Chapter 31 – Desta
DESTA
“No!” I scream in outrage as Ferrin’s body bobs to the surface, his face down and blood coloring half of the back of his shirt. He was after the reward. I know that. But he also saved my life. Again. Our last words were me telling him I hated him, and then I flipped him off. Now he’s dead.
Sven backhands me, smacking me directly where the gun bashed my head two days ago.
Stars burst behind my eyes, and I fall backward into the boat.
Dazed, I search around, anxious for anyone to help.
I could go back into the water, but if Ferrin hadn’t found me, I would have drowned because of how deep it is.
It’s empty out here on the water. Most of the boats are now lining the shore. I’m alone. The gun is in Sven’s hand, but before I can make a grab for it, he tucks it into the back of his pants and takes off, using the small motor at the back of the boat to shoot us over the top of the water.
I roll back with momentum and smash into the side of the boat as we bounce up and down. My head spins, and my stomach revolts.
Ferrin.
A sob sticks in the back of my throat. It makes no sense, but I can’t stop it either. It’s why his betrayal hurt so much. I was starting to fall for him. It doesn’t matter that it hadn’t been a week. I felt something with him from the first moment he looked at me and smiled.
Was it all a lie? An illusion?
Or was there something real even he couldn’t fight or deny?
Now I’ll never know, and my heart breaks.
A moment later, the boat hits the ground, then slides up into the grass on the far side of the lake on the edge of the woods. I tumble the other way since I wasn’t holding on and bang my shoulder into the hard edge of the boat.
“I killed your brother,” I tell him.
I don’t know why, but I want to taunt him. I want to hurt him. He killed Ferrin, and I want him to pay for that. I wanted to strangle Ferrin. Kill him with my bare hands. But that was for me to do and no one else. He was mine, not theirs.
“It wasn’t him.”
He stands and backhands me across the face. Pain shoots through my face and up into my hair, making my skin throb and burn. “You’re lucky you’re worth a lot of money.”
“You’re not. You’re a useless pawn. Half dead.”
Another slap to my face, and I should shut up. Instead, I claw at him until he snatches my wrists with one hand and pins them down with his giant hands. Except I don’t stop. Fuck him. Fuck them all.
“Your brother was such a douchebag. I slit his throat, and he cried like a little bitch. So sad.” I pout mockingly. “I bet you’ll die the same way. Scared. Alone. So pathetic.”
Fire rages from within him, matching the orange of his bristly hair. “That tiara is worth more to me than killing you, but your mother said nothing about how I treat you, so keep talking.”
“You know who I am?”
He grabs me by the front of my shirt and hauls me up. “I know who you are, pretty. You’re a payday. I killed your boyfriend, and now your mother is going to pay me for bringing you back.”
“You’re so dumb. She doesn’t have the tiara. And she’ll kill you the moment you bring me back.”
He hits me again, sending flashes of light through my eyes and a fresh burst of pain across my face. It’s right where that other motherfucker got me, and it cracks open the taped-together cut.
It’s not enough. The pain, the blood—it’s not enough to eclipse this anguish.
I shouldn’t care about him. Why the fuck do I care about him?
He was after the money. He didn’t want me, and he let it be known.
I wanted him to prove me wrong. I wanted him to be the hero I’ve read.
The one who makes mistakes but comes out better and stronger on the other side.
But those were fiction, and this is reality, and Ferrin wasn’t ever those men. Was he?
“Fucking cunt.” He drags me out of the boat and across the damp grass, my feet heavy and sluggish as I struggle to catch my footing beneath myself. “I bet you wouldn’t be chirping so loudly if I fucked you right here.”
“You mean because I wouldn’t find it pleasurable?”
He shakes me, causing my head to flop backward and forward.
“I bet your dick is tiny. Ferrin’s was huge.”
“Dirty fucking whore.”
I roll my eyes. It was way hotter when Ferrin called me that. Somehow, I laugh. “So lame. You know I’m the stolen princess. I know you do. She’ll never say it, but I bet you’ve figured it out. Who do you think will pay more for me? Her or the royal family?”
That gives him a moment of pause, and I manage to right myself even if his grip on me doesn’t relent. His gun is behind him, and there’s no way I’ll be able to grab it, let alone shoot it properly.
“Do you know what the reward for my safe return is? The prince was waiting for me tonight. Ferrin was going to collect five hundred thousand euros.”
His eyes round, but he just as quickly tosses that notion aside. He likely thinks I’m full of shit. Not only that, his die is cast. He has no choice but to listen to her.
He jerks me around and studies my face in the dark as if he were able to recognize me. “You’re not her. She’s dead.”
“Nope. Sorry.”
I take a note from Ferrin and slam my knee up straight into his balls.
He bellows in pain, his grip gone as he doubles over and grabs himself.
I take off into a sprint, my feet carrying me without thought.
I go faster and faster, heading back toward the light, toward the water, toward Ferrin because I have to see him. I have to make sure.
My heart flies along with my feet until I’m ripped off them and hauled back by my hair. A scream lurches from my lungs, desperate for help. Desperate for someone to come and intercept.
I land on my back with a hard thud that knocks the wind from me with a harsh whoosh.
The back of my head hits too, momentarily dazing me.
The world spins, and I groan just as a cloth bathed in something acrid-smelling covers my mouth and nose, and the sharp stab of a needle dives into my shoulder muscle.
I cry out, breathing in more of the toxin, while a rough burn slides up my shoulder and neck.
His face crawls over mine, a sadistic smile on his lips, as my world grows dark and fuzzy.
“Night, night, girlie. No prince is coming to save you now.”