What ate at me was the effect it would have on Sylvie. Would she ever forgive herself? I had to make it as quick as possible—in the first round, if possible. I couldn’t show pain. If she saw she was hurting me, she’d stop. I had to act like I was fine until I went down and then—
And then what? Would she really keep beating on me, until I was dead? On her own, no. But when she stopped, I knew Rick would be there to scream at her, to tell her she had no choice. He’d threaten Alec. I had to pray that that would be enough for her to finish the job.
Rick had swapped the air horn they used at The Pit for an old brass bell. It sounded to start the fight, the peals echoing off the metal walls, but I didn’t want to stop kissing Sylvie. Her lips felt so good against mine. I knew it was the last time I’d ever feel them.
I broke the kiss, took a long, shuddering breath and stepped back, opening my eyes. I lifted my hands and we tapped our fists together for luck. I could see the tears welling up in her eyes and felt the heat of all the anger and pain building up behind my own.
And the fight began.
Sylvie
We stood there staring at each other, fists raised but neither of us moving to hit the other one. Aedan nodded at me. He wants me to hit him. He wants me to hit him while he just stands there!
“Fight me!” I yelled over the crowd. “I can’t do it if you don’t fight me!”
He just stood there, solid as a rock, only his eyes betraying his emotions. I could see every muscle in his arms standing out, every vein.
“Hit me!” I screamed.
Rick re-entered the ring, a gun in his hand, and tapped his cane meaningfully on the floor. If one of us didn’t make a move, he was going to kill us both.
Letting out a low moan, I stepped forward and swung at the man I loved.
Standing perfectly still while someone hits you is one of the hardest things in the world. Aedan didn’t even flinch. My fist glanced off his jaw, a clumsy hit but enough to snap his head to the side. My guts knotted up. Jesus, what am I doing?
Aedan nodded at me to do it again.
I couldn’t hear anything and I realized the crowd were roaring, the shouts and cheers and leering comments about my body all blending into one noise. Rick was still standing beside us, gun raised.
“I love you,” mouthed Aedan. “Hit me.”
I hit him, this time putting my full force behind it. I just wanted to get Rick to back off. Normally, my fist wouldn’t have even got close to him or, if it did, it would have been like hitting a brick wall. But Aedan hadn’t tensed up. He’d left that ripped stomach relaxed and my punch seemed to go right to the very center of him, doubling him over. The crowd roared so loud that my ears hurt.
Aedan struggled for breath. I’d been winded a few times in training, though never that severely, so I knew the bursting, aching pain and the desperate fight for air. It tore my heart apart to see him like that and my mind screamed at me to do something, to stop the monster who was hurting my man.
But I couldn’t. The monster was me.
And now I saw Rick turn towards Aedan. His message was clear: he wanted this to be a real fight.
He wanted Aedan to hit me.
Aedan
I straightened up, groaning at the pain in my stomach. And saw Sylvie begin to circle me, dodging and weaving. At first, I was relieved. She’d started to fight. Hopefully now she could get some good hits in and—
I realized she wasn’t punching. She was just dancing around me, making it look good.
Giving me a target.
She wasn’t doing it for her own benefit; she was doing it for mine. I saw Rick looming nearby, gun drawn, and got the message: I had to hit her, and she was trying to lure me into it.
I lifted my fists...but I couldn’t. Sparring had been hard enough but actually hitting her, bare knuckle? I’d never raised my hands to a woman in my life.
“You have to,” mouthed Sylvie over the crowd. I could see tears in her eyes.
Behind her, Rick raised the gun. I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to shoot both of us, if we didn’t give him what he wanted.
I drew back one fist—and saw Sylvie flinch and brace herself. Oh, Jesus, no! I couldn’t do it if she did that! Christ, she was terrified. What am I doing? Even death would be better than this.
My death. But not if Rick killed Sylvie too.
To save her, I had to hurt her.
I did it fast, before she had too much time to be scared. I swung fast and got her right in the mouth. Her head whipped to the side and she cried out...and the crowd roared even louder. Jesus, the sick bastards!
When she looked at me again, her lip was split open and blood was dripping onto her tank top. I’d picked the place where it would look the worst, to appease Rick, but where there’d hopefully be no lasting damage. So I was ready for the blood. What I wasn’t ready for was the look on her face—the momentary shock and then the deep betrayal. The look that no man should ever, ever see.
I looked at her in horror. Then I lunged at her and pulled her into a clinch, gasping in her ear so that she’d hear me over the crowd. “I’m sorry!”
And then the bell went for the end of the round and Rick’s goons were dragging us apart.
Sylvie
I sat down on my hay bale. My mouth was filling up with coppery, salty blood and I knew that I’d vomit if I swallowed it, so I spat it out.
Rick had left the ring. He knew that we got it. He knew that we’d finish it, now. The only question, for him and the crowd, was how it played out. Had we made a pact...and would we honor it?
I stared at Aedan across the ring. Both of us had tears in our eyes. Both of us knew it had to happen.
I nodded at him and he nodded back, looking relieved. He thought I was going to go through with the plan. He thought I was going to kill him.
