Spent, we lay in a tangle of limbs.
“Mine,” he said no louder than the flutter of butterfly wings.
I didn’t say anything in response, just curled myself around him, hanging on to the remnants of hope that passed like ash through my fingers.
In his embrace, I felt whole. That feeling didn’t last. Soon, he was setting me gently on the floor and leaving me behind.
How could he call me his and give up so easily?
I curled in a ball and sobbed before pulling myself together. Did people really live like this? Should I be thankful I was being sold to a good man? Should I do the right thing and walk away? What was the right thing? Those were only the beginning. I had other moral questions to face. Who was I hurting? Myself? Liam? My mom? David?
All of the above.
I was scrubbed free of the past hour when David knocked on the door to tell me our food had arrived. I plodded through time like it meant nothing when every moment I wasn’t with Liam was agony. I managed to keep up several rounds of pleasant conversation with David while avoiding the topic of our future.
When he suggested we go back to his family’s house, I assumed he sensed the change in me. We quickly packed and followed Liam back to the helicopter that sat on the roof like an avenging angel. We rode in silence. Only the whirl of the blades filled the wordless spaces.
We landed in silence. We disembarked in chaos. Men in all black clothing came out from all directions and surrounded us.
Fifteen
Liam
Noise erupted all around us. Men came out of the shadows from the trees like we were in a war game. The man in charge walked forward, dressed in an expensive tailored suit, in stark contrast to the men that surrounded the helicopter.
“I can lift off,” I called over the comms to David.
It was a risk. I wasn’t entirely sure how far Natalie’s father was willing to go in this show of force.
“Don’t,” David said. “Let’s see what he wants.”
“What he wants?” Natalie asked, sounding outraged. “Isn’t it obvious? He’s insane.”
David took off his headset. “Wait here.” I heard him all the same without it.
I checked the gun I had stowed in my shoulder holster due to my position as David’s security detail. The one Griffin had somehow been able to get me along with a concealed carry license on short notice. My military training and his connections likely benefited me. I took off the safety before repeating David’s warning to Natalie. “Stay in the helicopter.”
I was halfway out the door to join David when she spat, “I will not.” I couldn’t risk turning to argue with her.
“What’s this?” David asked. I’ll give him points for sounding bored instead of rattled.
Nicolas stepped forward. “We didn’t discuss you taking my daughter anywhere.”
The two men weren’t backing down an inch as I tried to keep my senses open to all threats—even the ones behind me. “She’s also not a child. I don’t need your permission. Only hers.”
“That’s where you are wrong. She’s still my property. She doesn’t yet belong to you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. She’s not property. She’s a person,” David said in warning.
“And this person can speak for herself.” Natalie stepped forward. “Stop acting like children and let’s talk inside like adults.”
“We can do that. He stays here,” her father said with a nod to me.
I stepped forward but David waved me off. He had no idea what a bad idea that was. I’d counted a half a dozen men. David only had me. I’d already recognized Thing One and Thing Two as they positioned themselves in front of me, guns aimed at my center mass.
There wasn’t even a discussion. David took off with them in the first foolish mistake I’d seen him make. The rest, except two, followed David, Natalie, and Nicolas toward the house.
“Take off your helmet, hot shot. Let’s get a good look at you,” Thing Two said.
When I shook my head, he cocked his gun. There was no winning a fight with two people that had a straight shot at me. Even if I could pull my gun free from its holster before either got off a shot, I couldn’t aim at them both.
Whatever move I made, I didn’t want them hitting the helicopter. It could be our only means of escape if things went tits up.
I used the beginning motion of removing my helmet as a diversion and feinted right. The sound of shots clicked off in the air. The assholes shot at me. Lucky for me the tree line wasn’t far, which would provide cover. I dropped my hand as I dodged bullets without getting hit. It was lucky for me they needed more shooting range time. I would have hit either one of them with my first bullet.