“There you are, you little bitch.” She starts to move as soon as she sees me, and my instincts tell me I need to lead her away, so I run down the stairs and out the front door. I don’t know what her intent is, but my gut is telling me I need to put as much distance as I can between her and Nino.
She gains on me as I tumble out onto the lawn, slipping on the wet grass. I don’t have any way to communicate with her to ask what she wants, but I don’t think it matters. She didn’t come here to talk. That much is clear.
I dart into the garden, seeking out cover from anything I can while I try to think. I don’t have a weapon, but I don’t know if Gwen has one either.
“I know who you are,” she calls into the darkness as I lower myself to the ground and crawl behind the barrier of some rose bushes.
Her accusation sends a chill down my spine, but I don’t believe her. She’s toying with me. She has to be. She’s been suspicious of me from day one. I want to assume that’s all this is. Alessio mentioned she has issues. I think maybe she’s having an episode now.
“You were right there under our noses the entire time,” she says. “You thought you were so clever. That nobody would notice. But I did. I recognized something in you the first time I saw you.”
My blood runs cold as I move faster, trying to be quiet as she tromps around the garden, seeking me out.
“It was your face,” she muses. “Your features are so much like his. You thought it would be easy to fool a man, but you underestimated me. I know who you are and why you’re here. You don’t belong in our world. You were nothing more than a mistake.”
A sour taste bubbles up my throat and I realize it’s all over. She really does know. The worst-case scenario is happening, and I’m not prepared. I don’t know how to get out of this trap, and when Alessio gets here, I fear that he will have no choice but to end my life when he discovers the truth.
A thorn splinters my palm, tearing the flesh open, and I hiss through my teeth. Blood drips from the wound, but I keep crawling through the thorns. I have no choice. I didn’t come this far to give up now. I swore to myself I’d do whatever it takes, regardless of who stood in my way. I need to find something to defend myself. Anything.
“It’s over now,” Gwen yells. “You might as well come out. There’s only one way this can end, Natalia. We both know that.”
I swallow the painful reality that she’s planning to kill me. I reach the edge of the garden, and the rustling of her clothing alerts me to her presence. She’s right behind me.
“Come here, you little bitch!” she snarls as her claws narrowly miss my arm.
Somehow, I manage to stagger to my feet, and I launch myself into a run. I head toward the dock, stopping once I reach the shoreline to scoop up a large rock. Gwen approaches me from the shadows. She is relentless as she follows me with one intention.
I step onto the dock, walking backward as she comes toward me. In the moonlight, I can see there’s a syringe in her hand. I have a feeling if she stabs me with it, I won’t last more than a few minutes.
I can’t negotiate with her. My breathing is too tense, my heart too fast. My throat is spasming, squeezing as I try to force air in and out of my lungs. Somehow, I know it wouldn’t matter. She’s as much of a monster as he is.
“Accept your fate,” she snaps. “I can promise you this is me being merciful. If Alessio were to find out, you couldn’t even begin to imagine how painful he would make your death. With me, it will be quick. You won’t feel anything.”
I shake my head, my hands trembling around the rock in my grasp. She offers me a pathetic laugh.
“Did you think he actually cared about you?” She snorts. “Alessio isn’t capable. He sees you as something to use. Something to entertain him until he’s bored of you. He’s just like his father in that way, but I suppose you wouldn’t know that, would you?”
My silence is answer enough, and I think Gwen enjoys the fact that he hasn’t opened up to me. She wants to be the one to drive the stake through my heart.
“His father was weak when it came to women too,” she says. “But what man isn’t? It’s a curse, I think. They can’t control it. Their minds are designed that way. They will always be led by their dicks, but eventually, logic wins. Alessio’s father destroyed his entire family for an affair with a nobody. She was as deluded as you are, believing she could have him for herself. She decided the only way was to slaughter the competition.”