And he had to go on thinking that. Right up until the very end.
The bell went and the final round began.
Aedan
This time, when we came towards each other, our fists were already raised. This time, neither of us was denying what needed to be done.
I felt this overwhelming sense of...relief. She was going to be okay. Sylvie was going to be alright.
Her first punch slammed into my forehead, hard enough to make me stagger. Good. She was going for the head, not wasting time on the body. The head would make me go down and then she could finish it.
The next punch hit my cheek and I heard something crack. I saw the anguished look on her face and I wanted to tell her that it was okay, but she was already lashing out again. I lifted my hands a little, to make it look good, but I made sure it hit me. This time she got my eye and I rocked backward on my heels, pleasantly surprised at how hard she was hitting. She was getting it over fast. That was good.
I saw her reach down and touch the pocket of her sweatpants and I wondered what she had there. Some good luck charm, maybe, or a photo of her folks. Then she put up her guard and came in close. “Hit me,” she said quickly. She didn’t even have to lower her voice. There was no way the crowd could hear anything except their own insane yelling. “Just once. Under the chin. Make it look good.”
I glanced at Rick. Did we need to? He was still outside the ring and looked content to see her pummel me. But maybe she was right. One quick hit on her and then she’d return to me and knock me out and this whole thing would be over.
Forever.
I drew back my hand, feeling sick. Just do it. One hit. Get it over with. “I love you,” I said.
“I love you, too.”
I swung, aiming for her chin. An uppercut that would knock her back a little but not do any real harm.
And everything went wrong.
Just as I swung, she kicked both her legs out in the air, as if she was deliberately flopping onto her back on a trampoline. My punch, instead of making her stagger, sent her soaring through the air.
She landed hard on her back. And she didn’t get up.
The crow
d fell silent.
I was on my knees beside her in a second. I didn’t know how hard she’d hit her head—the roar of the crowd had covered the sound of the impact. “Sylvie? Jesus, Sylvie?”
I checked for a pulse. I couldn’t find one. Her eyes stared up at me, fixed and unseeing.
I refused to believe it. “Sylvie?”
Then I saw how her beautiful angel’s hair was turning sticky with blood under her head. “Sylvie?!”
No response.
She was dead.
Aedan
“Well, holy shit,” I heard Rick say. “I didn’t expect that.”
I was on my feet and across the ring in a heartbeat. I didn’t care about the bodyguards anymore. I didn’t care about the guns anymore.
The crowd moved out of the way as they saw me coming and that started a general exodus. There was something about the way Sylvie’s body lay there on the floor, crumpled so awkwardly, legs stretched out but one hand to her hip. Suddenly, none of those bastards who’d thought they were so brave and edgy for sampling underground entertainment could bear to see it.
Rick’s bodyguards slammed into me just as I reached him. I very nearly managed to drag them along with me, but then Al had his shoulder against my chest and Carl was holding my arms behind my back and all I could do was yell and snarl. I was less than a foot away from Rick and I couldn’t touch him.
“I guess you get the winnings,” said Rick. He was staring at Sylvie’s body, genuinely disquieted. He shoved a bundle of bills into the pocket of my sweatpants. “Congratulations,” he said coldly. “That’s what you get for murdering your girlfriend. You really are a monster.”
I remembered how she’d kicked her legs out from under her, ensuring she’d go down hard. She’d wanted to do it.
She’d fooled me. She hadn’t gone along with my plan at all. She’d sacrificed herself for me.
The crowd was dispersing quickly. The bodyguards pushed me to the ground and hustled Rick outside. I no longer had the energy to go after them. All I wanted to do was hold the woman I loved.
I crawled over to her body and cradled her head, the blood sticky on my fingers. I closed her eyes. And then I wept and wept, my tears wetting her cheek as if she was crying, too.
Aedan
When I finally looked up, Rick and his goons were standing over me. Everyone else had gone.
“Time to go,” said Rick. “We’ll take her from here.”
Al stepped forward to gather her up. He wasn’t as careful as he normally would have been. He probably thought I was beyond fighting back.
He was wrong.
As he put out his hand, I grabbed his wrist and pulled, putting all my strength behind it. Al flipped over my head and hit the floor with a crack of breaking bones.
“Don’t you feckin’ touch her!” I screamed.
Rick and Carl took a step back. It had happened so fast they were caught off balance. Long enough for me to snatch Al’s gun from his holster. I pointed it right at Rick. Immediately, Carl pointed his own gun at me.
“Whoah,” said Rick. “Whoah, whoah, whoah.”
“Get out,” I spat. I needed them gone because, in another few seconds, the urge to put a bullet in both of them was going to become irresistible. And Sylvie wouldn’t have wanted that.
“We can’t leave him,” said Carl. “He’s got the body!”
Rick ignored him. “You go to the cops,” he told me, “and I’ll put a pillow over her brother’s face.”
“No cops,” I snarled. “I just don’t want you to touch her. I’ll bury her. Me.”
Rick stared at me for another few seconds. “Let him,” he said at last. “If he gets caught, he can take the heat.” He backed away. “I don’t ever want to see you again, Aedan.”
