by Beck, J. L.
When the man lies dead on the floor, Zane searches him and takes his gun, giving me the sign to keep going. My feet move on their own, following Zane to wherever he is leading us.
Tiptoeing down the stairs, we make it through the kitchen and to the backdoor. There is no noise, no talking, nothing that makes me believe someone has seen us, but not seeing any other guards raises a huge red flag. When Zane turns the door handle, and we find the door unlocked, I really start to get worried. Can we really have that much luck? I doubt it.
It’s like we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, the only question is, when? Hesitantly, I follow him outside and into the darkness. There is no light, only the stars above to guide the way. Through the darkness, Zane finds my hand, intertwining our fingers, and together we run across the lawn to the nearest line of trees.
Fear and adrenaline pump through my veins, and we’re so close to freedom I can almost taste it. We keep moving, getting further and further away from the house, but not far enough away before all hell breaks loose. Loud yelling carries across the yard and through the trees from the house, it has us both looking over our shoulders.
The once dark house is now lit up like a Christmas tree. Every room in the house has its lights on. The doors and windows are being opened, and men in troves start storming out the back door that we escaped from.
Shit. I knew it was too good to be true.
With a panicked expression, Zane turns to me. “Run!” he whisper-shouts, already pulling me away. Racing through the wooded area, low hanging limbs whip across my face, scratching my skin. The adrenaline coursing through my veins, keeps me from feeling the pain yet, but I already know it’s going to come later.
We run until we get to a large wrought iron fence, built in a way that makes it impossible to climb, leaving us with only one way to go. To run along the edge of it and find an end. We don’t get far before we spot a guard tower ahead. Spotlights move across the lawn, searching for us like magnifying glasses.
“Let’s backtrack,” Zane says, the uncertainty in his voice is hard to miss.
We spin around, ready to head back the way we came when we see them. A couple yards away, some men are walking, they’re headed right toward us, the beams of light from their flashlights flicker as they close in on us.
Fear bubbles up inside of me. Now we have nowhere to go. We’re surrounded, trapped like mice. Apparently, Zane isn’t as worried, or maybe he is just better at hiding it because his face doesn’t show an ounce of fear. Instead, he acts like we’re playing a fun game, rather than one that could get us both killed.
“Hide behind that tree,” he orders, pointing to a group of trees a short distance away before heading straight for the search party.
“Zane,” I hiss through my teeth, but he must not hear me calling his name because, like a rocket, he’s off, charging toward the group of men like a Viking.
Turning on the balls of my feet, I run in the direction he pointed. Flattening myself against the tree, I push my back into the bark and listen to the sound of men fighting. Skin hits skin, and grunts and groans fill the brisk air, making my heart race faster with each passing second.
We aren’t going to escape, there’s no way.
Lights flicker over where I’m hiding, and I spot more coming our way. Do I run or stay hidden? I decide to run. Twisting around, I step away from the tree just to come to a sudden halt once more. Ice fills my veins when I see three of Matteo’s men pinning Zane to the ground.
“I will fucking kill you,” he growls as he struggles against them. His voice is so vicious and dark, it even terrifies me.
Through the tree branches, I can see Matteo walking across the yard. It’s hard to make out his features, but even from a distance, I can make out his angry scowl.
“Find the girl! No one leaves this property until I say so.” Matteo’s venomous voice carries into my ears, and terror trickles down my spine. We never should’ve run. Looking back at Zane, something shiny catches my eye. A gun or knife. I don’t know. All I know is I can’t lose him. I can’t risk him dying, not after I’ve just found him again.
My heart lurches into my throat, and even though I shouldn’t, I run toward him, instead of remaining hidden.
“No! Please, don’t shoot him. I’m right here,” I yell over the chaos that’s surrounding us.
“No! Run, Dove,” Zane yells, but I refuse to escape this place without him. Matteo will kill him in an instant.
