A WEB OF DECEIT

chapter 75

THELANI

I don't remember how it all went wrong so quickly, but the moment Lucas injected me, everything faded into a haze. My thoughts became slow, muddled, and my body felt too heavy to fight back. Lucas had always been controlling, but this... this was something else.

I was vaguely aware of him dragging me to the car. My limbs felt like lead, and my voice couldn't muster the strength to scream. Where was everyone? Did no one see this? I felt like I was disappearing, vanishing from the world without a trace.

When I woke up, it was in a room I didn't recognize—dimly lit, with heavy curtains blocking out the light. I blinked, trying to clear the fog from my mind. The room had an eerie calmness about it, like something terrible was hidden in the quiet. I shifted slightly, feeling resistance from my wrist. One of my hands was handcuffed to the bedpost. Panic surged through me.

My first thought was Olwethu. I quickly turned my head, scanning the room, desperate to see my daughter. Then I saw her—held by a woman I didn't know. A stranger. Fear gripped me.

"Where... where am I?" I asked weakly, my voice still groggy from whatever Lucas had drugged me with.

The woman holding my baby didn't respond. She just looked at me, her face blank, devoid of any emotion.

"Where am I? And where's Lucas?" I repeated, louder this time, desperation creeping into my voice.

Again, she didn't say a word. Instead, she stood up with Olwethu in her arms and left the room, closing the door behind her. My heart dropped. What the hell was going on?

I pulled at the handcuff, the metal biting into my skin. "Lucas!" I screamed, the sound raw and broken. "Lucas, where are you?!"

It didn't take long for him to appear. The door swung open, and there he was, leaning casually in the doorway with that cold, calculating look in his eyes. His appearance was unsettling—like he'd already decided how this was going to play out, like he was in complete control.

"You're awake," he said smoothly, stepping into the room.

"Where the hell am I?" I demanded, yanking at the handcuff again. "What are you doing?"

His smirk deepened, the kind that used to send chills down my spine, but now filled me with dread. "You're in one of my houses, in Durban," he said, as if this was perfectly normal. "I figured it was time to get you out of Johannesburg, so we can focus on us."

I froze. Durban? What was he talking about?

"Why?" I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper.

"Because you married Nkosikhona," Lucas snapped,  His eyes flashed with anger, his hands clenching into fists. "You betrayed me, Thelani. After everything I've done for you,after i told you very well to leave my son... after everything we had."

My blood ran cold. "Lucas," I tried to reason, my voice trembling. "I'm not yours. I never was. You knew what this was—"

He slammed his hand on the bedside table, cutting me off. "I knew what this was?! I gave you everything, Thelani! I gave you a life, I took care of you, I loved you! And you chose him. You married him,  you gave him a daughter!." His voice was shaking with rage now, his body tense.

I stared at him, horrified. His obsession had always scared me, but this... this was something darker. "You don't own me," I said softly, trying to keep my fear at bay. "I'm not yours, Lucas."

His face twisted in fury, and before I knew it, he pulled out a gun from the back of his waistband, holding it loosely in his hand. "But you are mine," he said, his voice suddenly calm again. "You and Olwethu. You belong to me. And I'm not letting you go. Not now, not ever, this is a beginning of a new life."