by Mallory Fox
Marcel gets to his feet. “Seth, you made it. Good. Now we can start.”
“Just in time, Cuz,” Royce says with no inflection or emotion in his face or voice. He’s purposely not choosing a side. He’s following orders. “Choose your weapon.”
Davis avoids my eyes. And Sully looks absolutely terrified. Fucking cowards.
Kill the Doe.
I wasn’t lying when I told Pearl that Grandfather liked to hunt does, I just didn’t explain the he also liked to hunt Jane Does. Abandoned girls. Lost women. Those who wouldn’t be missed by anyone. It’s all a game to him and the boys. Raven Club’s darkest secret. Pay huge sums to hunt your biggest desire, and once you capture her, do what the fuck you like with her.
The last time he tried to play this game with me I walked away. And ever since then Marcel has been trying to entice me back into the fold.
There’s no fucking way I’m walking away from this one.
Two of Marcel’s guys block my exit. I clench both fists and get right in their faces. “If you don’t move out of my fucking way…”
“Now, boy, you know the rules,” Marcel’s voice rings out. “You haven’t earned the right yet.”
“And Romain has?” I spin around to face Marcel, dark infernal fucking rage consuming everything I see, twisting it somehow. Even Odette looks ugly as she pouts at me from where she’s sitting. I’ll deal with that bitch later.
My grandfather’s face clouds over. “Romain has done what I’ve asked of him over and over, no questions asked.”
“She belongs to me,” I snarl at him.
He shrugs. “If you want her, take her. I’m not stopping you.” He checks his rifle and then slings it over his shoulder. “But you’ll have to get to her first.”
“I’m not playing this fucked-up game. I’m taking her home.” I head straight toward the door.
“I think you’re too late,” says Sully.
I look outside and Pearl is gone. Only Romain is standing there with an insane look in his eyes as he stares off into the trees.
“Time to hunt, boys,” Marcel declares.
Davis fucking Gladstone smirks as he passes by me. Royce next. He hands me one of the remaining tranquilizer rifles and pats me on the shoulder as he walks out after Marcel.
Outside the cabin, the rain has started, and Marcel and Romain are talking in low voices. No one is making a move to go after Pearl yet. They usually like to give their victims a head start. This is a sport to them. I could leave first and chase after her, but I know for a fact Marcel wouldn’t hesitate to shoot me in the back.
I check the gun Royce gave me and I’m appalled to see I only have three shots. It riles me that Marcel’s two heavies also have fucking dart guns. Even if I use all three shots now, it still won’t be enough to take everyone here out.
There’s no two ways about it. I’m going to have to win this thing.
Marcel grins, eyes as black as night. “Alright, boys. The rules are simple. The first one to bag the bitch gets the prize.”
Davis’s gives an evil-looking smile. “Just to be clear, Pearl is the prize, right? So what can we do with her if we win?”
Romain’s eyes are glowing with crazy. “Whatever the fuck you like. I know what I’m going to—”
“What if she makes it back to the chateau?” I cut in.
“Stupid question, Seth. No one fucking makes it back to the chateau,” Romain says, smiling with his teeth bared, spinning his blade in his hand.
Marcel’s head tilts. “If she does, then she’s bought her freedom until next time.”
My nostrils flare, and every muscle in my body is tense right now. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “Christ, this is all just a fucking game to you all, isn’t it?”
“Don’t be dramatic, boy.” Marcel looks at his watch. “Right, she should be nearing the lake. Let’s head out.”
I point my gun at Marcel. “I swear, if you make one move to hurt her…”
Both heavies lift their guns and point them at me as Marcel’s eyes roll. “You’re outnumbered, Seth. Give it up.”
I glare at him. “I’ll shoot all three darts straight into your heart. I swear.”
“Then, everyone will do the same to you and we’ll both fucking die,” he scoffs.
“At least, I get to take you with me,” I say matter of factly.
Marcel’s eyes narrow. “What is she to you anyway? Girlfriend? Lover? All replaceable.”