“Please, please…” I beg as one of Matteo’s men points the gun at Zane while two others hold him to the ground.
I reach them at the same time my father does, the look of disappointment in his eyes would leave me feeling guilty as hell if I actually gave a shit about what he wanted or thought. Another man comes out of nowhere and circles my wrist with his hand like a shackle.
“Don’t fucking touch her,” Zane grits out. Even with a gun pointed at his head, his biggest concern is me. “I swear to god if you don’t remove your fingers, I will cut off every fucking one of them and feed them to you.”
“I think that’s the least of your worries right now,” Matteo sneers, frustration overtaking his features. It’s hard to believe a man so cunning, so violent is my father.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him, knowing and feeling that something bad is going to happen, deep down in my gut. We aren’t going to get away with trying to escape. There will be consequences, grave ones. I just don’t know how badly they will be yet.
“No, you’re not. But you will be shortly.” Matteo doesn’t even look at me as he speaks. “Take them downstairs,” he orders his men before turning around and walking back inside.
The men holding down Zane grab him and pull him up off the ground. While another comes and grabs me by the other arm, now I’m held on each side. They drag us back toward the house, and I’ve never felt more like a prisoner in my life. Fingers dig into my biceps, and I want to struggle—to kick and scream, but it would do me no good.
I’m a bird caught in a cage, my wings clipped, my spirit gone. Directing us around the side of the house, the men open a side door. They enter with Zane first and then me. Sweat beads against my forehead, and my body feels like a knot tied into a pretzel. They release both of us, and instantly, Zane is off the floor and rushing toward me. His hands move over my face, down my shoulders and arms like he’s searching for injuries.
“I’m okay,” I say when I see the panicky look in his chocolate brown eyes. His only fear is losing me, or someone hurting me, and my only fear is the same happening to him.
“Who will be taking the punishment for disobeying me?” My father’s deep unapologetic voice pierces my ears, and in a second, Zane turns from the comforting boyfriend into a vicious guard dog. Turning to face my father, he shields my body with his.
“Hurt her, and I will kill you in the most painful of ways you can imagine.” The rage and anger. It erupts out of Zane like a volcano exploding. The burning hot lava licking at my heels.
“You’re talking a lot of shit for someone that’s alive because I’m allowing him to be.”
“You aren’t allowing shit,” Zane spits.
The tension grows thicker with each word that’s spoken, and I have to try and diffuse the situation before Zane gets hurt or worse killed.
“Please,” I beg, stepping from behind my guard dog, and instead, to the spot beside him. Matteo turns his hardened gaze to me.
“The first thing you’ll learn about us Castro’s is that we don’t beg, not for mercy, and definitely not for forgiveness. Now, tell me, will it be you, my sweet daughter, or will it be your junkyard dog of a boyfriend that takes the punishment.”
“Me!” Zane and I both say in unison. I can feel his eyes shooting daggers into me.
“How cute, you’re trying to protect each other. Funny, neither of you know what you’re protecting the other from.”
“Whatever punishment it is, I’ll take it.” The words rush out of Zane’s mouth, and Matteo let
s out a chuckle of amused laughter.
“Here is the deal…we aren’t going to play games all night as my patience for your bullshit is running thin.” One of the guards hands him a long stick, that looks to be made of bamboo. What is he going to do? Quivering with fear, I take a step back. “I’m going to cane one of you. If Dove decides to take the punishment, she will receive one strike. If you decide to take it, you will receive ten. What’s it going to be?”
“I’ll do it,” I say, my voice trembling. “Zane is still healing from the gunshot wounds. Let me do it. Please!”
“You will fucking not!” Zane’s voice booms through the space as he shoves me backward. The anger in his voice triumphs any sound I’ve ever heard. Before I can object or make a move, he’s tugging his shirt off and walking over to Matteo.
