Chapter 29 – Bellamy
BELLAMY
The world tilts sideways as I stare down the barrel of a gun. My heart slams against my ribs like a caged animal. Charlotte holds the weapon confidently in her trembling hand, a mixture of fear and determination in her eyes. What. The. Fuck?
“I will shoot you if you don’t listen,” she states plainly when I can’t make myself move.
My mind races, searching for an escape plan or a way to talk her out of this madness, but what can you say when faced with cold steel and sheer panic? I reluctantly obey, opening the door of the passenger side and sliding onto the seat, feeling as though I’m stepping into my own grave.
“Text Sebastian and tell him you need time and space away to think and that you’ll be back in a few days.”
I shake my head.
“Do it!”
I gulp audibly, trembling violently as adrenaline pumps through my veins.
I open my text message stream with Sebastian and, with tears running down my face, text him the words she told me to.
She’s all over me, watching so closely I have no hope of sending a secret message or hitting the alarm.
Much like with Samil, she’d stop me before I could manage it and likely hurt me or my babies.
I hit Send and whimper out a pathetic sob.
“Good. Now drop your phone and that ankle charm bracelet,” she orders, her voice cracking ever so slightly, betraying some of her desperation, and I give her a questioning look. “They’re tracking devices.”
The phone I figured she knew about. She has the same apps on her phone, but I had no clue she knew about my anklet. Sebastian had insisted upon it after what happened with Samil.
“How did you know about my anklet?”
“Phaedra told me all about them. She even showed hers off to me.”
Right. Because she was caring for the children for the last three weeks.
A woman who is clearly not afraid of violence and obviously has some serious secrets she’s been keeping.
My fingers fumble to unclasp the anklet, then I hang them both out the open window and let them fall to the ground, my lifelines severed just as abruptly as my sense of security.
“Put this on,” she commands, thrusting a tie at me.
It’s one of Sebastian’s. And despite the ridiculousness of it, I’m fucking jealous and furious that she has one of Sebastian’s ties.
Did he tie her up with this the way he does with me?
It’s a useless, unhelpful thought, and I immediately shove it away, watching her hands shake, though the gun hasn’t wavered from its target.
“What do you want me to do with this?”
She gives me an unimpressed look. “Blindfold yourself.”
I wrap the cool silk around my eyes, something I’ve felt so many times before when my husband touched me with love and lust. All of that is gone now.
“How’d you get his tie? Since we’re already here you might as well tell me all the ugly truths I don’t want to know,” I add, hoping she’s nervous enough to run her mouth.
“I took it. I figured I might need a few of his items as leverage if things with you two continued to turn south.”
Hmm. Okay. So not fucking him yet.
In the darkness of the blindfold, my other senses sharpen.
I hear the stutter of Charlotte’s breath, the rustle of her clothes as she shifts in the driver’s seat.
Most of all, I feel the car’s movement beneath me, the steady thrum of the engine as she pulls me away from everything I know.
The unknown stretches out before me like a black void, swallowing me whole.
“Why are you doing this?” I whisper, trying to keep my voice steady despite the rising tide of panic.
“I overheard you talking to Sebastian about firing me and I can’t let that happen.”
“I was upset and jealous,” I tell her. “I saw you kiss his cheek. He’s been nothing but distant with me and yet he talks and laughs with you.
” I sigh. “He wasn’t going to fire you. He sided with you.
You don’t have to do this. Whatever it is that you’re after, Sebastian would give it to you.
” My pulse pounds in my ears, drowning out all reason and logic.
She laughs caustically. “That’s why I’m doing this. Because he’s searching for something—or should I say someone—I want.”
I shake my head. “I don’t understand.”
“You honestly haven’t figured it out yet? I thought you would have started looking into me after you found out my mother abandoned me. That’s when I took Sebastian’s tie, a pair of his cuff links, and some of his cologne if needed.”
“Wait,” I say. “Hold up. You’re throwing way too much at me at once. What were you going to do with all of Sebastian’s things if I had looked up the situation with your mother?”
