Chapter 41
LOCHLAN
I don’t realize I’ve sprung between Nacho and Galina and shoved her behind me until I’m staring down the barrel of his gun.
Time goes still for a moment, the thudding of my pulse slowed and sluggish.
It’s like my eyes are seeing something but my brain refuses to acknowledge it. Nacho's pointing a gun at us with rage and pain in his eyes. But every cell in my body is rejecting what I’m hearing.
You love me, Villainess. You belong to me.
How the fuck does he know Galina is Villainess?
She's clutching the back of my shirt, her throat hitching like she can’t catch her breath. I reach back with one hand, tangling my fingers with hers and squeezing hard.
“It’s…it’s me, Villainess,” Nacho chokes. “Your biggest fan! I’ve bought you presents! I’ve defended you against all the creeps who didn’t deserve you!”
Galina grips my fingers tighter.
“It’s me, my love!” he blurts. “Mr.Villainess!”
Galina’s hand clenches mine so tightly that I grit my teeth.
The gun wavers in Nacho’s grip as he reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a small bottle of whiskey and takes a sip from it.
Great. He’s not just holding a gun and clearly emotional. He’s drunk, too.
Nacho takes another drink, then shoves the bottle back in his jacket pocket.
Suddenly, his bleary eyes narrow on me.
“You,” he seethes, baring his teeth. “I thought you were my friend, Lochlan.”
“We are friends, Nacho,” I growl quietly. “But friends don’t point guns at—”
“They don’t point guns at each other?!?” he roars, his face morphing into a livid mask of rage. “What about sneaking up on each other on benches at night and jamming guns into their backs?! And threatening them?!”
I mean, it was a giant purple dildo. But I have a sneaking suspicion that pointing that out isn't exactly going to improve the current situation.
Galina chokes out a terrified sob behind me, and I start to turn.
“Don’t look at her!” Nacho roars, yanking my attention back to him. “Look at me.” His eyes narrow viciously at me, his hand tense as he grips the gun.
…That fucking finger of his is way too close to the trigger.
“Back up, Lochlan,” he snarls.
My eyes glint as I glare at him.
“Not happening, Nacho. You’re scaring her. You need to think about what the fuck you’re doing and put down the gun—”
Galina screams when I yank her down as a shot fires wildly over our heads.
“I said BACK! UP!” Nacho screams, his face contorted with rage. “Stop touching her! Back away from her!!”
He bares his teeth as he stalks closer, pointing the gun right at me.
“You think this is my first time holding a gun, Lochlan?” he barks. “Do you remember who my fucking father is?! He runs one of the biggest cartels in the world, you piece of shit! I’ve been shooting since I was five!”
He takes another two steps forward.
“But I know what adrenaline does to a person's aim, Lochlan,” he hisses. “Don't make this difficult, or I’ll just have to get close enough to make sure there’s nothing left of your fucking face.”
Galina whimpers behind me, squeezing my hand tightly.
“I’m only going to say it one more fucking—”
“Okay!” I snarl, dropping Galina’s hand and raising mine in the air. “I’m all ears, Nacho. You’re in charge here.”
I’m not worried about myself. I’m worried that he’s holding a .357 Magnum, and at this range, if he shoots me, that fucking bullet is going to go right through me and into Galina behind me.
“Over there,” he snarls, gesturing with the business end of the gun to a spot a couple of yards away. “Move, Lochlan.”
I glance back at Galina.
“It’s going to be okay, baby,” I murmur under my breath.
She nods quickly as I give her hand one last comforting squeeze and then walk over to where Nacho’s pointed.
He instantly swivels his attention to her, but mercifully keeps the gun trained on me.
“Are you injured, my queen? Did he hurt you?” he asks in this weird, soft tone. “Did he—”
“Why are you doing this?!?” Galina whispers, her voice breaking.
Nacho frowns. “B-because you’re mine, love,” he mumbles. “All mine, Villainess.”
“Nacho,” I snarl. “Let’s figure this out. Let's talk and come to an agree—”
“Shut up!” he roars, whirling on me and level the gun at me. “You shut your fucking mouth, GHOST.”
My face blanches.
Nacho grins, seeing the look on my face.
“Oh, there it is. There’s the question burning in your head,” he growls. “You want to know how I know your dirty little secret, don’t you?” he taunts me.
I grit my teeth.
“How does it feel, Lochlan?” he snarls quietly. “To be the one without for a change? Helpless, with no control. No good looks and charm, no strength or muscles, no campus celebrity status?” His eyes narrow. “How does it feel to be a loser for once in your perfect, privileged life?”
Fuck.
This isn't really about Galina.
It’s about Nacho being him, and me being me.
I’m the one with the unfair genetics. The golden academic record. The star status in both the Privateers and Para Bellum. The girls. The guys who look up to me. The friends I surround myself with.
How must all that look from Nacho’s perspective? Nacho, who doesn’t have any friends and who I doubt has ever kissed a girl. Nacho, without a lick of athletic ability, a B grade average, glasses, too-big ears, and a fucking retainer.
To someone like Nacho, I’m a kick in the teeth when he’s already down, just by waking up every morning and existing.
“Nacho,” I say softly, holding my hands up in appeal. “This does not have to go any further. You and I are friends, man—”
“Friends?!” He barks a cold, mirthless laugh. “I looked up to you!”
“Nacho—”
“I idolized you!! I went to you for advice about her, for fuck's sake!”
My heart lurches into my throat as he swings the gun toward Galina.
“Nacho!” I roar. “Put the fucking gun down!”
“You were my hero, Lochlan!” he yells. “I wanted to fucking be you! But this?”
