Page 111 of Bind Me

Kaden

Arush of panic grips me as I hold Sasha in my arms, her body limp and unresponsive. The transformation is complete—her scales shimmer in the water, the claws have vanished, and she’s back to her mermaid form.

Yet she’s not responsive!

What if it’s too late? What if I’ve lost her forever?

“Sasha, don’t do this to me. You better not fucking leave me!”

Dread consumes me, and in my desperation, I barely register the signs of a vision coming. I’ve never hated the damn thing more than I do now.

“Fuck no, not fucking now!” I shout into the void as the world spins around me, dissolving into darkness.

I’m standing at the front of the mansion. Authorities in crisp, dark navy uniforms surround my grandfather, their expressions stern, weapons drawn, charged with magic.

My chest tightens with dread at the scene in front of me.

Nearby, Nixi clings to my grandfather, tears streaming down her face. “Don’t take him! He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

The lead officer steps toward my grandfather, meeting his gaze. “You are under arrest for running an illegal racket, for forcing mermaids into sirens, and for orchestrating horrendous killings and crimes through them.”

Stunned, my grandfather stares at them, eyes wide with disbelief. Shock etches into his features. “You’ve got the wrong person!” he bellows. “I have no such ability! It’s Lilia Acker—she’s the one with the power to do this!”

Nixi is beside herself, sobbing uncontrollably. She clutches his arm, trying to shield him with her presence. My grandfather’s rage burns like wildfire, his face reddening.

A guard jabs my grandfather with a weapon that zaps him with magic, his body convulsing violently as he drops to his knees. Nixi screams, a heart-wrenching sound, as they drag him away, two more guards snapping a metal brace around his neck.

My heart pounds in my chest, anger boiling inside me. I watch in horror, wanting to intervene, but I’m powerless to do anything but witness.

“Release me!” he roars, struggling against the guards. “It’s Lilia! She’s framing me!”

“There will be no hearing for your crimes,” the officer in charge states with no remorse. “You are going straight to Tartarus Prison,” the officer commands.

My stomach drops, and the rage within me intensifies. My grandfather tried to redeem himself, and it cost him everything. He was far from perfect, but he didn’t deserve this. I want to scream, to tear down the very sky in fury at how everything crumbled around him, how the world he tried to escape from swallowed him whole. And that payment ended up being something my parents and I paid for as well by being born in Tartarus.

As they shove him away, I catch movement in the shadows by the trees. There, watching it all unfold with a twisted smile, is Lilia. That fucking bitch! Of course, she backstabbed him, orchestrating his downfall and sending him to Tartarus.

Thinking back, it all makes sense. Her jealousy destroyed so many lives!

In front of me, my grandfather fights with every ounce of strength he has left. The guards use their weapons relentlessly, driving him back to the ground. Nixi stands there, screaming for them to stop hurting him, her voice raw and desperate.

The vision darkens, fading away like smoke in the wind, and I’m plunged back into the ocean. Disoriented, I float in the cold, dark water. I glance around, whipping around on the spot, to find no sign of Sasha or my pendant.

Despair engulfs me, a suffocating weight dragging me down into the depths. The ocean presses in from all sides. The vision lingers in my mind, a haunting reminder of everything I’ve lost, everything I might still lose.

But I can’t lose Sasha. I refuse to let this be the end.

Blinking away the water and the tears that mix with the salt, I force myself to focus.

Fire ignites within me. I kick hard, surging upward, breaking through the surface, and instantly, I hear Sasha’s voice from the boat. From my distance, I can’t make out her words, but she’s on the ship… Why the hell did she return?

I haul myself up the side of the boat, the metal cold beneath my fingers, keeping low as I peer over the railing. Night cloaks part of the deck, but there are lights strung across the back of the boat, casting a sickly yellow glow over the scene.

There she is. Lilia, hands on her hips, with that sneering, arrogant look on her face. Rage boils inside me at the sight of her, my muscles coiling tight with the desire to leap over the side and rip her to pieces. But I know she deserves worse, much worse.

Farther back, near the stern, I notice Sasha. My heart lurches at the sight of her in her human form, surrounded by several other women. One of them makes me do a double take—a woman who looks just like Sasha but older.

Realization hits me like a punch to the gut—her mother. The woman Sasha feared she’d become like. I take a steadying breath, my mind racing as I take in the scene.

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