Thousands (Dollar 4)

With strength that squeezed the life out of me, the French man plucked me into his arms, swung his gun strap over his elbow, and carted me from Elder’s suite.

I looked over his shoulder as he jogged onto the deck.

I kicked. I screamed. I punched. I didn’t care anymore. “No. Stop. I don’t want to go! You’ve got it all wrong!”

Who the hell were these men? Why had they helped stop the Chinmoku and then kidnapped me?

I couldn’t understand. I didn’t want to understand. I wanted all this to end and for Elder and me to do exactly what we’d planned—curl up in bed side by side and find peace in dreams together.

I wanted to be safe.

I wanted this to be a mistake.

“Wait!” Elder gave chase. Tripping with injury, holding his side as he ambled into a run, he skidded to a halt as he approached the man holding me.

The guy’s arm tightened, bruising my ribcage as he backed toward the railing where part of the banister where Elder had swum and a ladder existed to the water below was raised.

Out the corner of my eye, I glimpsed a speedboat bobbing beside the Phantom. White sleek lines with wooden embellishments with a beautiful sparrow painted in full flight on the bonnet.

Elder gasped, his face manic, his fingers slippery with blood as he held the brass balustrade. Blood darkened his tux to glisten a sick maroon. “Stop. I love her. You’re making a huge fucking mistake.”

The French man chuckled harshly. “I’m not the one who’s making a mistake. You did that the moment you thought you could buy women for pleasure.” He muttered something in French followed by a growled, “Too fucking bad you don’t know the meaning of love.” He raised his gun, wedging me between the banister and his hard body. “You’re all the same. Filth.”

Tears spilled down my cheeks as Elder glanced at me with horror in his eyes. “I don’t know who you are, but you’ve got it wrong. She loves me back. We’re—”

“I’ve had enough of this bullshit.” With a squeeze of his trigger, the man holding me shot the man holding my heart.

“No!” My scream, my wail, my screech tore apart the night sky, punctured the moon, and sent seagulls flying into the stars.

The loud boom of a bullet soared from gun to Elder, shoving him backward, slugging him hard, spinning him up and over the railing and down, down, down.

He fell overboard.

I screamed as a wet splash gobbled him up, the sea claiming a victim like the kraken with its next meal.

One second, Elder was alive…here.

The next, he was gone….fallen.

It took a heartbeat to understand what had happened.

It took another for the sheer pulverising agony to crack me wide.

It took another to gather up enough air to scream.

And scream.

And scream.

“No!”

No, no, no.

“No!”

I fought.

My God, how I fought.

I hated them.

I loathed them.

I would kill them.

Kill, kill, kill them.

He had to be alive.

He knew how to swim.

He’d survived fists and kicks and pain.

He has to be alive.

Please, God, let him be alive.

Nothing in this world made sense anymore.

There was nothing keeping me sane. Nothing to fight for. Nothing to understand.

The man holding me murmured French nothings under his breath.

I despised him.

Turning me to face him, he cupped my cheeks with such tenderness, he flayed open my already threadbare heart.

His thumbs soothed my scalding tears; remorse filled his face, kindness replacing the killer in his eyes. Shame and regret almost twin mirrors of Elder’s whenever he’d done something to hurt me.

“Shush, girl,” he whispered. “It will all work out, you’ll see. You’re free now. You’re safe.”

I was ice cold.

I was frozen solid.

I was borderline catatonic with grief.

Shaking my head, I begged him to understand. To save Elder. To fix the damage he’d done. “Don’t you see? I was free. I was safe. I was with him. I love him.” Sobs clogged my throat. “I love him. I love him, and you killed him!”

The man shook his head sadly. “You think you love him, but you don’t. Men like that twist minds. They hurt women and make them believe it’s normal.” His lips pulled back into a feral snarl, terrifying me all over again. “He won’t do that again. You have my word.”

“You don’t understand!” I struck him. I slapped him. I wanted to rake my fingernails over his sinning awful face. “He saved me from that. He wasn’t—”

The other man tapped him on the shoulder. “Q, we’d better go.”

“Tu as raison. Allons-y. We’ll sort her out when we get home. Tess will know what to do.”

“No, I’m not going anywhere with you!”

I had to get to the water.

I had to get to Elder.

“Let me go!”

Something pricked my arm, sending warmth and harsh stinging through my blood.

A needle glinted in the moonlight.

Convulsive vehemence filled me as my eyelids fluttered. “You—you drugged me?”