I want to tell him she’s the mother of my child, but I know as soon as I say that he’s going to want to see his great granddaughter. I say the only thing I know Marcel sees more sacred than anything, that he had to kill his only daughter to put an end to.
“She’s my wife.” Not true and I fucking know it. But for the sake of this game, they don’t know that.
Royce, to the left of me, laughs. “You sly old dog.”
Marcel’s eyebrows lift. “Really. She’s your wife? You have proof?”
I flick my gaze to Sully in hopes he’ll back me. He better had or I’ll shoot the fucker just for annoying me. “Sully was there, weren’t you?”
Sully looks like he’s about to shit his pants as Marcel turns to him. “Sully, is this true?”
Like a deer in headlights, he freezes. “I—I was a witness.”
Marcel shrugs. “Then, I guess it’s true. No matter. Game still stands. Get to your wife first, feel free to take her home. If anyone else finds her, she’s fresh meat for the taking.”
Fury at his answer crashes through me. I’m so close to pulling the trigger. “You fucking bastard.”
Marcel gives me a tiresome look. “When will you ever learn. Royce, do the honors, will you.”
My reaction time is slow. I switch my aim, but Royce cocks his gun and fires first.
The impact of the tranq slams into my right thigh. I yank it out but it’s too late. Fuck. Royce just fucking shot me. So much for not choosing sides.
I throw the dart on the floor.
“You dirty fucker,” I slur.
Royce blinks at me. “Sorry, Seth, orders are orders.” I wave him off. It’s fine. It’s not enough to take me out, if the dose in the dart was calculated as accurate for Pearl.
But within minutes my limbs feel heavy and the world is spinning.
I collapse where I stand. They knew I was coming and increased the dosage.
Then.
Darkness.
I’m under water unable to drag in a single breath.
Below me, the car is sinking, but no matter how hard I try to get to it, it sinks further and further away. The more I swim, the faster it sinks…
Too late. I’ve no idea which way is up or down, or where the surface of the river is. I can’t breathe and I can’t get to the car.
And where the bloody hell is the surface?
Fuck. I’m going to fucking die here.
I can’t.
I need to save Pearl.
Water dripping. The sound of a gun firing.
Fuck.
I jerk awake, opening my eyes to a gray sky and pounding headache. I’m lying on the grass outside the cabin, soaked to the bone even though the rain has stopped.
Royce shot me with a tranquilizer.
My mouth feels like it’s full of sand. I push myself to sitting, eyeing the surrounding wood. Rain lashes at my face. Fuck. Someone fired their air rifle. I need to get moving. I need to find Pearl.
I glance at my watch as I get on to my knees, and then reach for my own rifle that’s fallen on the grass next to me. I’ve been out less than five minutes. Seems about right. I fumble to check the chamber and the safety before dragging myself to my feet.
It dawns me that the cabin is unguarded right now. Usually there are three security guards around this place at any one time.
That can wait. I need to find Pearl.
She’s alive. That much I know. This all is just a game to Marcel, so he won’t kill her straight away. He’ll torment her sanity until she takes h
er own life or breaks.
Like Beth.
At the thought of Marcel hurting Pearl like he did with my sister, the black rage that I’ve tried to keep a leash on all these years, surfaces. I tighten my hand on the rifle and move out.
“I’m going to fucking kill the lot of them,” I mutter under my breath.
But first, I need more than three fucking tranqs.
Chapter 20
Pearl
If someone told me I’d be running through the woods while men stalk me with guns, I would have laughed. At yet here I fucking am.
Twice, someone has found me and taken a shot. Twice, I’ve managed to escape. I can hear one of them now, laughing and calling out to me as I run through the undergrowth. How many shots does each of them fucking have?
I was supposed to be aiming for the road, but somehow, I got lost and now I’ve no idea where I am. Every tree and every clearing looks the same, smells the same, is the same.
