Hope and relief bloom through me and I saw my arms up and down, pulling and pushing, listening to the fibers of the rope break until I can pull my hands apart, the rope falling away.
I don’t waste a second to claw at the ropes around my ankles, tugging at the knot. My fingernails break and the blood makes my hands slippery, but it comes loose and I kick it away before I reach for the curved blade stained with my blood.
If they think I won’t fight my way out of this, they’re mistaken. Clutching the weapon, I move toward the door, heart in my throat, blade in front of me but as I’m reaching for the handle, the only escape, the door swings open, and I have to jump out of the way or be hit.
Oscar fills the frame, his dark eyes widening as he takes me in. The shock is quickly replaced with a cruel grin.
“Hello, Niamh,” He purrs. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“You’re going to let me go.” My hands shake as I point the blade at him.
“I’m sorry, I can’t do that.” He cocks his head. “Put the weapon down.”
My head shakes frantically. “You don’t have to do this, Oscar.”
“No, actually I do.” He growls, “Your husband has everything; it’s now my fucking turn. I’m done suffering!”
“You really think Jenson will share anything with you?” I press, “He won’t, Oscar. As soon as he gets what he wants, he’ll kick you to the curb.”
He laughs, lacking humor. “That won’t work on me, Niamh. You think I’m stupid? All you’re trying to do is save that bastard you call a husband.”
“I’m not.” I take a step back as he advances on me.
“I’ve been patient.” He keeps coming. “I’ve watched the Knights get everything while the rest of us fucking suffer. They kicked their own father out, left him with nothing! They’re not the good guys, Niamh.”
“They’ve worked for it!” I defend.
His lip curls. “It's such a shame you got yourself all tied up with them. We could have had something.”
My brows lower, “No, Oscar.”
“You like the life, huh?” He reaches for the gun in his holster. “Want to keep it? Maybe when all this is done, we can have that drink.”
“Stop,” I warn him.
He unstraps the gun, and I don’t think, I just do. I swing forward with the blade; the hook catching him in his upper arm.
He cries out, dropping the gun to the floor in favor of slapping his hand on the open wound now pouring blood and soaking the sleeve of his deputy uniform.
“You fucking bitch!”
I kick the gun out of reach.
“Move,” I demand, “Or I’ll aim lower next time.”
“Feeling brave, are you?” He sneers but he moves to the side as I advance on him, keeping the distance between us until it’s me in front of the door and he’s where I started, his blood mixed with mine smearing into the wood beneath our feet.
“Go on then,” He licks his teeth, “Run. See how far you can get before I catch you. We’ve played this game before.”
Flashes of the woods come back to me. The man at the falls. Him chasing me before I ran right into Roman.
“I won’t let you get away this time,” He promises.
Stepping backwards, I keep my weapon pointed at him until the wood beneath my feet turns to earth, and then I spin and I run. I was quicker then; I have to be quicker now. No one is coming to save me this time. I doubt Roman even knows I’m missing yet. I look around but see nothing but trees towering all around me, stifling the setting sunlight. It’s quiet, too quiet. There are no birds chirping, no wind rustling the leaves. I don’t look back, just power forward until something hard slams straight into my stomach.
A scream rips from me as I go down, the air rushing out of me as pain becomes a bright, agonizing spot in my abdomen. I curl into a ball on the ground, tears leaking from my eyes as a pair of legs step out from behind a tree. My eyes move up to find Jenson standing over me with a heavy branch in his hand.
“Can’t let you get away just yet,” He smiles down at me. “He’s not even here to see what I could do to you.”
