by S. S. Engle
“AH!”
“Don’t put your hands in places they don’t belong. I thought a man like you would know that.”
“You honestly think a man like me has ever been turned away from something that he wants?”
“There’s a first time for everything.”
“So there is. But seeing as how I’m not the one handcuffed to a steam system, I’ll be the one making the negotiations from now on.”
“You can try.”
“I’ll do more than try. It doesn’t have to be so bad if you would just see my side of things. I’m the most powerful man in the city of Engia. All I ask is that you stand by my side. Any woman in her right mind would be thrilled at the prospect of having such power.”
“I’m not a woman in her right mind. Nor do I seek the power you have.”
“All the more reason why you interest me so much. I could give you the world Kassidy. Name it and it could be yours.”
“I don’t want the world. And what I do want is none of your concern. You couldn’t give it to me anyways.”
“I wouldn’t deny you anything if you simply wouldn’t deny me.”
“I don’t want anything to do with you Asa! I don’t know how many different ways I can say that!”
“Actions speak louder than words. Isn’t that what you say?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did I wake to find you in my room tonight?”
“Because somebody brought me here against my will!”
“Or was it fate that finally brought you to me?”
“You’re insane!”
“Tonight, I’m just a lucky man.”
“Taking advantage of a woman held hostage against her will is not what makes a lucky man. It’s what makes a criminal.”
“I’ve been a criminal for years. But there’s a perk in being the one who makes the laws. You can turn your past misgivings into thin air. I can take away all those marks on your record, Pyrette Queen. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
“Who says I’m ashamed of what gave me all those marks?”
“Touché. To each their own. So long as you are my own. I’d take the Pyrette Queen for a wife as quickly as I’d take the bed of a von Detten. Either way, there isn’t a downside in this for me.”
“You are a man with no honor. You’d take another man’s fiancé for your own?”
“I’d take anything from anybody to make it my own. You are not so special.”
“Then why do you push yourself so far for me?”
“Because Kassidy, you intrigue me, body and soul.”
“You sold your soul the day you killed my father.”
“You talk of souls as if you still have one yourself. You see that’s just another way we are perfectly matched my dear.”
“Don’t call me that! And don’t compare me to you. I am nothing like you!”
“Do you love the man you’re engaged to?”
“I don’t love Blue. I haven’t loved him in years.”
“Do you think I love Natasha?”
“How could you? You only have enough love in your black heart for yourself.”
“You flatter me. Such quick wit. Quick…reflexes.”
“Keep your eyes up here Asa. Lest not wander, shall we?”
“I know why you were brought here tonight Kassidy. Fate brought you to me. And you helped it along. Don’t think I haven’t been aware of what you’ve been doing under the surface.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You wanted to be brought to me tonight. My men have told me what’s been happening. And now I understand. You’ve been eliminating all of the competition so we can be together. Just the two of us!”
“You’re a sick, sick man if that’s what you think I’ve been doing.”
“I present the following evidence. Point one, is it or is it not true that at this very moment my brother is out running the streets?”
“I don’t know what’s become of Harlan. If I did I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“But if he’s out on the streets with a price on his head, surely you know he’d be picked up by my men. Point two, I discovered Silas this evening in great need of medical attention. The man will be out of commission for weeks.”
“What makes you think I’m responsible for whatever happened to the Fox?”
“It’s your trademark. Don’t think I haven’t been an avid follower of your exploits over the years. Point three, your fiancé, as you so lovingly call him, is passed out in a drunken coma, also in need of medical attention.”
“Blue’s inability to hold down his alcohol is not my fault.”
“But you were feeding him champagne tonight like it was going out of style.”
“I wanted him to enjoy the night. He was nervous. The champagne took the edge off.”
“Point four, my most wanted man in the entire city has gone missing in action. The last place he was seen was in the hospital, visiting you.”
“I had no hand in Luca’s disappearance. I wasn’t even awake when he left!”
“Yet you covered his escape?”
“How?”
“I was informed by Blue this morning in our meeting that Lucky was taking the Dreadcranks to friends in Kheris. I have men there. There haven’t been signs of that filthy gang there in years.”
“If what I told Blue was a lie then why do you think I covered Luca’s escape?”
“To hide what really happened to him.”
“You think I’m responsible for all these men’s misfortunes. While I’m flattered, I’m afraid I can’t take the credit you bestow upon me.”
“Eloquent language for someone in your position. And now I come to my final reasoning that you’re in deep preparations to be with me. Point five, Natasha.”
“She’s her own problem.”
“Exactly. And as much grief as you gave her tonight, I knew jealousy had to be what was driving you. I commend you by the way on your excellent performance. The screaming match with my brother was a little lackluster, but the Ringers were dimwitted enough to buy into it. And the cherry on top was pretending you enjoyed yourself while kissing Blue. It made me throw up in my mouth, I don’t know how you survived.”
“I’ve sustained years of practice with undesirables. Not unlike yourself actually.”
