52. Highest Bidder #2
I stumbled back, desperately trying to disappear into the shadows, as Carter erupted, blood streaming down his beautiful face while he frantically tried to keep Taggart’s attention.
“Come on, you limp-dick, is that all you got?” Carter screamed, knocking a guard off balance as he thrashed.
“Hit me, because this is your one goddamn chance, you brainless piece of shit. Get over here and hit me.”
I was still so far away from the door, and the room was spinning like crazy as I reached towards a nearby table to steady myself—but my hand plunged through the air as I grabbed at absolutely nothing at all —I gasped as the ground came rushing towards me.
“You’re gonna be wearing a fucking bib when I’m done with you, you spineless roach. GET BACK HERE! ” A pair of shoes appeared by my hands as I tried and failed to push myself up. “ DON’T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER! ”
Taggart yanked me up so hard I could hardly get my feet underneath me. He was practically twitching as he thumped the gun against my temple, over and over again, making my head pound harder than it already was .
I dizzily watched the firearm split into two and mash back together as he waved it around in front of me, lips moving as he violently shook me—behind him a red blur was hurtling towards us.
Taggart’s eyes blew wide, and he whirled, lifting the gun, and I all too slowly realized that red blur was Carter .
The sound was deafening as Tag pulled the trigger, over and over again, emptying bullet after bullet into Carter’s blood-soaked chest, until there was only the empty click of the trigger.
The ground seemed to thunder louder than my screams as Carter staggered back, gasping for breath, before he crumpled with a strangled cry.
My throat burned with a scream as I clawed my way towards him, desperately trying to reach him, as red seeped onto the ground beneath him, but no matter how hard I fought, I couldn’t seem to get any closer.
I begged, offered everything , powerless as Taggart loomed over the man I still loved, threatening to end it for good.
“Now, now, let’s not be hasty, Taggart. No use in starting off on a bad foot.” Samuel Mortarulo murmured. One of my father’s friends… why wasn’t he helping us? I begged him, but he wouldn’t even look at me.
“You’re right.” Taggart twitched as he checked his watch. “We have a flight to catch.”
“Sara—baby, it’s going to be okay.” Carter frantically rasped.
“I’m going to come for you. There’s nowhere they can take you that I won’t find you— look at me, baby .
” Carter pleaded, panic saturating his gentle voice as he crawled towards me, a streak of red dragging behind him. “I’m going to find you.”
Taggart had shot him so many times, and Carter was still crawling, reaching for me as I fought to get to him, was I hallucinating this too?
Carter was saying all the things I wanted to hear, but that wasn’t real.
I’d given him— us , my all, and it still wasn’t enough.
He’d thrown me away like it was easy. Moved on in two seconds flat, because blondes had always been his type.
That was real. If the sight of him dying in front of me wasn’t so horrifying, I might have smiled, relieved I’d caught the nightmare red-handed.
I was going to wake up any minute now , and what a relief—because if this was real, if Carter was bleeding out in front of me… I’d never survive it.
Taggart lingered because his ego was wounded, and this was just another one of my nightmares, so of course he did.
“Can you picture it?” He motioned, waving the gun between us.
“Little mini me’s with our genetics running around.
You could have had that, Kensington, and you almost did, but you ran away instead.
” Tag panted wiping his face with the back of his hand, “Which is lucky for me, because after all these years, she’s finally mine , and I don’t want you to forget for a single second what that means.
” Carter’s eyes shuddered as he panted and dragged himself another inch, and Taggart leaned in with a menacingly soft whisper.
“She’s my prized mare, and I’m going to bend her over and fuck her like one too. ”
Carter’s screams were in my ears as I dizzily looked at Taggart. “Don’t worry, I’m not a savage.” He threatened psychotically. “I won’t breed you until after I’ve ma?—”
“You’re not going to breed me at all!” I cried, throwing an elbow at his groin that barely landed because he yanked me back, laughing sardonically.
“Oh, you bitch, you and I are going to have fun. I’m gonna take real good care of you, Sarafina Caldwell .
” My head snapped to the side, and the room went sideways as I hit the ground in a crumpled heap, light dancing behind my eyes.
Carter might have been screaming for me as I sank further into that cold marble floor while Taggart loomed over me.
“Just think, if you play nice, your father gets off the hook. Scotch free. Debts paid.” Taggart threatened.
“But if you don’t play nice, Sarafina.” He gripped my cheeks, forcing me to look up at him as he went in and out of focus.
“Don’t forget I own you now. If you break the agreements of his contract. You’re both dead.”
“I’m begging you!” Carter’s voice was growing quieter in the distance. “I’ll do anything! ”
“My father?” I murmured, confusion washing over me as it hit me like a freight train, all at once. The note. Had my father done this to me? I blinked as darkness started to close in.
“Sara, I love you!”
Why wasn’t I waking up?