to ensure a hold on Ivanov Mining Industries was to keep her alive and locked up – indefinitely. The hopelessness of her situation suddenly hit her full force. She was never going to get out of