“Then this shouldn’t be difficult for you at all.”
Asa stepped up quickly so Kassidy didn’t have much time to try and think of a way around him. In a last resort, she head butted him and knocked him to the ground. He was getting angrier by the minute, and she knew he had a hair trigger temper to begin with. She was well versed in what he was capable of doing when he reached this stage of anger and embarrassment. She began rapidly jerking the wheel back and forth away from the pipes. When it began to give, she exploited the weak and careless welding, tugging on the pipes with all of her body weight and pent up rage from the night’s lackluster developments. Asa was furious and wrapped his arms around Kassidy to try and pull her away from the wheel and stop what she was doing. But all he managed to do was give her that extra amount of force she was needing to make her point. The wheel gave way from the steam pipe system. What came with it was the entire portion of the wall, pipes and all. The steam was now pushing full power into the room, clouding it with humidity in the chilly air from the open window. Kassidy stood up first, after rolling off of Asa on the ground. Using the pipe as a makeshift steam gun she blew Asa into submission and he crawled out into the hallway to escape the burns.
Knowing she only had a matter of time before Asa came back she had to think on her toes. She located the key for the handcuffs on his nightstand, freed herself and ran for the window. She was trapped on the fifth floor of the O’Brien mansion, with nowhere to go. And all that kept running through her mind was when she had last seen Harlan at the brothel hours earlier and told him that she didn’t want him to come after her. She was seriously regretting that parting statement right about now. Asa was writhing in agon
y outside the door in the hallway. There were calls for the Ringers to shut off the steam to the mansion so he could get back into his room. There was no other door in this room for her to run to. It was the window or Asa, that was all she had right now. She scanned the outside of the mansion. It was walls of glass. No pipes she could attempt to shimmy down, no winding vines she could climb. Nothing. Just a straight drop. That was too far for her to even attempt on her wildest of days. But there was, there was a ledge. She placed her hand out flat, there was minimal room to spare. She thought about it as footsteps came clamoring up the stairs now. Heavy boots. Numbers. She turned and watched for the knob on the door to turn. She had to do something. The steam was still pouring into the room and she was dripping wet. Desperate, she grabbed the nightstand and drug it over to the door and perched it on an angle to create a temporary hold on the door. Then with nothing left to lose she carefully stuck her feet out the window and slid herself out onto the ledge. She kept sliding until she was safely in-between windows by at least an arm’s length or more. She knew she couldn’t stay there forever. But at least out there she was alone, and the cold air would keep her awake if the fear of falling to her imminent death wasn’t enough.
13
First, the steam was shut off to the mansion. The misty cloud slowly pulled itself out of the room and past Kassidy out on the ledge of the mansion. If she could scoot down to the side of the mansion there were balconies there where she could have a little more peace of mind about her safety. Or at least something to grab on to if she had to make a jump for the ground. But there were three windows between her and the corner of the mansion before she could reach the balconies. Right now, that might as well have been an ocean. She was shivering terribly with the chill in the air blowing around her wet clothes. Her hair was dripping, stuck to her face. But to wipe it away would have meant removing a hand from the ledge, which she had a death grip on at the moment. Kassidy heard the door break open and people trip over the nightstand she’d used to block herself in. The ringers were close now. But it wasn’t the men she had to worry about. They were all far too large to even attempt coming out to get Kassidy. Silas would have been the best choice, but in his current condition he wasn’t going to be doing a whole lot of anything. It was Natasha who stuck her head out the window first and leaned over to see where Kassidy was. The girls locked eyes, both confident in their future positions, though both were lying to themselves. Eavesdropping from outside Kassidy overheard the heroics that were about to take place. Asa was speaking through clenched teeth. Kassidy assumed some sort of pain medication must have already been administered or he had just been overreacting earlier and was coming to his senses.
“If you get that pain in the ass back inside I’ll give you anything you want Natasha.”
“Anything I want?”
“Yes.”
“You already know what I want.”
“And I’m prepared to follow through. Bring Kassidy back inside, alive, and I’ll marry you Natasha. I’ll make you my wife before the sun rises.”
“You better get that ring ready then. This won’t take long.”
“Alive Natasha, or it’s no deal.”
“She’ll be alive. She won’t be happy about it, but I don’t care about that.”
Kassidy smirked to herself on the ledge. Had Natasha just heard what Asa had told her when she was handcuffed to the wheel, she’d be speaking in a very different tune right now. And Kassidy was very interested in just how Natasha was going to get her back inside if she was so drunk she could barely see straight. If Kassidy was lucky she was bracing herself to be the witness of a very messy suicide. The cobblestone path below was the only landing anyone had to look forward to out here. The bushes were too few and far between to provide any soft landing. But Natasha was a determined bride to be. Kassidy underestimated just how badly that girl wanted Asa’s ring on her finger. She came out head first, clumsily clinging to the window frame as she contorted her body out of the mansion and slung her dress around out from under her. She was a little bigger than Kassidy, and as such couldn’t quite slide as easily onto the ledge. She was doing her damndest however, Asa and two Ringers were leaning out the window in anticipation. There were orders given now to post two men at every window so there as nowhere for Kassidy to run back inside. She thought it unnecessary, she had no intention of slipping back into the mansion under nearly any set of circumstances. She’d take her chances with a thunderstorm or an earthquake out on this ledge.