He abruptly pulls his phone out of his pocket and waves it high as he shakes his head. “Nooo no no no no, Lochlan. This, I can’t abide.”
His nostrils flare as he glares at Galina, then me. Then he opens the phone, taps a button, and turns it to us as a video begins to play. It takes me a second, because it’s not easy to see or hear from this far away. But then it clicks.
Horribly.
And when I see Galina’s face turn ashen and her mouth falls open, I know she's just realized the significance of what we’re looking at.
It’s us, the day in the library when I snuck up on her.
The video looks like it must have been shot from a stationary camera partially hidden between books high up on a shelf.
I watch in horror as I slide Galina’s Velvet Villainess mask off, completely exposing her face, before I wrap that blindfold around her eyes.
Then I take my own mask off, exposing my identity as well.
Nacho jabs a finger on the screen, pausing the video before he shoves the phone back into his pocket, a cold expression etched over his face.
“I can’t watch the next part,” he chokes. “Forgive me, my love. I know he made you. But don’t worry. Soon, it will just be us. Soon, you’ll forget what this motherfucker did to you when I spend the rest of our lives together worshipping you like the queen you are.”
Galina looks like she’s going to throw up. Her face is pale, and her throat bobs up and down as her breath comes in rapid little bursts.
The Garrison falls totally silent.
“I wasn’t trying to spy on you, my queen,” Nacho finally says.
“I’m a statistics major, and someone from my class kept going into the records wing in Ravencroft and removing old agricultural records books that are part of an ongoing assignment, just to screw with everyone else in the class.
I wanted to know who was doing it so I could teach them a lesson.
” His face darkens as he shakes his head.
“The camera’s motion activated. I hadn’t checked it in a couple of weeks… until yesterday.”
His eyes blaze angrily as they fly to me.
“You,” he spits. “You’ve lived like a fucking god at this school. But you put your fucking hands on what’s mine. You crossed me, Lochlan.” He shakes his head. “And no one crosses me or my family.”
“What do you want, Nacho” I growl.
His mouth twists cruelly. “I want you to know what it’s like to be less, Lochlan. I want you to know what it feels like to be a mere fucking mortal like the rest of us.” His eyes narrow at me. “I want you to obey me, Lochlan.”
I immediately shatter the look of triumph on his face when I laugh coldly.
“What, you gonna blackmail me or something, Nacho?” I snicker and roll my eyes. “Fine, go nuts. I don’t—”
My mouth snaps shut when I see his gaze slip to Galina. My heart twists at the look of horror on her white face.
I can survive being outed as The Ghost Prince. I mean, it’ll be embarrassing as fuck, and Achilles, Drago, and my brother will have a field day with it, maybe forever.
But it won’t break me.
This getting out will break Galina, though.
She’s so careful to separate her real life from her Villainess one.
And it’s not because she’s embarrassed by what she does in her videos, it's because she’s being completely open.
I doubt any of her fans even realize it, but they’re getting the totally honest and uncensored Galina when they watch her content.
If this gets out, it will mean the destruction of her sanctum. The removal of the place where she can just…be herself.
And that will destroy her.
I take a slow breath and level my gaze at Nacho. “What do you want.”
His cold smile spreads wider. “I want to give your fans what they desperately need.” His eyes gleam as he grins viciously. “I want to give them the unmasking they so richly deserve, so they can gaze upon your pretty face, Lochlan.”
My pulse skips.
“What I want is for you to go get your mask. And then you're going to come back with it, and we’re going to livestream your big reveal.”
He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a black plastic disc, and tosses it to me.
“You’re familiar with Smart-Tags, aren’t you, Lochlan?” Nacho hisses. “But of course you are. You used them to stalk my girl.”
I glance down at the tracker in my hand.
“That’s the newest model,” he continues.
“Got a mic on it and everything.” He levels a poisonous look at me.
“You’re gonna put that in your pocket, run to Kingsward like a good boy, get your Ghost mask, and come right back here.
Go nowhere else. Don’t dally. And don’t talk to a single fucking person, or I’ll know.
” He shakes his head. “Don’t test me on this, Lochlan.
Remember who will be here with me while you’re doing what you’re told. ”
Again, I don’t fucking care. He can show my face to my fans. I don’t give a shit. But I do give a shit about leaving Galina with this fucking psycho.
“I’m not leaving her with—”
“Yes, Lochlan,” he snaps. “You are. You have ten minutes to be back—”
“My mask isn’t at Kingsward,” I growl. “It’s in a place I have downtown, near the docks.”
He sighs and rolls his eyes. “Do I look like I’m playing fucking games with—
“He’s telling the truth,” Galina chokes out in a small voice. “It’s a little building on the old pier. I’ve… I’ve been there.” Her eyes dart to mine, wide and scared as they hold my gaze for a moment. “That’s where he keeps all of his Ghost stuff.”
Nacho’s jaw works as he looks between Galina and me, trying to decide if he believes us.
“Fine,” he finally spits. “Go. You have fifteen minutes.”
I stare at him. “The docks and back is close to four miles, Nacho.”
He sneers. “Good thing you’re such a star football player, then, isn’t it.”
I shake my head. “No, but four miles in fifteen minutes would be —”
“No bullshit, Lochlan,” he hisses. “I want you to do as you’re tol—”
“It’s impossible!” Galina blurts. “That would be a world record time.”
Nacho, who clearly did not know that, grits his teeth, his gaze stabbing into me. “Fine,” he snarls. “Twenty minutes.”
“Nacho—”
“Twenty minutes, Lochlan,” he says again, looking right at me. “I would not be late, if I were you.”