Chapter 40
FORTY
CIARA
The barrel of the gun jabbed into my back, just to the left of my spine. As my captor led me through the back halls of the castle, I hadn’t been able to see for sure to verify that it was a gun, but I wasn’t about to take the risk that it wasn’t. I kept expecting to stumble upon someone—anyone—wandering around. There were so many extra people here for this wedding, so much extra staff, it seemed impossible that my captor could navigate us through the halls that I still occasionally took a wrong turn in, without getting lost or running into someone. But we hadn’t encountered a soul, and when she shoved me through a door, out the back of the castle near the river, I knew I was in deep, desperate trouble.
She’d made sure I left my headset and bum bag behind, so there was no phone, nothing at all to help Alex track me. I was furious with myself for not simply letting him do his job as bodyguard. If he’d been with me, this would never have happened. But beating myself up about it wouldn’t get me out of this situation.
“People are going to be looking for me. I was on my way to a meeting when you stopped me.”
“We’ve time enough yet. Everyone’s worried about the wedding, and they’ll look in all the wrong places.” She jabbed again with the gun. “Keep moving.”
The accent was English, but I detected something else underneath. The cadence of some other language. Eastern European? German?
She force marched me along the river for two dozen yards to the side of the formal gardens that were one of Sophie’s pride and joys. Since she’d become mistress of the castle, she’d poured all the extra time she had into restoring them. But this time of year, they’d already begun falling dormant, and the bride had wanted the showpiece of the castle as the backdrop for her nuptials. So no one was out here. And unless someone happened to look out one of the narrow windows on this side, the moment we hit the hedgerow that marked the garden boundary, we’d be out of sight.
The sky above was starting to boil with clouds. Surely, by now, Kyla had made the call. Everyone would be out front helping to move chairs into the backup tent for the ceremony. No one would be looking out this side. The grounds were so expansive, I doubted anyone would even hear me scream. At least, not before my captor could make use of the gun she kept pressed into my back.
When she nudged me toward the hedgerow and down the outside, I had to ask, “Where are you taking me?”
“No talking.”
There was no direct line to the car park here. No way out. Was she actually going to drag me into the woods? If she did, could I find something to use as a weapon? I was at a disadvantage in my skirt and low-slung heels. They were sensible, thicker heels, too. Not a stiletto that could be turned against my captor.
I wiped sweaty palms against my pockets, checking for anything I could drop to show we’d come this way. Hearing the faint crinkle of paper, I remembered the list of last-minute seating plan changes the mother-of-the-bride had given me. If someone found it, would they recognize it had come from me? Would they understand what it meant?
At the far end of the gardens, my captor urged me through a gate I hadn’t even known was here. A rutted, overgrown dirt road snaked toward the woods. Where the hell was this woman taking me? I’d expected to be shoved into a vehicle and driven out via the main drive. Maybe that had been a foolish hope, because someone would have been far more likely to see. Instead, we marched on toward the trees.
A couple dozen feet past the tree line, I spotted the faint glint of light reflecting on metal. A car.
Where did this road even go? Did anyone even remember it was here? It was clear no one had driven on it in a very long time. Grass had all but taken over the track.
“Get in the driver’s seat.”
Not knowing what else to do, I opened the door and did as she asked. But as I slipped into the seat, I managed to slide the paper from my pocket and let it fall to the ground.
“Hands on the wheel.”
I did as I was told and got my first good look at my captor as she circled the bonnet, the gun with a wicked-looking silencer aimed directly at me. She was tall, with at least three or four inches on me. Her hair was blonde, her blue eyes the almond shape I associated with Eastern Europe. She was dressed as all the extra event staff, in black pants and a white button-down blouse. She wasn’t one of ours, but with so many extra faces, it would’ve been easy for her to slip in unnoticed.
She climbed into the passenger seat. “Drive.”
The car was a push-button start. I could only assume she had the keys somewhere on her person. Moving slowly, I started the engine. I needed to buy time. I knew from my brother that the chances of being located plummeted if a hostage was taken to a secondary location. We were already further from the castle than I wanted.
“Where are we going?”
“Just pull onto the track there.”
Carefully, I put the car into drive and followed her instructions. The rutted road kept me from being able to build up any speed, which was good and bad. I considered gunning the engine and crashing us into a tree, but that seemed like a good way to get shot.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“I wanted you to die. That would have made all this so much easier. So much neater. But you couldn’t cooperate, now, could you?”
I spared her a glance but found it hard to look at anything but the gun still pointed at me. “My car. The brakes. That was you?”
“It was. I miscalculated. It’s terribly unlike me. I thought for certain you’d go over the edge.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Do you know what it is to lose the most important person in your world?” Emotion vibrated through her voice.
I thought of how I’d felt in the weeks and months after Alex had disappeared. But I was certain she wouldn’t consider that counted, especially as we’d found our way back to each other again.
“No. I’m sorry you lost someone. But what does that have to do with me?”
“You have the misfortune of being that person for the man who took everything from me. So I’m taking you away, so he’ll know exactly how it feels.”
Alex. She had to be talking about Alex.
He’d been right. All along, he’d been right.
“Did you kill his father?”
The woman trilled a chilling sort of laugh. “No. But I saw how he thought it. That was what gave me the idea with your car. It was supposed to be simple and easy. Something that would burrow under his skin so that he suspected—but wasn’t absolutely certain—that it was his fault.”
I filed that away. At least it was something I could give him. If I survived this.
When, Ciara. When you survive this. Because Alex is coming for you. There are four highly trained Royal Marines who are bound to be looking for you now.
I glanced at the car’s clock. I’d been gone for nearly half an hour now. I didn’t have a good gauge of how far we’d gone, but the rutted track met up with a more well-traveled one.
“Turn left here.”
“Where are you taking me?” I tried again.
“It’s not too much further.”
A few minutes later, we pulled up at one of the cottages on the Ardinmuir grounds. I blinked at the whitewashed stone building. “You’re staying here? On the property?”
The woman laughed again. “I’ve been here for more than a month. Multiple reservations. A wig here. Some colored contacts there. No one was the wiser, because no one’s looking for a woman as the threat.”
By my estimate, I was within three miles of the castle. But that was still more than twenty-five square miles of territory for them to search. How on earth would they know to come here?
My captor gestured with the gun. “Out of the car.”
I stepped out, giving a fleeting thought to running. But there was insufficient cover between me and the nearest line of trees, and I couldn’t run fast in these shoes. Maybe there’d be something in the house I could use as a weapon.
“Look, I’m sorry you lost whoever it was that you lost. But hurting me isn’t going to bring him back.”
“My dear girl, he’s not dead. He’s in prison.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know what else to say to that.
“I’m still working on how to get him out. But no, I have no intention of hurting you. I intend to kill you so that Alex Conroy knows exactly what it feels like to have the person he cares about the most ripped out of his grasp.”
If I hadn’t already been terrified, I was now.
“Open the door. It’s unlocked.”
I did as she asked, desperately scanning for anything I could grab as I stepped inside. Spotting an iron candlestick—Connor’s work, I was sure—I edged toward it.
“Where’s the light?”
The moment she flicked it on, I lunged, grabbing the candlestick and swinging toward her gun arm. The gun fired, and I’d have sworn my heart leapt straight into my throat. But the shot went wide.
Fighting every instinct to run, I moved in close, trying for a palm heel strike to her face, using everything Ewan had taught me. But it was different fighting someone closer to my own size, who clearly had training herself. She grabbed my hand and twisted, using my momentum to drive me head-first into the wall. My skull hit with an audible crack, and everything went white.