It’s only when I get to the lake, combined with the occasional update to the map on my phone, that I work out where I am. My phone keeps turning itself off though since it’s running out of battery. And the rain stinging me at every turn, isn’t helping matters. I also keep falling over. This damn dress with its floaty skirt keeps tripping me up. I ripped most of the lace off a good mile back and now it’s even shorter, but at least it’s not getting caught in branches anymore.
After a few more minutes of stumbling around, I take sanctuary under the boughs of a bush. I’m only resting for a moment. I’m tired, my feet hurt from running barefoot since I lost my shoes, and all my arms are scratched from clawing my way through brambles.
I also need to check my phone again. I’ve been trying to call Seth the whole time but there’s hardly any signal here. I pull it out of my bra, turn it back on, praying for battery, and check him on the map. I sent him my location and he sent his a while back. His last message told me to stay in one spot and he’ll find me, instead of me heading to the chateau.
I could do that, but every time I do one of the others finds me. This time though, Seth is not too far away. The little dot that is him is closer than he was. Seth needs to hurry the fuck up.
A din of breaking twigs has me shoving my phone away and holding my breath. I’m crouched ready to run in case that is someone approaching. Maybe this time I could stay and fight? Find a branch or something?
I don’t get to decide because the sound gets closer until they’re right on top of me and the person tracking me stops outside the bush I’m hidden under. There’s no way they haven’t seen me. I’m wearing bright red for fuck’s sake. I should have found some mud and covered myself like Rambo.
“Hey, little mouse,” he singsongs.
It’s Romain.
At least he doesn’t have a gun.
He squats down until he’s at my level, eyes manic. In his hand is the hunting knife. “Oh, there you are. You’re not very good at hiding, are you?”
I shuffle back against the bark until I can’t move anymore. “Go fuck yourself,” I snap at him.
His lidded eyes follow my movements. “Are you going to come out or do I have to come in and get you?”
I cock my head. “Why don’t you try coming in here to get me.”
My hands grasp at the foliage floor, picking up whatever I can find. Sticks mostly. If he comes at me, I’m going to ram them into his eyes and throat.
He grins at me, and not in a nice way. “I lied.”
“About what?” I say, almost panting.
“About not wanting a shooter.” He pulls a handgun out of his pocket and points it at me. “This is my favorite part.”
Fear spikes, making my heart race a thousand miles an hour.
“What’s your favorite part?” I say breathlessly, wanting to keep him talking. I drop the sticks and my hand closes on dirt instead.
“Watching my prey go down.”
I swallow hard and edge toward the side of the bush that has the least branches. He follows me slowly, keeping the gun trained on me.
“So you’re going to kill me?” I ask him.
“Oh no, this is a tranq gun. It won’t kill anyone.” Liar.
There’s no relief in words. I’d rather be dead than be at his mercy. I also don’t believe him. That’s not a tranq gun I’ve ever seen.
“Wouldn’t you rather I gave myself to you willingly?”
The corners of his lips turn up. “Now where’s the fun in that, little mouse?”
“There’s lots of fun in that.” I capture his eyes in mine. “I could make it worth your while.”
He cocks his head. “A different game?”
Inside my ribcage, my heart is a beating so damn fast. All it takes is one step or word wrong and I’m dead. Don’t fuck this up, Pearl.
But the unmistaken sound of someone else approaching makes us both pause. Seth, it has to be him! Only I don’t get to warn him.
Romain’s lips curl and he spins one eighty degrees, firing his gun behind him at the person approaching. They drop dead, falling to the ground like a lead weight.
Romain stands up. Gun still raised.
Seth, fuck… no! I’m yelling at Romain to leave him alone. And somehow, I manage to crawl my way out of the bush. Pure instinct propels me over to where Seth is lying but Romain is faster. He stalks over to the still body and fires again, three times in the chest before I get there.
The worlds stops. My ears are ringing. Blood is rushing around my head. I scream as something hot and wet down my cheeks. Tears. I fall at the dead body. Because that’s what it is.
It’s only when I look that confusion sets in.
