Damaged Queen (Darkness Within Duet 2)

“Alan would never kill Draven. He was his only living heir.”

“I called that bluff, and he gave the order.” Harper was sobbing now, recalling those moments she’d seen on the screen. “I watched as he shot into the crowd. I watched you fall, and I had no choice. I begged him to call off the shooter. He told me I had to go. I had to leave. He sent one of his men with me. You can ask him.”

“Who went with you?”

“Laser. He was the one that went with me. Please, Axel, I am telling you the truth. Laser was there.”

“Harper, Laser is dead. Alan killed him for betraying him. He’s the enemy.”

“What?”

“Laser never worked with Alan. He was a double agent, helping the enemy to gain information and to steal his drugs and women. He’d been involved in several of his shipments that didn’t make it. He wasn’t working for Alan but for one of the enemies that Draven and I later killed. Draven demanded that Alan search for you, to find you, and he did, several times. There were men that went looking for you. Some either turned up dead, or turned sides. We saw the evidence of what you did, the proof of you being the enemy, but we could never get to you in time.”

“And that wasn’t the least suspicious to you?” She screamed out, desperate for him, for someone, to see the truth.

“He told us that if we ever found you, you’d feed us a story. You’d been tainted by Laser, and he’d been seen visiting your mother the day before she died. You were playing us the entire time.”

Harper cried out. “I’m not feeding you a story. That’s all fucking bullshit.”

She paused when she realized they were heading toward the whipping post.

“Axel, what is going on?”

“I have no desire to do this. I want you to know that. For me, I’d just fucking kill you, but I’ve got a feeling this is not all what it seems, and I’ve got to think of Draven.”

“Then let me go. Please, let me go. I’ve not done anything wrong. I swear it. Please.”

She fought Axel, but he was too strong. He easily overpowered her and secured her to the whipping post. It was so dark, so cold.

She sobbed as he held her tightly against it, wrapped up, with no way to move. There were cuffs for her hands, keeping her in place. He wrapped a rope around her body, holding her up, leaving no way for her to get away.

Even as she tugged at the bindings, she couldn’t get free. She was completely at the mercy of Draven and Axel.

“I wasn’t telling a story. I swear it. I wasn’t doing anything but trying to make you all live. I didn’t want any of you to die.” She held onto the post, even though it was so cold. The chill seeped into her bones.

“You’re going to kill me tonight?”

“No.” Axel stood, looking at her. She didn’t know what he was staring at. She’d never been so terrified in her life. “If I try to find this out, if I somehow find anything that your story is true, I’ll let Draven see the evidence.”

“You’d look for me?”

“Something never made sense all those years ago. Even now thinking about to it, it doesn’t all add up. It’s too neat, especially with how much Alan hated you.”

“It’s because it’s all lies. I swear it, Axel. I really swear it. Please, I didn’t run because I wanted to. I was taken.”

“Harper, I’m not promising anything here.”

“You’re offering to look, and that is more than you gave me a day ago. I swear to you, I’m not lying. I’m innocent. I wasn’t … I had no intention of ever leaving.”

“If I don’t find anything, I will kill you. I won’t let Draven break you. That is the deal we make right now, right this second, Harper. If I find something, you walk free. If I don’t, if all the evidence I find is of your deceit, I get to kill you before Draven does.”

Tears fell down her cheeks, and she nodded.

“Yes, yes, please, I’ve got nothing to hide. I swear it. I’m innocent. I had nothing to do with Buck or Jett’s deaths. It wasn’t my fault.”

“They’re coming,” Axel said. “Harper, try and … I don’t know. Don’t die or kill yourself.”

With that Axel stepped away.

He was her one lifeline. Had she made a deal with the devil?

One by one, she saw torches as they approached.

“You know, Axel’s father used to love this post,” Draven said.

He moved up beside her, but he didn’t even look at her.

The men and women of the party had to be standing behind her.

Tears filled her eyes as she knew what was about to happen, what he was going to let happen to her.