Listening at the door, I wait for any sounds but it’s silent inside. The only thing I hear is the wind picking up speed outside. Thunder rumbles and a flash of lightning fills the hallway. I reach in my dress and pull out my marker.
I place the black tip to my left forearm near the wrist and start to write the words I can’t ever say. If I make it out of the room, I still need to make it to the boat and back to the States before I’m truly in the clear. If I don’t make it, I don’t want my words to vanish.
My hand is strangely steady as I reach for the knob and turn. The room is dark, only filling with light when it flashes across the angry sky. I close the door quietly and step lightly across the room.
As I approach the bed, my eyes adjust to the dark and I can make out the two figures. Sarah is still in her wedding dress, probably drank the champagne before undressing. She rests her head on Pierce’s bare chest. A chest I dragged my nails down only days ago. His arm is draped over her stomach and his face is buried in her hair. His breaths are deep and even, unlike the forceful gusts of wind outside his window. I look out over the turning sea, feeling like it reflects my own emotions.
Tearing. Ripping. Violent.
I round the side of the bed and stand on Sarah’s side. I reach inside my dress and slide out the blade. I run my fingers over the decorated handle. It used to hang on the wall of my father’s office. He sent it so I would know without a doubt the orders came directly from him. I grip the blade and raise my hands over my head. Lightning flashes and illuminates the space in Pierce’s chest that I need to plunge the blade through.
I need to be strong. I need to be heartless.
Another flash and my muscles tense, ready to act.
Pierce’s arm tightens on Sarah. A soft sigh leaves her lips.
My hands come down, blade clutched between my fingers.
But the speed and strength I needed isn’t there. It melted from my body and my hands fall limply in front of my body.
There’s no blood. No victory and daring escape for Shiloh Blackard.
Not tonight.
There’s just a raging storm and a tragic end.
I turn to the window reaching for the ocean that’s always been my solitude. Its saltwater will heal my deepest wounds. Opening the window, I’m met with a gust of wind and ocean spray. I cross the balcony and grip the railing. Below, waves crash and break on the jagged rocks below. The sound is my lullaby. I pull myself up on the railing, fighting the wind and rain trying to push me back.
I can’t go back.
My arms stretch out and I close my eyes. As my body tips forward, I hope that they never find me. My fate always remaining a mystery, leaving my sisters with hope. I want to dissolve into the sea, living on only in the sea foam and spray.
My body feels light as the ocean surface closes in on me. When I break through the surface, the impact knocks the air from my lungs. The cold water shocks me as I continue to plunge deeper. The waves crash above, dragging me under. Instincts kick in and I fight the current trying to take me under. I kick and fight for the surface. I gasp for air before I’m pushed back under. My lungs burn as I kick and push.
No. No. No.
The saltwater burns my eyes and throat. I fight to stay above the waves but the storm is stronger than I am. The waves crash against the rocks and as I break through the surface again, I think I hear my name being called before I go under again. My whole body fights the current but I’m running out of air and energy. I surface again, hair in my face and water filling my mouth as I gasp for air. I start to shiver in the freezing water.
“Shiloh!”
I think the wind is playing tricks on me until I see a shadow just feet away.
“No! You are not ending this!”
End this? Doesn’t he see it’s already over?
I go under for a moment before coming back up. I tread water but my muscles hurt from the cold and exertion.
“Shiloh! Don’t you dare give up on me yet!”
Pierce’s voice sounds like a whisper in the wind. I reach for him, but he’s too far. With every push toward me, the angry ocean pulls him back, and me under.
The cold numbs me and my legs move slower. I’m so tired. So tired of fighting, hiding, and missing something I can’t have.
The sea calls to me, opens it depths for me. I go under and look up at the glittering surface as I fall.
Pierce’s outstretched hand is left untouched by mine.
chapter twenty-nine
shiloh
MAYBE THE OCEAN wasn’t my salvation. The seas were angry, consuming me whole. The water was cold and terrifying.
My body is heavy and motionless. The first thing I notice is the pain in my shoulder. It feels like fire and blades all at once. Slowly, my body starts to become my own again. I feel the numbing pain in my head then the soreness in my arms and legs. My fingers twitch, and I’m surprised to feel warmth underneath them. Sand. I force my eyes open and see palm leaves shielding the sun from my eyes. I swallow, my throat sore from the saltwater. My lips and eyes are dry too. I hiss and roll to my side in the sand. A shooting pain starts in my shoulder and travels down my arm. I manage to sit up and stare out at the ocean. The water is so calm it almost looks like glass. A complete opposite of when I dove in.
I gasp as the memories from last night assault my hurting head. Pierce and Sarah. Standing over them with the knife, poised and ready to take life. I frantically pat at my chest. My dress is torn and streaks of red decorate the left side.
“Looking for this?”
My head snaps up as Pierce comes around to stand in front of me. The blade is in his hands. I look up at his eyes.
He’s angry. Furious might be a better word. Enraged.
My mind spins as I try to piece together what’s happening. He dove in after me. I can remember hearing my name as he shouted for me in the murderous waves.