“I would have made it look like we were having an affair. He obviously would have denied it, so either I’d have blackmailed him over it for information, or I’d have made you leave him so he wouldn’t know what I was after.”
“Okay,” I say slowly because I guess I see some logic there. “What information are you after? Who is it you’re searching for?” Only the moment I say the words, I know exactly who she’s looking for. “Marie is your mother.”
“See, I knew you were smart enough to figure it out.”
The wheels all suddenly click into place. “And she abandoned you.”
“Yes.”
“And you want…revenge?”
“Something along those lines.”
“You know,” I start, trying to keep my voice light, though blood is drumming through my ears like a marching band. “If you had told us that from the start, we would have likely brought you in to help with the search. You likely hold information that would be useful to Rowan and Sebastian.”
“Shut up!” Her voice is a jagged shard of glass, slicing through me. “Just…just stay quiet.”
I clamp my lips together, tasting the bitter tang of fear on my tongue. My hands grip my thighs, fingers digging into my flesh as if I could anchor myself to something solid. I can’t see the passing landscape, but I feel every turn and bump in the road.
Then something else occurs to me. “She abandoned you and kidnapped Desta.”
She doesn’t say anything, so I keep going, stupid or not.
“She was having an affair with the king—with Sebastian’s father—and then she was fired for it by the queen. You want to find your mother, yes. You want revenge on her. But you also want revenge on Desta. Don’t you? That’s why you didn’t tell us what you were after.”
“She told me she’d come back for me,” she starts, and I breathe out a silent sigh of relief that she’s talking to me again.
“But she didn’t. She was obsessed with Desta.
Obsessed with the king. She kept saying that if she had Desta, if Desta was with her, then the king would leave his wife and love her.
She left me on the side of the road a week after the queen fired her and told me I was never to use her name again or even my own.
I was never to tell anyone who my mother was or she’d hurt me and the person I told.
She told me to walk into the village, and eventually, once she had Desta and the king, she’d come to find me.
Only I was nearly ten and knew I couldn’t be homeless without getting caught.
That’s when I saw the head of the royal guard and went to him. ”
Jesus Christ. What the fuck? Just…what the absolute fuck?
“And you never told him anything about yourself?”
“No. I told him I was an orphan living on the streets, which wasn’t too far from the truth. I made up the name Charlotte and that was that. I didn’t want him to know who my mother was. Especially after she killed the king and stole the princess. I was afraid he’d kick me out.”
“I’m so sorry for all you went through,” I tell her genuinely, but she doesn’t like hearing that.
Not at all. A sharp crack hits the side of my head, knocking me straight into the door where I smash my shoulder.
I cry out in pain and shock, feeling the warm stickiness of blood dripping down the side of my face.
“I don’t need your pity, Majesty,” she sneers. “I need to find Marie and I need to find Desta. I’ve been searching since I was old enough to understand the beauty and satisfaction of revenge, and I will not let you get in the way when I am finally this close.”
The car swerves, jostling me against the door again, and my heart leaps into my throat.
My head throbs painfully and I stifle my whimper, knowing I have to try to stay calm.
Revenge is a powerful drug in how it can take over.
I saw it in Samil that night. The deranged way it bred madness in his mind.
My only option is to stay quiet, stay alive, and figure out a way to escape.
Only…how far have we gone from the palace? What will happen when we reach our destination?
The car lurches onto a gravel path and chills run down my spine as it crunches beneath the tires. We’re off the main roads now, sending me into an abyss of uncertainty and fear. I fight back tears, my chest tight with the effort to keep breathing.
Please, get me out of this alive, I silently pray, the words falling flat against the darkness. Is this what Sebastian was speaking of? Is this why he’s stayed so distant? Did he truly bring a curse down on me when he made me his?
My hand runs over my belly, and I bite into my lip so I don’t sob. “Charlotte,” I say softly. “We can talk about this,” I implore her. “We can work something out, just please let me go. You don’t want to hurt or kill a pregnant woman. I know you don’t.”
