Chapter 511 - 107 The Hotel Trap

Chapter 511: Chapter 107 The Hotel Trap

Daniel’s POV

The sharp ring of my desk phone cut through the tension in the precinct. My secretary informed me that an unidentified woman was demanding to speak with the lead inspector. When the call transferred through, I immediately recognized the voice that had haunted my past.

"Daniel, I need you..." Sasha’s voice trembled between sobs, her breathing erratic and desperate. Even after all these years, she still knew how to manipulate every inflection.

"Sasha, seriously? We’re not playing these games again. Your theatrics won’t work this time. Don’t call this number again." I moved to disconnect the call when her shriek pierced through the receiver like a blade.

"DON’T HANG UP, DANIEL!" Her voice cracked with manufactured desperation. "If you leave me now, I swear I’ll end everything. I’m going to jump from this window."

"Then jump, Sasha!" I slammed the phone down, refusing to be drawn back into her web of manipulation. The Martinez family had taught me many lessons, but the most valuable was never to show weakness to those who would exploit it.

Shortly after, my cell phone buzzed with an incoming message. A photo appeared on my screen: Sasha with wild, disheveled hair and mascara-streaked cheeks, perched precariously on what appeared to be a high-rise windowsill, her legs dangling over several stories of empty air.

The message beneath read: "If you don’t come, I’ll jump. I’m at the Summit Hotel."

"Damn it!" I pounded my fist against my desk, the sound echoing through my office. Every instinct told me to ignore her theatrical performance, but the memory of her previous suicide attempt before our arranged marriage haunted me. Even if this was just another calculated move in her endless chess game, could I risk calling her bluff?

I reluctantly left the police station, sending a terse message confirming my arrival as I climbed into my unmarked vehicle. The Summit Hotel represented neutral territory in our city’s complex power structure – a place where both legitimate business and underground dealings could coexist without question.

At the hotel, the receptionist immediately provided her room number without hesitation. No questions asked, no identification required. The kind of discretion that money and family connections could buy.

"Sasha, open this door," I demanded after sharp knocks, my voice carrying the authority of both my badge and my bloodline.

The door swung open immediately. As I stepped inside and turned toward her, white-hot rage flooded through my system. She had played me yet again with the skill of someone raised in the same world of calculated deception. Before I could react or retreat, she locked the door behind me and sprinted to the closet, securing the room key inside a digital safe with a triumphant smile.

"What the hell is this?" Any compassion I might have felt evaporated instantly. At that moment, I could have happily pushed her from that window myself, consequences be damned.

"I knew you’d come," she laughed, her eyes gleaming with the victory of someone who had successfully executed a complex operation. "It worked before our marriage, and it worked now. And guess what happens next? Just like last time, you’ll come back to me."

I couldn’t believe I had fallen for her schemes again. During our engagement years, when I had tried to break free from the arranged union and started seeing someone else, Sasha’s mother had contacted my father, claiming her daughter had locked herself away threatening suicide over the dishonor to both families. I had broken down her apartment door to find her making shallow cuts on her wrists. Her tearful declaration that she couldn’t live without me, combined with family pressure and honor obligations, had led to our reconciliation and eventual marriage.

Now I stood trapped in a luxury hotel room with my manipulative ex-wife, who wore nothing but expensive black lingerie that probably cost more than most people’s monthly salary.

"You’ve completely lost your mind, Sasha!" I reached for my phone but realized with sinking dread that I had left it in my car. The hotel phone was conspicuously absent from its usual location – undoubtedly locked in that safe with the room key.

"Lost my mind over you, Daniel," Sasha purred, moving closer with predatory grace. "Well, not exactly over you, but I want you and you belong to me, so..."

"Open that safe and give me the key, Sasha, or you’ll regret this more than you can imagine," I warned, my voice dropping to the dangerous tone that had made hardened criminals confess their sins.

"What will you do, inspector? Hit me? Arrest me?" She unhooked her bra with theatrical slowness, letting the expensive fabric fall to the plush carpet. "Now that could make for an interesting power game."

"Stop this right now, Sasha!" Panic began to rise in my chest like bile. If Lila discovered that I had walked straight into this obvious trap, if she learned that I was here with my nearly naked ex-wife, I would be facing a crisis that could destroy everything we had built together.

"Why should I stop? You’re going to enjoy our little reunion." She slipped off her remaining underwear and began advancing toward me with the confidence of someone who had never been denied what she wanted.

I dodged her advances, but she pursued me with determined hunger around the lavishly appointed suite. Though I could easily overpower her physically, I refused to lay a hand on her. She chased me from room to room, her laughter growing increasingly manic with each failed attempt to corner me.

Eventually, she managed to trap me against the far wall of the bedroom. Without any initiation from me, she pressed her naked body against mine, running her manicured hands over my chest and shoulders possessively. The sensation revolted me completely – her touch making my skin crawl like I was being caressed by something venomous.

Assessing my limited options, I noticed a tall decorative lamp on an antique stand to one side and an open wardrobe on the other. Inside the wardrobe, something caught my experienced eye – a silk scarf draped over a hanger. A plan formed in my mind immediately.

"Come on, Daniel, stop fighting this inevitable reunion," she whispered against my ear, grinding her body against mine. "Take me to that bed and claim me the way you used to – rough and commanding. I’ve missed that dominant side of you so much."

Her sickeningly sweet perfume overwhelmed my senses, and I knew these clothes would need to be burned afterward to erase any trace of this encounter.

"You know what? You’re absolutely right," I said, forcing conviction into my voice while suppressing my disgust. "Why should I keep resisting? I’m going to give you something you’ll never forget."

I grabbed her waist and lifted her onto the king-sized bed, watching satisfaction and anticipation spread across her face like poison.

"That’s more like it, Daniel!" Sasha laughed breathlessly, spreading herself before me like an offering. "I knew you’d remember what we had."

Smiling with false promise, I retrieved the silk scarf and joined her on the bed. I grasped both her wrists, positioned them above her head, and bound them together with tight, professional knots.

"Ooh, kinky! Will there be punishment too?" she teased, still believing she had won this twisted game of manipulation.

"No punishment today, Sasha." I dragged her higher on the bed and secured the scarf to the solid headboard with knots that I knew she would never be able to undo alone. Stepping back beyond her reach, I savored the moment when realization finally dawned on her face.

"Now, tell me the safe code and I’ll untie you before I leave. Refuse, and I’ll start shouting until someone breaks down this door to find you naked and restrained like this," I threatened calmly, moving beyond the range of her furious kicking.

"You worthless bastard!" she spat, her voice rising to a shriek.

"Your choice entirely, Sasha. I’m not waiting around." I approached the door and began pounding and shouting for help at the top of my lungs.

Response came quickly – two housekeepers and a security guard burst through the door. I offered a hurried explanation about my unstable ex-wife’s mental breakdown, earning a sympathetic nod from the guard before fleeing the scene without looking back at the chaos I was leaving behind.

My only concern now was explaining this entire debacle to my little one. I needed to tell Lila everything immediately, before Sasha could spin her own twisted version of events. I headed straight for Lila’s workplace, rehearsing my explanation and praying she would understand that I had been trapped by someone who knew exactly how to exploit my protective instincts against me.