Lying dead on the floor is not Seth.
It’s Sully.
It doesn’t take long for Marcel and his heavies to find us after all the gunfire. I’m still kneeling in the grass staring at Sully’s broken body, while Romain’s hand digs into the flesh of my shoulder. I don’t give a fuck anymore what they do to me. I’m just relieved that it’s not Seth lying dead on the floor.
Where is Seth? Why did Romain kill Sully?
Marcel’s eyebrows raise as he sees the damage. He nods to one of the guards who drags the body off into the undergrowth, leaving a trail of blood.
As though Marcel suddenly notices me, he beckons me to stand. Romain helps me up as I stumble to my feet.
Marcel comes in close and grabs me by the chin, making me look up at him, his fingers hurting my skin. I sniff, trying to keep my inner whimpers silent. My face may be tearstained, but I’ll not cry anymore in front of these men and I’ll sure as hell not weep for Sully. And while I’ve no idea where Seth is, I’ll not cry for him either. Not until I see him dead in front of me.
I’m numb inside, empty.
My eyes flick to the last of Sully’s body being swept away as though he never existed, as though he was never here. “Why did you tell Romain to kill him?” When I asked Romain why he killed Sully, he said Marcel had told him to.
Marcel sneers. “Why indeed, because the idiot forgot tell me something about you.”
Disbelief must shine out of my eyes. “You had him killed for that?”
“Well it was very important, something I would have liked to have known sooner…” Terror claws at my insides. He knows about Sophia. I close my eyes and open them again. Marcel’s dark eyes are staring into mine as he holds my face so close to his I can smell the cinnamon of his aftershave. I suppress a shiver. “…about a certain young lady being the wife of my grandson.”
“Get your fucking hands off her.” A voice, usually smooth and full of promise, sounds beaten and half broken. But not defeated.
Marcel looks up over my head and smirks. “Well, if it isn’t your doting husband come to rescue you.”
Husband? My head spins in the direction where Seth is coming from.
“Pearl, move away from them. Now.” He looks like a demon storming toward us. His hair is in disarray, his clothes are ripped and torn. His eyes are wild, dark and searching a
s they trace over me. “Get behind me.”
It all happens so fast. Seth shoots Romain in the arm and the two heavies in the leg before they can react.
I don’t wait, I duck out of Marcel’s grasp.
“Seth…” His name is like a prayer on my lips as stumble backwards, slipping behind Seth as he points his rifle at his grandfather.
The two heavies have already gone down but Romain is standing, just about, cursing and laughing at the same time, trying to keep his legs under him. But he’s not doing so well. Finally, he stops and stares at us both, eyes glazing over. “I’m going to fucking kill you.” Then he collapses.
Seth’s jaw tightens and his eyes flick to the blood-stained grass. “Are you hurt?”
I shake my head, almost clinging to him. “No, I’m fine,” I croak. “It’s Sully’s blood. He’s dead.” Just saying it out loud makes it real.
He shoots Marcel a dark look. “Do I want to know why?”
“You’re the one who signed his death warrant. This one’s on you, Seth,” Marcel says, hands and rifle in the air.
Seth gives a harsh laugh. “Because he wasn’t fucking loyal enough.”
Marcel’s gaze is utterly blank. “What’s done is done. You’d better take your pretty little wife away before the others get here or Romain wakes up. Go on, take her. She’s yours. You earned her.”
I bite my lip, darting my eyes to Seth. “What’s he talking about?”
Seth gives a shake to his head. “Later. We need to leave now.”
I stay behind him as we retreat, clinging to him, until we’re far enough away from Marcel that we can’t see him anymore. Seth immediately drops his rifle and grabs me, looking me up and down. “Did he hurt you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just scratches.”
Breathing hard, he takes my hand. “My car is just over this hill.” He glances down, suddenly noticing my bare feet. “Can you run? Do you need me to carry you?”
“No, I can run,” I say flatly. My vision is blurred, and my limbs feel heavy, but I can run.
