I was never her fucking prince. I’d rather be the villain who keeps her safe.
Run, all you want, princess.
I will catch you.
Every. Single. Time.
The plane has been ready to go for an hour. I just need to get my hands on her, then I’m taking her. She won’t come quietly. She never does. But she’ll come with me, all thesame.Kicking and screaming and whatever else it fucking takes.
The moment of hesitation has passed. She made me see what it’s like to lose her. I will not let that become our reality.
The cars fan out as we barrel through the tall, iron gates, coming to a halt surrounding them. Three of them pour out, running toward the helicopter in vain. We’ve already stopped the pilot outside the compound.
The pilot isn’t getting in. And no one is getting out.
Their escape attempt has failed.
I don’t pause, don’t slow down as I chase them, like cattle fleeing the slaughterhouse for their lives. Powell is too far ahead, fumbling with a black box on the wall. I aim for Barbie. Yet, all I see is my girl, running on bruised, bloodied feet. I could strangle the brat just for doing that to herself.
Her feet falter, and my lips curl up. If I’m quick enough, I could grab her onto the bike and avoid all the fuss. My grip tightens, chasing the distance with every twist of the throttle.
Then she halts. Dead fucking stop.
Fuck!
I pull the brakes so hard, I almost snap the lever off. The back wheel lifts up just in time as I come to a halt a foot from her.
Not waiting for another breath, I kick my bike away, rip my helmet off, and storm toward her.
“Do you have a fucking death wish?”
She steps back a few paces to gain distance. Before I can crush that, too, she pulls the gun up.Again.Only this time—it won’t stop me. I charge at her, every inhale burning with rage.
“Mason, stop,” she croaks. My feet pause before I give them permission to.
“Drop the act,” I growl. “We both know you’re not going to shoot me.”
“We do,” she says, without hesitation. “They don’t.”
Her eyes flash to the cars surrounding us, scanning James, Hugo, and Luka, who won’t flinch while she has me at gunpoint.Not after she shot Kane.
That’s my girl.
“Is Kane okay?” Her face fractures. Even though that wasn’t on purpose. She was deep in a zone out. That is the only thing keeping me from yanking that metal out of her hands and grabbing her. One wrong move, and she could get hurt.
“Yeah, the fucker jumped right back up,” I reassure her. Thankfully, the bullet barely penetrated and Ma has a PhD in treating gunshot wounds. “Is he right? Did Robert kidnap someone else?”
I know he is right. The fucker is always right. But I need to hear it from her. The thought of one of my own hurting her has been tearing me apart, grinding me down for weeks. So much so that Kane sent his father away for fear of what I might do. And like I say, Kane is always right.
“It wasn’t me,” she murmurs, her chin trembling.
With my next breath, the burden that’s kept me restrained snaps clean in two as I take a step toward her.
“It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t me.” Her words stop me in my tracks. “You lied to me, Mason. You knew how the loss of my parents was eating me up, and you didn’t breathe a word.”
“I lied to protect you.”
“You lied tokeepme.”
