The knife pressed deeper into my flesh, and tears began to spill from my eyes. I didn’t even feel the pain, but the fear of something happening to my unborn baby made me shake.
“You have until the count of ten to release her, or I’m going to put a bullet in your brain,” Samuel threatened.
A muffled laugh left the person holding me. The sound vibrated through their chest and made my already pounding heart quake with fear. “I don’t think so,” he said in a voice that was harsh but just as muffled as his laugh.
Samuel took another step toward us, but the knife that was cutting into my belly was suddenly pressed to my throat. I swallowed the next scream that bubbled up, knowing that as sharp as that big knife was, the action of screaming would cause him to slit my throat effortlessly.
“Take another step closer,” my assailant dared. “See if I don’t slit her open from ear to ear.”
Samuel stopped and actually took a step backward, but he was only a blurry form in front of me as my tears began to fall faster.
Was this the stalker who had sent the packages and destroyed my dressing room? Was this the same person who had tried to ruin my career by posting that video of me with Jordan?
Anger filled me, but fear kept me motionless. It wasn’t just me that I had to worry about. If something happened to me, that would put my precious baby in danger.
My hand moved to cover the bleeding wound on my abdomen. From the feel of it, I was bleeding pretty badly with how wet and sticky my fingers were. I wanted to stomp on the man’s foot and elbow him in the gut the way Luca and Lyric had taught me when we were kids, but the blade pressed so tightly into my skin kept me from so much as swallowing for fear of him slitting my throat.
“All right.” Samuel’s voice was lower now, as if he were actually trying not to be as intimidating, but the way his lips were snarled back didn’t make a difference to how low or soft he made his voice. He was a scary motherfucker to look at. “Let’s just stay calm.” I thought he was talking more to me than to the man holding a knife against me, because I was the only one shaking in fear. “Tell me what you want. I’ll make it happen. Her fiancé is a rich man. He will pay you any amount you want, give you anything you can think of, as long as you don’t harm her.”
“Fiancé,” the man at my back spat out as if repeating the word left a bitter taste on his tongue. Even through whatever was muffling his mouth, I could hear how much he hated that word. “Moreitti can’t have her. She’s. Mine.” He trailed the blade up and down my throat like a caress, almost…lovingly. “She’s my little bird.”
“Please,” I dared to beg against his hand, but he couldn’t understand me, and the action caused the knife to scrape the flesh of my neck raw. It stung, but at least I didn’t feel any blood.
He released the hand over my mouth, but only so he could grab my hair. My head was jerked back, and it was a small relief not to have the blade so close to my throat. But it was short-lived as he pulled my head back until his gaze locked with mine.
The man was wearing something similar to a ski mask. All I could see of his face was the area over his eyes and part of his nose. Even through my tears, I could see his eyes as clear as day. Eyes I knew as if I were staring into my own.
Pop-Pop’s eyes.
Mom’s eyes.
Garon Steel’s eyes.
“Why?” I whispered, not understanding.
How could he have sent those packages? Those disgusting pictures of him jerking himself off with my favorite lotion… I felt even sicker now than I had when I’d first seen those photos. That… That man in those pictures was my uncle?
“You’re mine,” he gritted out again from behind his mask. “She got everything when the old man died. Everything. If I take you, one of her precious children, and make you mine, it will destroy her.” The knife touched my cheek, again in a tender, adoring kind of way, but the blade scraped over my cheek, and I flinched at the rawness that was left behind.
She? As in…my mom?
“I’ve watched you, little bird.” His voice had turned gentle, but the look in his eyes remained manic. “I’ve waited and dreamed of the day I would take you. I thought it would have been easier. If you had just taken that part in that fucking movie, things would have gone so much smoother. I could have gone on watching you like I have in the past for a little longer before I had to steal you away.”
His hold on my hair tightened, and I could actually feel strands being pulled out of my scalp as his honey-golden eyes darkened with anger. “But no,” he seethed, the tenderness evaporating from his voice. “No, you wouldn’t take the part! And then there was Moreitti. I thought I could use him, get him to make you see it was good for your career, but that little pencil-dick loser couldn’t even do that.” Garon lowered his head until his lips were almost touching mine, and I felt bile lift into my throat. “Did you think of me while you fucked him, little bird? Did you imagine it was my cock you were riding?”
This wasn’t happening, I thought as I cowered back from him. This sick man couldn’t be saying these vile things to me. It was wrong, so very wrong. I whimpered in fear, wanting this moment erased from my mind.
Everything happened so fast, I didn’t even have time to blink. A sudden shot filled the garage. One moment, Garon was about to kiss me, and then the next, part of his head was missing.
The knife fell to the ground, but I didn’t hear it or anything else. The blast of the gunshot hurt my ears, the sound making them ring so badly that I couldn’t even hear the blood rushing through my veins like I had only moments before.
Blood was splattered on my face and clothes. There was something thick dripping from my hair. All of that barely registered as Garon dropped lifelessly at my feet.
I bent in half, retching.
Strong arms came around me, and I tried to look up to see who it was.
Braxton?