The Soldier and the Princess

Chapter seventeen

Daphne

BythetimeI had finished telling Xander how I had ended up in the woods, the tea was gone, and the sky was lightening. I could see his initial disbelief, then gradual rising anger, and finally his awareness that my urgency to leave the area was genuine.

“Alright,” he said decisively, looking around his campsite. Although, the more I looked, the less it looked like a campsite and more like the place he truly called home. There were more areas covered with tarps set back from the fire, little clusters of items that he wanted protected from the elements, as well as a pretty decent stack of firewood. I frowned, but he ignored my curious look and pressed on. “Let’s get moving. It’s a bit of a walk to the nearest road from here, but once we reach it, the going is a lot smoother. There will be a greater chance of flagging down a driver.”

I snorted. “Clearly you’ve never seen The Goonies.”

“What?”

“The Goonies? When Chunk is escaping from the Fratelli Brothers and ends up flagging down a car driven by a Fratelli and then—”

I stopped when I noticed Xander looking at me like I was nuts. “You know what? It doesn’t matter.” Standing, I winced as my injured leg let me know it hadn’t miraculously healed while I had talked. “What can I help you pack?”

I could see his indecision, not wanting to have to leave the area at all, but then he nodded to himself.

“Nothing. I’ll be coming right back after you’re safe.”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s going to happen at all.”

I gasped out loud, the scratchy voice of my nightmares coming up behind me and as I spun quickly. And there he was Davis, standing at the edge of the clearing. He had a gun in his hand and that cold smirk on his face.

Xander moved toward me, his natural instincts seeming to overtake any sense of self-preservation he may have had.

“Ah,” Davis said, the muzzle of the gun swinging to Xander. “Is she worth your life, friend?”

“I’m not your friend,” Xander growled, his previously kind voice now sending a shiver down my spine.

“Well then, I won’t feel bad when I shoot you, now, will I?”

“Don’t!” I raised my hands, a pleading gesture that I hated to show, but there was no way I was going to let Xander get hurt because of me. “Don’t hurt him, Davis. Please.”

“So soft, Mrs. Pennington.” He shook his head. “So willing to sacrifice yourself for someone you don’t even know.”

“Better than being willing to kidnap someone I don’t even know.”

Movement behind him caught my eye, and in the ever-brightening morning light, I could see Spaz and Duke making their way out of the trees and into the clearing. Duke still looked like he was upset by the entire situation, but Spaz was grinning at me, the delight clearly painted on his face, knowing I was caught again.

“Well,” Davis continued, “money does have a way of convincing me to do things I normally wouldn’t consider.”

I snorted. “Right. I’m sure your moral compass always pointed north before someone offered you cash to collect me. Who was that again?” I questioned, trying to get more information out of him. “I’d really love to add them to my Christmas card list.”

But Davis only smiled. “Enough. Let’s end your ridiculous attempt at escaping and get things back on track. I’m expecting a call and I’d hate to miss it because I was busy chasing your skinny ass all over the goddamned mountain.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice,” Davis spat, his patience clearly at an end. Looking over his shoulder, he motioned to the two guys behind him. “Grab her, would you?”

“With pleasure,” Spaz drawled, licking his lips as he approached.

Not wanting him to touch me, I stepped backward, moving closer to Xander before I thought better of it, then heading for the trees behind me instead. The last thing I wanted was for him to be hurt because of me.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Xander growled, causing Spaz to cackle.

“I do what I want,” he said, making a lunge for me.

I let out a scream, and just before his hand closed around my arm, Xander was there, one arm batting away Spaz’s clawing hand, the other doing some kind of flat, open-handed punch to his chest. Spaz staggered backward, gasping, then falling forward, landing on his knees in the wet dirt. I stared from around Xander’s body, watching as Spaz continued to cough and hack. When he finally raised his head, it was to glare at us both, his red-rimmed eyes full of hate.

“You bitch,” he snarled at me, like I was the one who had just handed him his ass.

Before I could reply, Xander began to walk backward, keeping his body in front of mine as he moved us closer to the trees.

