Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Nyx
Pretty Little Devil – Shaya Zamora
My hands are shaking so badly that I have to keep holding my steering wheel with a white-knuckled grip. The three men waiting where the dirt road meets the tree line are observing me, wondering if I'll follow orders or not. I get out on trembling legs and approach them.
"Good evening, Nyx. Thank you for coming." That's the man who spoke to me at the police station. Back then, he said he was an attorney, but I'm not sure that’s true now.
"What am I doing here?" I ask.
"Well, like I mentioned to you on the phone, it's time to repay the other half of that favor."
I only recognize one of the men next to him, Achilles's father, Eugene Duval, and I know what this means. It's certainly not safe for Achilles.
I scratch my throat, unsure where this is going exactly. "After tonight, I don't have to do anything for you anymore?"
Eugene is the one who smiles brightly. "After tonight, you won't owe us anything. Don't worry."
I don't think I like the way he phrased it, not confirming nor denying my words.
"What do I have to do?" I ask hesitantly.
"You barely have to worry about anything. Just give me your phone, darling," the attorney who helped me says.
I eye all of them, keeping my phone tightly in my grip.
"What are you going to do with my phone? Why… What’s happening?" I make sure to address Eugene. If someone’s coming after Achilles, it's him.
"Why are you so worried, Nyx?" he taunts me. "After all, you're the one who's been pretending to like him all along. You built your relationship with him because we told you to. Did you fall for him?"
I lick my trembling lips, trying to put my thoughts together. I know it’s not safe to spell out that I’ve fallen in love with his son. So I stick to smaller words. "I care for him. I don't want him to get hurt. And you…you've hurt him."
His wolfish grin is terrifying, like Achilles's is when he doesn’t care about someone's feelings.
"It's too late to worry about him getting hurt."
My phone is snatched out of my hand, and the second I go to grab it, a hand fists my hair, pulling me back.
"Let go!" I cry out. "I want out of this."
Eugene holds me still as the attorney scans my face to unlock my phone.
"There's no way out," Eugene purrs in my ear. "You owe a debt to the Silent Circle, and we always collect."
I didn't know who they were when I got into this. I just didn't want to get arrested.
"Don't hurt him," I plead, wrapping my fingers around Eugene's wrist to ease the pressure. "Hurt me all you want, but leave him alone, please."
My phone is thrown on the ground, and I'm the next one there, pushed by two of the men.
"Your payback is not about hurting you," Eugene says as the three stand above me. "It's about finally getting my son to behave. You played your part beautifully, Nyx. I'm proud of you."
I shake my head. "I didn't want to play any part."
"That's something you'll have to explain to him, not us. But don't worry, he's not so innocent either."
I shake my head. "I don't care. I don't care what he did. No one deserves what you put him through, or whatever your plan is."
As I sit up, still on the ground, pine needles stab into the skin of my palms.
I eye my phone not far and don’t wait one more second. Heart beating out of my chest, I jump on the device, picking it up as I take off into a run.
I read what they sent to Achilles and cancel the location sharing as I keep running. I try to type a text telling him not to come and hope for the best as I send it. But all that means I'm not running fast enough, and I get tackled to the forest floor before making it very far.
It's the third guy. I have no idea who he is, just that he's much stronger than the others.
He barely feels the way I attempt to fight him as he pulls me back up.
"Now," Eugene says politely as he dusts off my skirt, then my t-shirt. I'm trembling from the cold and fear, but I left my jacket in my car. "Let me run you past what happens when my son gets here."
How do you come back from betraying the man you love? Not only him, but the people he loves and cares for. The daughter he keeps safe.
You don't.
All I can do is hope with all my might that backtracking and sacrificing myself instead will save him. But I know that it won't save us. Not the love we share, not the trust we built. Nothing will bring me back to Achilles once this is over.
I'm running faster than I ever have through the forest. It cuts through the North Shore, and if I manage to outrun them, I'll come out on the other side, eventually. This is my home. If I scream for help down the street, someone will come out and find me. But not in the middle of the woods.
I scream when a hand comes close to me. He almost caught me, and as I'm reeling from that, another manages to grab my arm. I fight back with all my might, tasting blood in my mouth from how out of breath I am. Managing to get away, I keep sprinting.
I don't see the real threat coming. He approaches too fast, with the kind of power that takes me to the ground and steals my breath.
I'm frozen, face down in the dirt, my ears ringing.
"Caught you, traitor." Achilles's voice is a death sentence that sends a chill down my spine.
One of his hands wraps around the front of my throat while another presses on my mouth and nose to stop me from screaming.
Scratch that, he's not stopping me from screaming; he's stopping me from breathing. I get dizzy as his grip on my neck tightens. My limbs flail, attempting to throw him off, shoes digging into the ground. He's too heavy on my back, too strong in his touch.
If Achilles kills me, he won't have a Hera. He won't initiate. Maybe that's how he's going to get out of it?
Those are my last thoughts as my eyelids grow heavy, my lungs tightening from the need for oxygen. Then everything goes dark.