“Stand with your hands against the wall,” he orders Zane, whose movements are now robotic, almost as if he’s shut down. It feels like I’m watching this from outside my body. Lifting the cane, he continues, “This is your only warning. If you try and fight me, Dove will incur the same punishment. Do you understand?”
Zane merely nods, his head tipped forward, his chin tucked into his chest. All I see at that moment is William. Protecting me. Saving me.
“No! Please, don’t do this. Please, we won’t do it again, I swear.” The words tumble out of my mouth as I rush toward my father, but before I reach him, an arm circles my waist and pulls me backward.
Without even looking at me, the monster of a man called my father says, “This is your first lesson, sweetheart. Sometimes, mistakes are made, and sometimes, you make a bad choice, and others pay the consequence. Learn from your mistakes.”
Without warning, he brings the cane down on Zane’s back. The sound is heartbreaking, and I fight with all my might against the man holding me back, but it doesn’t do me any good. He just tightens his hold on me. Kicking and screaming, I watch through teary eyes as Zane takes each lash of the cane on his back as if it’s nothing. As if he doesn’t feel the pain at all.
His hands ball into tight fists but remain against the wall. How can he do this to him? How can he beat someone without blinking? At the fourth strike, his skin starts breaking and blood trickles down his back. My throat is raw, and my lungs burn by the time the beating is over.
As soon as the last lash is delivered, the guard releases me. Anger flows freely through my veins, overtaking the sadness that was just there. I want to hurt all of these men, destroy them, make them pay for what they’ve just done.
“I hate you! I hate you so much. You will never be my father. Never,” I scream at Matteo as I rush to Zane, who sags to the floor in defeat. His back a bruised and bloody mess.
“Hate me all you want, Daughter, but you will learn to follow my rules and learn to obey me, or more punishments like tonight will occur.”
I don’t bother responding to him, and he doesn’t wait for me either. Handing off the cane to one of his guards, he shoves his hands into the pockets of his sleep pants and walks up the stairs. At the top, he turns around, and his eyes are like knives driving into my still-beating heart.
“Try and escape again, and you won’t like what happens, Dove.”
I steal my spine and curl my lip. “You don’t own me.”
“Ha, but I do. I created you, which means I’m your god,” he says and disappears into the house. His men slowly filter out, and I remain sitting on the cold hard ground beside Zane, listening as his breaths turn from ragged to nothing but a wheeze.
“I’m sorry, Zane. I let you down. All over again, you saved me, and I let you down.” I tell him as I softly cry, the tears cling to my eyelashes, making it hard for me to see.
Out of nowhere, a hand cups me gently by the cheek, and Zane’s dark gaze bleeds into mine. “You didn’t let me down, birdy. I’d endure any pain and go through any beating just to make sure you don’t have to. It would kill me to see you broken and hurt. I know you wanted to protect me tonight, but you don’t have to. It’s my job to protect you, not the other way around.” And that’s when it hits me. The only way we’re going to make it out of this safe and sound is if I save us. Zane might hate what’s to come, but I’ll do anything I have to in order to protect him, the same way he’s protected me.
“Maybe I don’t want to be saved anymore. Maybe I need to be the one to do the saving,” I reply hoarsely.
There is something so pure, so heartwarming about the way he looks at me then. Like I’m his entire world, and he is the moon forever circling around me.
“That will never happen with me by your side. I was put on this earth to protect you, and I will do so until the moment I take my last breath.”
It’s then that I realize Zane’s love for me would always overshadow his choices. At any and all cost, he would choose to protect me. But I was done being the princess who needed protection. After watching him take a beating for me tonight, I will no longer play such a role. The future is mine, and I am going to be my own knight in shining armor.
11
Every muscle in my body aches, my back feels like it’s been run through a shredder, but I refuse to show the amount of pain I’m in. I refuse to let Matteo or Dove see me this way. It’s a weakness I cannot afford right now.