“Things don’t always work out the way we want them to,” she snaps back, bitterness heavy in her tone. “You need to stay away from the palace until Sebastian and Rowan find Marie and Desta. That’s all I’m asking. No, I don’t want to kill you or your babies, but I will if I have to.”
I struggle to wrap my mind around her words. How could she possibly think kidnapping me is the solution? My heart hammers against my ribs, fury and terror warring within me. I clench my fists, nails biting into my palms as I fight to contain the emotions engulfing me.
“This isn’t going to end well for you,” I warn her, my voice shaking. “Sebastian will never forgive you for this.”
“Sebastian won’t even know what happened,” she replies coldly.
“He’ll think you left him or just need space and time away, as you texted him.
A few choice words and easy suggestions and he won’t come looking for you.
As you said, he’s been distant anyway. I overheard him telling Rowan how he doesn’t know how to be with you anymore.
Maybe this is the out he needed. He’ll likely be grateful you’re gone. ”
My heart slams against my ribs as her words hit the softest, most broken and vulnerable pieces of me. After what Rowan said about her eavesdropping on his conversations with Sebastian, I know she’s not simply lying to hurt me.
Sebastian thinks I left him. And he might just let me go.
“Is this really what you want?” I ask, agony ripping through me. “To cause more pain and suffering for everyone involved?”
“Sometimes there’s no other way,” she says, her voice barely a whisper. “Sometimes we have to make sacrifices to survive. I’ve sacrificed long enough. Marie and Desta need to pay for what they did to me.”
“Desta was a baby. She was kidnapped. She’s a victim of your mother, same as you are.”
“My mother loved and wanted her and not me. She gave me up for her.”
My stomach churns, bile rising in my throat. I can’t believe the woman I trusted with the children could be capable of such cruelty. Fear and rage twist together, knotting into a tight ball that threatens to choke me. But beneath it all, a small, flickering flame of determination burns.
I won’t let her win. I can’t.
“Almost there,” Charlotte mutters under her breath, and I feel my heart rate increase. There’s no comfort in knowing we’re reaching our destination. It only means I’m one step closer to imprisonment, or worse.
The car comes to a sudden stop, its engine falling silent. I hear her door open and shut and then my side swings open as Charlotte yanks me out by my arm. I stumble over the rough ground, disoriented by the lack of sight. My feet sink into damp earth, cold and unforgiving beneath me.
“Where are we?” I ask, my voice barely audible. I can’t help but let the question slip past my lips, even though I know it’s futile to expect an honest answer from her.
“Somewhere safe where no one will ever think to search for you,” she responds cryptically. “This was where I planned to take Marie and Desta once I found them.”
I’m dragged inside, my feet catching on the stone steps, and I’m dragged through a room, still blindfolded, only to have it ripped from my eyes as I’m shoved inside a cell. I blink rapidly, my eyes attempting to adjust as I take in my new surroundings.
The stone room is cold and barren, the only signs of life being the bed built into the wall, a toilet, and a sink.
“Here’s some food and water,” Charlotte says, her voice sounding hollow in the echoey space. “Don’t go through it too quickly. I don’t know when I’ll be back.” Her words are like a slap to my face, a stark reminder of how little control I have over my situation.
“Wait!” I cry out as she begins to leave, desperation clawing at my throat.
But the heavy door slams shut, and I’m left alone in the darkness.
I locate the switch on the wall, a push button that attaches to a wire that feeds into a hanging bulb overhead.
It looks to be from over a century ago and likely a fire hazard, but that’s the least of my worries right now.
My breath comes in ragged gasps as I try to hold back the panic coursing through me.
I can almost feel the walls closing in on me.
The air grows tighter, heavier with each slide of grating metal on the other side of the door as she locks me securely inside the room.
My vision blurs with tears, and I can’t help but let out a choked sob.
I stumble toward the small window near the ceiling, my hands outstretched as if trying to grasp any hope of escape.
The window taunts me with its height, well out of reach even if I were to stand on the bed.
It’s just another cruel reminder of how trapped I am, knowing there is a very real possibility this might be the end for me.