A crack in the ledge gave way as Natasha placed her hand down on it for support. Kassidy jerked her head to the side and gripped onto her position tight, swinging her skirt over to avoid being latched onto. Natasha saw the quickness in which Kassidy moved away from her, and something settled into her eyes. Kassidy saw genuine fear for the first time ever. She truly thought a Grekova was incapable of such a human emotion. But Natasha hardened her drunken face again, and persisted towards her arch rival with a renewed purpose. Not one of the three men, Asa or the Ringers, had lunged out of the widow after Natasha’s slip up, and she knew it. Somehow, Kassidy knew Natasha couldn’t be so brainless as to think Asa genuinely wanted to marry her. After all, the conditions of their marriage hung in the balance of whether or not Kassidy was returned alive. Natasha knew she couldn’t do this. But there she was, out on the side of the O’Brien mansion, right out in front for all to see, if it hadn’t been the middle of the night.
With a newfound confidence Kassidy began to move. Carefully sliding to the left, she moved from one window to the next. The Ringers inside were having trouble with the bars on the windows. Being a wall of glass from the outside, the security measures made inside were far more elaborate to overcome. There were locks and codes, and there were glitches with the power since the steam had been shut off. Asa was yelling inside again, his voice trailing with frustration from one room to the next. Kassidy tried hard to focus on his location as much as she could as she slid faster and faster towards the sweet relief of a balcony on the other side of the mansion. Natasha was doing her best to keep up, but Kassidy was creating quite an amount of distance for herself. Not wanting to mess up and fall though, her adrenaline was pulsing through her body. She could feel each heartbeat throb all the way down to her fingertips. It was as if everything around her was happening in slow motion. She was nearing the corner now and needed the ultimate focus. A window thrust open in a spray of glass between Kassidy and Natasha now. Asa stuck his head out angry he had missed his intended target. He rushed back inside and Kassidy heard his voice nearing her once again. Natasha wouldn’t get passed her lover’s latest obstacle. There was no way unless she was willing to cut herself to hell and back just to make a point. It was a possibility. Nothing could be ruled out now.
Kassidy made it around the corner only by throwing her left leg out in a leap of faith and catching it on the edge of the balcony. She slipped off the ledge now and back onto a pair of very shaky feet. She kept to the edge still, careful to keep her shadow out of the way of the window. If Asa could find her now, he could get to her. Her throat swelled up with fear. She hadn’t properly thought out this escape. And she knew what kind of price she would pay if, or when Asa got his hands back on her. She began sniffling, and realized how loud it was. Natasha was at the corner, and had the realization she couldn’t make it around without falling. The girls looked at each other again, both with tears in their eyes and a severe lack of confidence. Kassidy was still furious though, and crunched her face up at her rival. But Natasha was blank in response. She then looked out into the sky, at nothing in particular, and held her stare. Kassidy expected the suicidal fall now, the calm had consumed her as she made peace with herself. But no such fall ever came. Kassidy looked up in the sky to try and figure out now what it was that had managed to hold Natasha’s attention. It was an airship. At such an odd hour of the night, and over restricted airspace of the O’Brien mansion, an airship was making its approach. Even from a distance Kassidy recognized the s
tripes on the envelope. The Lydia!
The windows behind Kassidy began to bulge out in force. The bar keeping them closed was being forcibly removed. Through the curtains Asa’s face was seething with anger. His eyes were bulging out of his head and Kassidy climbed up to sit on the edge of the balcony, nearly falling. The airship wasn’t going to reach her in time. Asa was too close to getting through his own security system. She was going to run out of time. She had to get back down onto her feet, but began leaning out with her arms reaching into the air towards the airship. Natasha watched quietly, knowing the rescue was not for her. And settling with what her choices were going to be in the next handful of minutes. Kassidy looked over, still puzzled by her rival’s level of calmness. Tears steadily streaming down each of their face, but Kassidy was shaking from fear and adrenaline. A pane of glass shattered behind her and Asa shoved his arm out to try and grab hold of Kassidy’s dress, but he just couldn’t reach. It was a matter of a few inches. Kassidy pressed herself on the balcony ledge as far away from Asa as she could manage, but the airship still had a ways to go to get to her, and even then, it was still going to be a challenge to get onto it. The Dreadcranks on board were a mess of action, running back and forth and yelling orders at each other. Kassidy could make out familiar voices. Luca’s ringing out above them all. He was going to extend the landing dock, secure himself with ropes and bring Kassidy on board. Kassidy liked the plan, though it seemed so far-fetched from where she was standing.
