Tonight, the lights guiding the path to the docks are off. I guess Lucinda took care of that. Of course, she did. She wants me off this island.
I stop for a moment, hesitate. Why? Why would she help me?
No, she’s not helping me. She’s helping herself. I have to give her one thing. She’s been up front with me from day one. She’s been awful, but honest. She hates me, but she doesn’t play games with me. Not like Sebastian.
Does she see how close Sebastian is with me? Is that what it is? Am I threat to her? How? Why?
In my rush, I stumble over a stone raised a little higher than the others and fall down, scraping my knees. I look down at my hand, at the ring Aunt Helena gave me.
Aunt Helena is dead.
She died weeks ago, and Sebastian has known all this time.
Christ. I’m a fool. All that time in the car, me spilling my guts out about her. Telling him about that night, that secret I’d kept even from my sisters, I told him.
And when he told me to trust him, I did.
She said she found the letter in his trash can. Was he ever going to tell me? Or just avoid having to answer every time I asked him to let me make a call? Maybe work something out with my parents that they keep this a secret too.
If he’s lied about this, what else is he lying about?
I didn’t know about his twin brother. Never knew Sebastian isn’t technically firstborn. That his place isn’t cast in stone.
He told me about Lucinda being his stepmother, and I felt sorry for him. I felt sorry for him that his mother had died. If he’d told me she’d died on his birthday, he would have gotten even more sympathy out of me.
What else isn’t he telling me? What else is there he’s lying about?
Is it true what she said? That he didn’t have to do this? That he could stop it at any time?
“And it all just comes down to one thing. Money. He releases you from your obligation, and he forfeits his place as head of the Scafoni family. He loses everything. Sad little world we live in, isn’t it, when money is worth more than a human life?”
I get up, wince at the pain the tiny stones cut into my knees. The boat engine starts when I take my next step, and I wipe my face. I’m not crying over him. I’m not. My aunt is dead. These tears are for her.
I climb the steps up to the dock and go to the idling boat. Remy is at the steering wheel. He doesn’t come to help me on. I climb on myself, but it’s easy enough.
As soon as I’m on board, before I’m even seated, we pull away from the island.
I look back once, look back at the big, beautiful house with all its lights. With all its lies. All the liars inside it.
I hug my sweater to myself and move to step into the enclosed space of the boat, and I don’t expect there to be anyone on the boat but me and Remy, but someone’s inside the cabin. He stands as I enter. He’s tall and big, but he’s wearing a hoodie and I can’t see his face.
Something tells me to turn, to get off the boat, but we’re too far. When I try to run, a powerful hand closes around my arm, hurting me, bruising me.
I open my mouth to scream, but he smashes a cold, wet cloth over my face and just then, Remy turns around. But it’s not Remy. It’s Ethan. Ethan with a leering grin, watching me struggle, kick, and claw. And I realize my mistake too late.
Ethan’s face is the last thing I see as the chloroform does its work, and I feel myself weaken, feel my body slump against the powerful chest of the man behind me, feel him let up a little as my arms drop to my sides and my knees give out.
I hit the hard deck of the boat, feel the engine vibrate as a boot shoves me rudely aside. The man makes his way out of the enclosed space, and I hear the muffled sound of speech, smell the smoke of a cigarette as I lose consciousness and we speed toward whatever destination Lucinda has planned for me.
I knew she wasn’t doing this to help me.
But her intention wasn’t ever to let me go.
It was only ever to take me from Sebastian.
* * *
Thank you for reading Taken!
I hope you love Sebastian and Helena.
* * *
Their story continues in the second and final book of the Dark Legacy Duet, Torn. One-Click Torn now!
Thank you for reading Taken! I hope you love Sebastian and Helena. Their story continues in Torn, the final installment in the Dark Legacy Duet.
* * *
Taking her is my right.
Breaking her, my duty.
* * *
I was always going to choose Helena. I knew it the instant I saw her.
* * *
She’s different than the others. There’s a darkness about her. Something wild inside her. And it calls to the beast inside me.
* * *
But she isn’t what I expect. With every word and every touch, she pushes me, burrows deep under my skin, challenging the rules, upending history.
* * *
And all the while, I see how my brother watches her. He wants her, and as the rules stand, she’ll become his in one year’s time.
* * *
Except that I have no intention of giving her up.
* * *
One-Click Torn Now!
* * *
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Also by Natasha Knight
Torn (Dark Legacy Duet, Book 2)
Giovanni
Sergio: a Dark Mafia Romance
Salvatore: a Dark Mafia Romance
Dominic: a Dark Mafia Romance
The Benedetti Brothers Duet
Captive Beauty
Unhinged
Disgraced
Dishonorable
Deviant
Beautiful Liar
Retribution
Theirs To Take
Captive, Mine
Alpha
Given to the Savage
Taken by the Beast
Claimed by the Beast
Captive’s Desire
Protective Custody
Amy’s Strict Doctor
Taming Emma
Taming Megan
Taming Naia
Reclaiming Sophie
The Firefighter’s Girl
Dangerous Defiance
Her Rogue Knight
Taught To Kneel
Tamed: the Roark Brothers Trilogy
Pierced
Acknowledgments
Cover Design by Jay Aheer
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Cover Photography By Eric David Battershell
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Cover Model Zeke Samples
* * *
Editing by Ann Curtis
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance, Natasha Knight specializes in dark, tortured heroes. Happily-Ever-Afters are guaranteed, but she likes to put her characters through hell to get them there. She’s evil like that.
Want more?
www.natasha-knight.com
[email protected]
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Taken Page 19