I kept the gun on them until they reached the door, then waited until I heard their car drive away. Only then did I toss the gun away and cradle Sylvie’s body again. “It’ll be okay,” I said, rocking her gently. “I won’t let them touch you.”
Sylvie
Three hours earlier
Heather, Alec’s doctor, listened as I laid it out for her. The Pit. Aedan. My brother’s fight. The fight I’d have to have with Aedan. I explained why we couldn’t go to the police and then I explained what I needed from her.
“I can’t kill him,” I said simply. “And he can’t kill me. And that means Rick will kill us both. Our only chance is for me to do it to myself.”
I swallowed and looked her right in the eye. I spoke slowly and deliberately.
“I need you to give me something that’ll kill me,” I said. “Quickly. Within seconds. I don’t care if it hurts or not. But I need to be able to inject it, so I can do it just before Aedan knocks me down.”
Heather’s mouth moved soundlessly. “He’ll think he killed you!” she said at last.
“I know. And it’ll destroy him. But he’ll be alive and so will Alec.”
She shook her head. “You’re talking about suicide! I can’t do that! I can’t help you!”
“You’re saving two lives. If you don’t do this, we’re all dead.”
Heather stood up and walked away. My chest tightened because I thought she was going to call security and then the cops, but she started to pace instead. “No. No way. There’s got to be another way.”
“There isn’t, Heather. This is the way things are when you’re dealing with people like Rick. There are no ways out. Only ways to minimize the damage.”
She walked back around to the chair she’d been sitting on and braced herself on it, staring down at the floor, thinking. I sat down, shut the hell up and let her think.
“What if I gave you something to knock you out?” she said at last.
I shook my head. “They’re not stupid. They’ll see I’m just unconscious. Then they’ll try to make Aedan kill me and he won’t be able to do it. Then we’re all dead—Aedan, Alec, me....”
She went quiet again, hanging her head and letting her long blonde hair hang down to cover her face. I could see her knuckles whitening as she gripped the chair. I really thought she was going to snap and call security. But then she spoke and her voice was drawn from somewhere way down deep, as if each word made her feel physically ill. “I can’t give you poison,” she began.
I stood up. “It’s okay,” I said. “I shouldn’t have asked you. Bleach will work, right? If I get a needle and shoot it into—“
Her head snapped up. “Sylvie, stop trying to be a fucking hero and listen!” Her voice was like the crack of a whip.
I shut up.
She took a long breath. “I could mix you something,” she said. “Vecuronium would paralyze you. I could put in something to lower your heart rate and breathing. It wouldn’t be perfect. Any half-decent paramedic will be able to tell you’re not dead. But your boyfriend, in a panic...it’d fool him.” She bit her lip. “There’s a very good chance it’d just kill you. And there’s no way to tell when you’d wake up.”
***
Daylight.
That was the first thing that crept into my awareness. A red, warm light. My eyelids were closed. Why were my eyelids closed?
I tried to open them, but couldn’t.
There was sound, but it seemed muffled and distant. I was being carried like a baby. Then a softness under my ass and back. I was lying on a bed. Ow, my head hurt like a motherfucker.
The bed shook and the room started to move. A car. I was in a car. Stretched out on the back seat.
I hauled and hauled with all my strength but I couldn’t get even one finger to move. So I listened, instead, and the sounds I was hearing gradually changed into words.
“—sorry,” I heard. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I swear, when all this is done, I’m going to get that bastard. I’m going to make him pay.”
I felt my body roll back against the seat. The car was climbing up what felt like a winding hill. Where was he taking me? Now that my mind was swimming up out of the blackness of sleep, things
started to sink in. We’d done it! The plan had worked. Aedan was alive and so was I and now we could move on!
We slowed and then I felt myself roll awkwardly onto my side as the car jerked to a stop. I tried to turn back onto my back but my body still refused to respond. Some of the cocktail Heather had given me had worn off, but not all of it—I was still paralyzed. I wanted to tell Aedan I was alive. He was hurting so much and there was no need. I could grab and hug him and everything would be okay.
If I could just...move...something.
I heard him open his door and get out. And then there was a sound that was familiar and yet unplaceable to my drugged brain. A sort of metal scraping and the patter of something soft falling. Rhythmically, over and over again.
At last, he stopped and I heard the rear car door open. I could see only reddish daylight through my closed lids, but I could feel Aedan looking down at me. “I picked a beautiful spot,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “Looking out over the water.”
Oh God. Oh Jesus, no. I wanted to throw up with fear. I wanted to scream. But my drugged body just lay there like a lifeless doll.
He leaned over me and wrapped me up in his arms and I felt myself being carried. There was the sensation of being lowered and then cold dampness was soaking through the back of my tank top and the smell of earth surrounded me.
MOVE! But no matter how hard I strained, my body didn’t even twitch.
I heard a rustle of clothing and the scrape of his sneakers as he knelt down. When he spoke, it didn’t sound like the Aedan I knew. He was stripped down, his soul bared; he was talking the way he talked when there was no one else to hear.
“The first time I saw you,” he said, “I thought you were an angel.”
Saving Liberty (Kissing #6) Page 44