34
Olivia
Iscream as I go over the edge of the cliff imagining what falling to my death will feel like.
My intense desire to survive whips out my hands and I grab on to a thick root pushing out from the cliff’s edge.
I make the mistake of looking down and scream again when I see what’s below me.
The drop must be well over a hundred feet. Waves crash against rocks in the stormy sea, battling against the rain for power.
I make another mistake when I snap my gaze back up to where I’d fallen from. The movement makes my hand slip down the stubbly root and I it’s then I see it won’t save me.
It’s not strong enough.
It comes away as the thought hits me as if confirming my fears and I hear death calling me as I slip down again with nothing to hold on to.
I see my doom in a rapid flicker before my eyes and I wait to fall into the depths of the sea and die.
But I don’t.
What stops me is the large hand that grabs my wrist.
Aiden’s face comes into view in the crackle of lightening and the roar of thunder which sounds exactly like him as he tightens his grip on me.
“Hold on to me,” he shouts and hold on I do for dear life.
With another savage roar he pulls me up in one strong move and I grab on to him as we topple backwards on to the path.
We’re both breathing hard, and fear is still rushing through me. He holds me to him but then pulls away and in the sliver of the moonlight I see the blood sliding down his face.
His men come rushing through the gate with guns and Aiden holds up a hand.
“I have this under control, go away,” he barks and the men back away.
He bars his teeth, and my fear enhances.
I hit him and I tried to escape.
What the hell is he going to do to me now.
The enraged look he gives me makes me wonder if death might not have been better. But I’m crying so much I can’t quite think straight.
He stands, picks me up and ushers me back through the gate, but we go through the hedge and into an alcove built into the wall.
In one deft move he shoves me against the wall and throws a fist into the space above me.
I flinch because I’m used to Jude and his cruelty. That fist would have gone in my face had I pulled a stunt like I did on Aiden and he would have only saved me because of the company.
Aiden barricades me in the chasm of his wide powerful shoulders and catches my face.
“What the fuck are you trying to do, get yourself killed?” he bellows.
I blink against the tears and the rain. “Aren’t you going to kill me?”
He stares back at me with those piercing eyes which now look silver in the moonlight.
“Do you think I’d save you if I was going to fucking kill you?” he snarls, and something changes in his expression.