Page 27 of Guarded By the SEAL

“Come with me.” It’s the same hollow-eyed asshole who dragged Dad roughly out of here moments ago.

“Where’s my dad?” I demand as he yanks hard at my already raw wrists, not that the physical pain is the worst of my problems right now. “What did you do to him? He'd better not be hurt.”

I don’t know who the fuck this guy is and how he’s linked to my husband, but the piece of shit actually laughs at me. He seems to find it funny that my father might be hurt. I wonder if he’d feel the same way if this were his family being tortured for no other reason than having something someone else wants. Jake knows that my father would sacrifice all the money to keep me alive, anyway. He has been around my family long enough to understand that. This seems to be for something else. He wants me tormented.

I don’t think I did anything wrong in our marriage. I don’t deserve to be hated by him. I was a good wife, a faithful one. I always treated him well. I only ran away from him because of his plans for me.

No, I tell myself fiercely as the man drags me into the other room where I just know I will finally have to face the man who wants me destroyed.Don’t show any weakness. Don’t give him what he wants.

I’m utterly determined that I won’t crack, that no tear will fall, that Jake can go to hell as far as I’m concerned… until I see the blood spilling out all over the floor and the corpse.

“No!” I howl, a guttural sound that comes from deep within my soul. I leap forward, overcoming every scrap of pain to wrap my arms tightly around my dad. It wasn’t a warning shot, a wayto make him spill everything. Jake killed him. For no fucking reason, Jake killed my father. “No, why did you do this?”

Laughter floods the room, echoing off the dingy warehouse walls, but I tune all of that out. In the intensity of my grief, I hear none of it. Just one angelic voice shattering through it all.

“Petra, it’s time to go.” It’s Harry, but I have to be imagining things. Harry can’t be here. He’s still on the island. If this is the way that I’m finally cracking up, then so be it. “I bought your freedom. Come on.”

I glance up to see a vision of the man I adored spending time with, the only person who has ever really made me feel safe in my life. He’s offering me his hand, but if I take it, I’ll be dragged away from Dad.

“Come on.” Harry is starting to look impatient with me, which is weird. Why would I make him like that? “We need to get out of here. You can’t clutch onto your husband like that. He treated you like shit anyway, didn’t he? I killed him to save you, and I really don’t want either of us to end up dead regardless.”

“What?” I hiss. My voice is pretty much a whisper, but the venom burning in my tongue gives it power. “What are you saying? You killed him? But… but you wouldn’t do that to me.”

“I thought you hated him, Petra.” Harry is becoming infinitely more real. An end-of-life fantasy shouldn’t have so much confusion and evil within it. I would never imagine Harry doing something like this to harm me… unless it’s the truth. But why? There is no explanation for this. “He wanted to sell you, remember? He was trying to turn you into some kind of sex slave. You don’t owe him any of your tears.”

“But… but this isn’t Jake,” I stammer awkwardly at him. “What are you talking about?”

“That’s Jake.” Harry points at him as if I don’t understand. “That’s Jake, your husband. They told me… they told me he was useless so if I kill him, you will be free.” He furrows his brows. “That’s Jake.”

I shake my head and sniff back painfully. “No, Harry, you don’t understand. This is my dad.” I glance over to the other side of the room where Harry is pointing to see a nasty, laughing asshole. That fucking piece of work couldn’t be happier with what he’s done. “That man over there, that’s Jake.”

“But… but he’s the boss,” Harry whispers as he staggers backward away from me. “He told me.”

“As if I’m ever going to let either of you go,” Jake cries out in sheer delight. “Fucking hell, hero, how stupid can you be? Do you really think that I would let that whore of a wife of mine go?”

Harry stammers a few more times but doesn’t really form words as a bunch of Jake’s men jump on him. The gun flies from his fingers as fists connect with his face. I cry harder, trying to scream at them to stop, but I can’t get anything out. The only piece of shit who isn’t getting his hands dirty is Jake.

“How could you?” I yell out to him. Since his eyes are fixed solely on me, I can only assume that he wants to see my reaction as he tears my life apart. “What did I ever do to you? How could you?”

“See what your hero has done?” Somehow, his voice manages to travel loudly. “He’s killed your father. You ran off with this man, and he’s a daddy killer. But don’t worry, sweetheart, I will now kill him too.”

Harry might have been the one to pull the trigger, but he was tricked, and anyway, my emotions are all over the place right now. Nothing is making any sense. I leap up and charge toward Jake, wanting him dead now for real. The only weapon I have is my unbridled rage, but that will have to be enough.

“Fuck you,” I scream loudly, the anger bursting through with every yell. “Fuck you, Jake.”

But he’s ready for me. Of course, he is. He’s planned every bit of this out right down to the last detail. He knew that I wouldn’t be able to hold my feelings in for long. He was probably banking on it.

“Ah, husband and wife, back together again.” He wraps his arms around me and roughly spins me around. It doesn’t seem to matter how much I thrash about and kick. He has control of me now. “Isn’t this just wonderful? I was so worried that we wouldn’t get to see one another again. Weren’t you?”

“Fuck off, Jake,” I spit back. “I hate you for what you’ve done to me. How could you? We were married.”

“Oh, you didn’t believe that was real, did you?” He pities me, and I hate it. The putrid way that I despise this man shoots and darts through me like lightning bolts. “You didn’t think that I would actually like you, did you? Oh, Petra, that is so sweet. But you are a bit too prissy for my liking.”

“A slut and prissy? Make your fucking mind up, will you?” I struggle some more, but it gets me nowhere. If anything, it’s just a waste of energy, but I need to keep trying. “Jake, just stop this now. You have already killed my father. Harry doesn’t need to die as well. You can just let him go.”

“Look at him.” Jake yanks me around to stare at the fight scene unfolding in front of my very eyes. “Your precious little Harry is about to be beaten to death. Military man or not, he can’t take on seven men.”

“Fucking coward,” I scream, the sound aching in my lungs. “That isn’t a fight, it’s an ambush. Not one of you would stand a chance in a one-on-one fight with him. He is a million times the man any of you are.”

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