“You want it? Going to finish what you started?”
I wonder if he is referring to him or myself. I shake my head. I won’t be taking any lives today.
The dagger drops and the blade buries itself into the sand. The decorative red handle sticks up.
Pierce walks past me, and I turn my head to watch him. His white shirt is unbuttoned and one sleeve is torn off. His pants have a tear in one leg. He looks like a stranded survivor on a deserted island. That’s when I finally realize where we are. He goes inside the safe house, coming back out with a bottle of water. He hands it to me, sitting in the sand to watch me.
I drink the water even though it burns a little going down. The salt dried me out so I know I must have inhaled and swallowed a lot. Pierce’s eyes are cold and hard on me. I see the disappointment and resentment in them. What does he see when he looks at me? Can he see my sorrow and regret? Can he see my questions? Like why did he save me and how? What will he do with me now?
“I’m going to tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a man. When his father died, he became king of the kingdom. He ruled with fear and money.”
Sounds familiar.
“He fell in love with a beautiful woman. He wanted to make her his queen but his enemies had other plans. He lost his lover and his heart was broken.”
Pierce picks up the dagger, inspecting the carved handle in the sunlight.
“His enemies had their own kingdom. Both kings ruled their own side of the world, forever hating each other. One on the east, the other on the west.”
My eyes widen. He’s talking about our fathers.
“The King of the West promised he would never become weak again. He married and fathered six daughters. He kept them all hidden from his world so no one would ever hurt them to get to him.”
I can’t breathe as Pierce glares at me. I pull my eyes away, seeing the note I wrote on my arm. It’s signed Shiloh Blackard. He knows.
“The seven daughters were raised with guards and high walls. No one knew they existed. They never left except for one night of freedom on their twenty-first
birthday. They accepted their lives, never knowing any better. Except for one.”
I look back up at Pierce, wondering how he knows this much.
“The youngest was the prettiest and smartest of the girls. She was known to rebel, always wanting to know what lurked outside her protective walls. She wanted to live a real life and choose her own fate.”
Tears form in my eyes. I have been running for so long I forgot where I came from. Now, I can picture the girl Pierce talks about as she looks out the lone attic window, dreaming of crawling through it. Pierce holds out a marker. I tentatively reach out and take it from him.
“This is where the story needs to be rewritten Shiloh. What does the youngest Blackard do on her night of freedom?”
Tears are rolling down my cheeks. I struggle to push myself to my knees, and I crawl over to where Pierce sits in the sand. His knees are pulled up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them. I put the tip to his forearm and carefully write the words I should have months ago.
I saved you.
Pierce stares at the letters. Three words. One sentence.
“I made a promise to the girl that saved my life. Anything she wanted in exchange for helping me escape. I could have given her protection, freedom, anything.”
I nod. His hand cups my chin and tilts my face so I’m forced to look at him.
“I am a man of my word, Shiloh Blackard. I made a promise and I intend to keep it.”
How? He fulfilled that debt to Sarah, taking her as his wife. My family waits for me to return with news of his death.
“We’re rewriting the story.”
He helps me to my feet, and I stumble on my weak legs.
“You hit the rocks and cut your shoulder so take it easy. I bandaged it up the best I could.”
He helps me to the hut, and I sigh at the cooler temperature. Pierce hands me an energy bar and another bottle of water.
“Hans will come looking for us when he realizes we are gone. I was expecting you.”
I take my marker and scribble on a box nearby.
How?
“I didn’t know that you would fail. I also didn’t expect the sleeping pills.”
Guilt washes over me. It was a last minute addition because I knew I would never go through with it if either of them looked at me. I wanted to be strong, but I couldn’t hurt them, no matter how much they hurt me.
“I might have kept my end of the deal if Cyrus didn’t lie to me. The man they delivered as my cousin’s killer wasn’t the guy I was looking for. But he ended up being invaluable.”
I shake my head and ease myself back down to the floor. I’m so confused. So much has changed in so little time.
“That person cared for you very much and disliked your family for betraying him. He was a fountain of information. I learned so much, but I still have a lot of questions you need to answer.”
I nod, knowing I owe that to him.
“One being how you ended up on my doorstep but that can wait since I imagine that’s a long story. But the most important one … I need to know the answer before we leave this hut. Before another moment.”
He kneels in front of me, eyes searching mine.
“Why didn’t you kill me?”
I shake my head. He has to know I couldn’t.
“Why? You could have gotten on that boat and sailed away. You could have gone back home. They left you no other choice.”
He takes my hand, and I can’t help but look at where his ring should be. With shaking hands, I take the cap off my marker and lean over.
Words wouldn’t do it justice. I tell him everything he needs to know just how I tell him everything. Wordless.
We don’t break eye contact as I draw a heart over his heart on his bare skin.
He was in my heart, as broken as it was. I’d rather jump off that cliff than hurt him. I know how easy it would have been to go back and erase the past few months, but I couldn’t. I never wanted to take away the little time I had with him.
