The harbour is a long strip, built into tightly packed stones. Stone bridges lead out into the river with scores of boats and yachts of all shapes and sizes—their sails tied tightly to the masts.
I don’t know how long I run for, but I know my lungs are pumping all the air they possibly can. My throat is parched as I scan for any kind of movement, search every bridge, cast my eyes over every stretch.
The harbour is all flat land, but it’s so ominously empty and quiet, it’ll take nothing at all for them to spot and shoot me.
And I know they’re here, simply because the quiet is unnatural.
The bruises pulsing across my body had all stiffened into something unbearable during the drive, but all the running keeps me warm. My muscles aren’t as tight, so I can at least continue to move my body the way I need to.
Faraway voices filter in on the wind, and my head snaps towards them—my feet take me there on instinct.
When I see the boat leaving the dock, it is like being yanked out of a dream and into a nightmare.
The world is turning on its head, making me stumble, when I see a white yacht pulling away from the harbour.
No…
My heart rages in my chest as I sprint across the stone bridge, towards them.
But I’m not fast enough. It feels like my legs and my lungs are on fire… yet still I’m not fast enough.
I pull my gun out and aim, but there are at least six of them on the deck, including Philip.
No, please…
I can’t hear around the deafening sound of my pulse, but I know I fire four shots—perfect headshots that take four lives and break whatever fucking conversation they could possibly be having while taking an innocent girl away.
“Evelyn!” I scream for her, a tortured cry on the wind, and her eyes snap to mine.
She screams for me, a plea that sounds almost like the shattering of my own heart, as I try to close the distance between us. She rips free from Philip’s grip, and even at this distance, I can see the fear in her eyes as she dashes for the edge of the boat.
Philip grabs her by her hair to pull her back, sneering at me, and it’s like aninjection of raw hatred into my blood.
But more of his men flood the deck from below, four of them coming up to take the place of their dead, training their guns on me.
I can’t care. I fire three more shots. Three more lives taken.
Philip pulls Evie in front of him like a true coward, grinning at me and licking her face with sick enjoyment.
A bullet clips my leg and the pain is striking. It makes me fall to my knees.
Still, I can’t falter.
There, on my knees on the stone bridge, I fire two more shots.
But for fuck’s sake there’s always more! More men keep coming up from the floors below.
How many of them are on the fucking boat?!
I aim again, screaming my frustration, my hatred.
“Shoot me!”
At first, I’m not sure whose voice it is.
At first, it is all my nightmares tangling together.
“Christian, shoot me!” Evelyn screams in Philip’s grip, tears coming to her eyes.