I did the right thing, taking the fallout for our failed attempt at escaping. I was stupid, careless in my planning, and I could’ve gotten Dove hurt in a way that I’d never be able to forgive myself for doing. Every strike of the cane, every burst of pain, was well deserved. Plus, if I had seen Dove take even one strike, it would have hurt me so much more. Maybe not physically, but mentally it would have been excruciating.
Stepping out of the shower, I dry off carefully. It’s been three days, and the skin on my back is starting to scab over. Not only does it still hurt, it fucking itches now too.
The bathroom door opens slightly, and Dove’s appears, looking inside like she is wondering what I’m doing in here, unsure if she is allowed to look. Instantly, my mood lightens.
“Let me help you,” she whispers, stepping into the room. She takes the towel from my hand and starts carefully dabbing at my back.
I’m so enthralled by the simple gesture—by her wanting to take care of me—that the pain just falls away as if it wasn’t there in the first place.
“Come, let me put some ointment on your back,” Dove says, tugging me to the bedroom.
I get on the bed and lie down on my stomach. Dove gets a first aid kit from the bathroom and sits down next to me on the bed. Turning toward her, I watch with fascination as she gets out a small tube from the bag. She puts some on a piece of gauze and starts to gently cover my injured skin with a thin layer. Dove isn’t even comparable to others. She’s unique, in scent, style, and just overall being the woman that I love.
“That feels nice,” I murmur.
“Is it not hurting still?”
“No, not right now. Your hands on me will always feel good, no matter why or how they are touching me.”
“So, you do like me taking care of you?” She raises an eyebrow, challenging me.
“I do… but that doesn’t mean I’ll ever stop taking care of you first. You’ll always be first. You deserve that,” I tell her honestly.
“And what do you deserve?”
“Nothing. Not even you, but that doesn’t mean I’ll give you up. I will still have you. Whether I deserve you or not.”
She leans down and places a soft kiss on my shoulder. “Good, because I don’t want you to give me up. In return, I’ll never give up on you.”
I smile back at her, ready to pull her into my arms and peel every piece of clothing off her body when an annoyingly loud knocking interrupts our little bubble of momentary happiness.
“What?” I’m still completely naked, but I really don’t give a shit when the door opens. I sit up and find Alberto stepping into the room.
“Fucking Christ, put some pants on,” he growls, his eyes bulging out of his face before he shields his eyes
with his hand.
“What do you want?” I ask, not making a move to cover up. Luckily for him, Dove is completely dressed, or I’d be gouging his eyes out right now.
“Matteo has a job for you. Get ready. And by ready, I mean fucking dressed.”
“Get the fuck out!” I yell, just as he grabs the door handle and slams it shut. Turning back to face Dove, I don’t miss the frown on her delicate face. She should never be sad. I want to see her smiling, always smiling.
“Don’t fret, baby. I’ll be back in bed with you tonight.”
“I know. I just don’t want anything to happen to you and…” She trails off, her cheeks tinting a soft pink.
“You what?”
“I wish I hadn’t fought you so hard when we were back in the bunker at the farmhouse.” Her admission warms me from the inside out. It’s because of her that I haven’t completely gone off the rails, why I’m taking orders from this wannabe mob boss, and why the prick is still alive. Everything I do is for her, and always will be.
“We have forever, Dove, we just have to get through this place first.”
* * *
I’m covered from head to toe in blood. I’m not sure which is mine and which is my enemy’s. All I know is that every one of those bastards is dead, the life drained right out of their bodies. Sighing, I squeeze the steering wheel a little harder. Tonight was a bloodbath, and all I want to do is get back to the house, clean myself up, and see Dove.
I can still feel her soft kisses on my skin from hours earlier. I try not to think about the fact that Matteo set me up. The fucker sent me into a fight that most men never would’ve gotten out of alive. Thank fuck, I’m not most men. I had years of experience, killing and shutting myself down to use nothing more than my basic instincts. There wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle, tonight though, that was a trap.