“I would have died for you.”
The words are whispered, gentle but slamming into me like the waves.
“How many times are you going to save me, Blackard?”
His lips are on mine. His fingers weave through my hair gently and strong arms wrap around my waist. I sigh into his mouth, feeling the fear and tension leave my body. I melt into Pierce and he holds together.
Verklempt: (adj.) completely overcome with emotion.
His lips coast over the shell of my ear.
“Now it’s my turn to save you.”
My head falls back, and I inhale deeply, letting my lungs fill completely. It feels like the first real breath I have ever taken. Pierce kisses down my neck and over my injured shoulder.
“You looked beautiful in this dress,” he says against my skin. “I wanted to tear if off you.”
I shiver even in the heat. I clench the torn fabric of his shirt in my hands, never wanting any space between our bodies. With his hands and lips on me, I feel invincible. Like I can jump off a cliff into the torrent ocean and survive.
I don’t realize that I’m crying until Pierce kisses the tears off my cheeks. This is a gentle and caring Pierce that I never had before. There’s no haste and desperation in his movements now.
“Don’t cry, Shiloh. Please don’t cry.”
I put my hand over the heart I drew. I can feel his real heart pounding under my palm. I pull back to look into his, hoping he can see that I’m crying not because I’m sad, but overwhelmed.
I jump when I hear a knock on the wooden door. Hans pulls it open and sighs when he sees us huddled on the floor.
“Thank God. You guys made it.”
Pierce helps me to my feet, and Hans unexpectedly hugs me.
“Don’t you dare do that again,” he growls. “Come on. I got the truck a little bit off the trail.”
We follow Hans out and down the beach a ways before we turn into the trees and follow a trail. As promised, a truck waits for us.
“Come on,” Pierce says before lifting me into the seat. “Let’s get you home.”
I smile. Home.
chapter thirty
pierce
IT’S ABSOLUTE CHAOS when we walk inside the house. Eli and Roy are arguing from the kitchen loud enough that we hear them from the front door. Sarah is running down the stairs toward us, Alonzo trying to keep up.
“There you are,” she shouts, throwing her arms around my neck. “Don’t fucking do that to a person. You scared the shit out of us.”
Shiloh steps back, glaring at Sarah as she pulls away. Roy, Julie, and Eli rush from the kitchen. I see the relief on their faces to see their boss alive.
“Are you okay?” Sarah asks Shiloh. “Shit, honey. I thought you weren’t gonna make it. Why the hell would you jump?”
Shiloh stares at the other woman in shock. She glances at me with raised eyebrows.
“It seems you two have already met,” I say. “But Shiloh, this is Sarah.”
Shiloh sways on her feet, and I catch her elbow to hold her steady. Her lips are pale and the bandage on her shoulder is red with blood again. Eli rushes down the hall to get the first-aid kit, I hope.
“Come on,” I whisper in her ear. I direct her over to the couch and lower her slowly to sit.
Julia comes to her side, handing her a bottle of water.
“She’s gonna need stitches,” Sarah says as she gently peels the gauze away. I did what I could with the little supplies stashed in the shed.
Eli comes in with the first-aid kit and hands it to me. I dig through it, grabbing some pain medication and opening the package. Shiloh takes them quickly, pain etched on her face.
“I can sew her up,” Sarah whispers over Shiloh’s head.
I raise an eyebrow. “You’re qualified in what way?”
“In the way that I have a nasty habit of liking bad boys that like to knock me around. I am as qualified as any nurse.”
I grit my teeth at letting someone stick a
needle into Shiloh’s skin.
“We need to do something before it gets infected and causes her more pain,” Eli adds.
I look at Shiloh. Her eyes meet mine, glazed over but alert, and she nods her agreement. I take her hand and give it a squeeze.
“Go ahead.”
I rub Shiloh’s fingers and brush her hair from her face while Sarah tears through the kit to get what she needs. Shiloh brushes a finger over my ring finger. She looks up at me in question, glancing back at Sarah.
“We aren’t married,” I tell her. “The officiant was paid to show up and never file the license.”
Sarah laughs as she gently wipes over the wound. Shiloh winces. I decide to distract Shiloh and explain the past twenty-four hours.
“They found her before my cousin could. She spent all this time as their prisoner until they decided to use her as bait. There was never supposed to be an alliance. They just wanted you home.”
Shiloh looks down and I see the guilt, knowing her part in their plan. We suspected they would use Shiloh to get to us. I just never expected her to try to take her own life in order to save mine.
“They told me to play my part and I would be safe. I would be rich and have everything I ever needed if I just said my last name was Walsh,” Sarah says as she pulls the thread through again. “I just wanted away from them so badly I agreed. I quickly switched sides when I met Pierce.”
Sarah was terrified when I met her. She shook as I interrogated her. To her credit, she didn’t easily cave. It wasn’t until I told her they planned to just kill us both did she start to cooperate.
“I thought I could get to you when you came to my room. I was going to explain it all then but I drank the drugged champagne and didn’t wake until you opened the balcony doors.”
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