“Just walk away,” he said, never taking his eyes off of Davis. “Leave now and we can all go about our business.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Davis said conversationally. “Penelope, here, is my business.”

Realizing what Davis had just said, I froze. I had guessed that this whole thing was about Penelope, but I hadn’t had confirmation until now. Xander also noted the fact that Davis had called me the wrong name, but I wrapped my hand around his bicep, clenching tight in hopes that he wouldn’t react.

The last thing I wanted was someone realizing I was not who they were looking for. Who knew how many guys Davis had working under him? If he figured out I wasn’t Penelope, would he just send someone else after her? What if Stone hadn’t made it to New York yet? And even if he had, he would have no reason to think that a threat against his innocent wife even existed in the first place, so why would he think she needed extra protection?

No, it was definitely best for everyone if Davis and his goons all continued to assume they had the right girl.

Even if it meant going back with him now.

“Xander,” I said softly, and he turned his head slightly; not enough to take his eyes off the danger, but so that I knew he was listening. “Let me go.”

“No way.”

“Yes,” I said. “It’s okay. They really haven’t hurt me yet. If I go with them, maybe they will let me know what they’re after and I can go home.” I stepped to the side, but he wasn’t ready to let me past him yet. “It’s alright, Xander. Really.”

“Listen to the girl,” Davis called. “No one needs to get hurt here.”

“See?” I encouraged. “They won’t hurt me.”

“Of course not,” Spaz said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “We don’t get paid if she’s dead.” Cocking his head to one side, Spaz sent me a terrifying smile. “They didn’t say we couldn’t rough her up a bit, though.”

Whipping my head to stare at him, I considered this new information. Someone wanted Penelope kidnapped, but not hurt? It had to be about ransom; I couldn’t think of any other explanation.

Still, even if they weren’t planning on killing me, I didn’t like the look on Spaz’s face; the one that said death might have been better than whatever it was he wanted to do.

“Come now, Penelope,” Davis said, and this time it was Duke who walked toward me, his eyes apologizing even as he reached out to grab me.

“No!” Xander yelled, his fist swinging and connecting with Duke’s jaw. Duke, however, was unmoved, shaking off the punch and continuing to tug me after him.

We reached Davis’s side, Duke holding me close as Xander practically vibrated on the other side of the now dead fire.

“Xander,” I soothed, watching him as he clenched and unclenched his fists, his feet shifting as if he wanted to walk over and retrieve me. “I’ll be alright. Just let me go, and everything will be just fine.”

“Well, not everything,” Davis said, then raised his arm and fired his gun, the sudden noise making me jump as a shout escaped me. I stared in horror as Xander was shot, his body thrown backward into the bushes behind him, crashing heavily down and not moving.

“Xander!” I screamed, willing him to move, but he just laid there, his big body almost hidden by the branches of the shrub he had landed on. “No! Xander, please!”

“We’re leaving,” Davis said, then turned and marched back the way we had all come.

“You monster!”

He turned to me, the look on his face one of cold calculation. Moving slowly, Davis placed himself in front of me, looking at me in contemplation before he raised his hand, the one without the gun, and slapped me, hard, across the face. “You bet your fuckin’ ass, I’m a monster.” As he loomed over me, I cowered back against Duke’s broad chest, seeing for the first time the danger this man truly presented. “You would do well to remember it, because I am getting tired of this bullshit.”

Without a second glance at the devastation he had just caused—that I had just caused—in the quiet clearing, Davis turned and marched away, his expectation that we would all follow clear. Spaz went first, scowling at me as he passed. I looked back at Xander again, his body still laying where it had landed, and my eyes filled with tears.

I did this. I was the reason that kind man was now lying dead in the forest where no one would find him in time to help him.

I could feel my heart breaking as I thought about the life I had just ruined, but before I could fall apart, Duke brought up his other hand, patting my shoulder gently as I cried.

“Come on,” he said gruffly, the first words I could remember hearing from him. “It will be alright.”

As we trudged back through the trees, my physical wounds now nothing compared to the pain in my heart, I simply couldn’t find it in myself to believe him.