Page 19 of Knot your Princess
“This is going to go one of two ways, but the end result is me taking the girl,” he says, “so what’s it going to be?”
Nico fires the gun, making me jump and groan, clapping my hands over my ears, my bleeding head forgotten. Then there is a sharpping-pingnoise, and Nico slumps forward.
“No!” I scream as two of the nasty alphas reach in to grab him and haul him out.
I catch sight of him; his white shirt is blossoming with red blood.
“No! Nico!” I cry out, but another one of the alphas in this group of vagrants reaches into the van and grabs me, pulling me out. I don’t even have time to get my feet under me, as I drop to my knees next to Nico’s bleeding body on the ground.
“What have you done?” I shriek, but a hand is slapped over my mouth.
I’m dragged backwards, kicking and scratching, trying to claw my way out of the tight grip of an alpha who stinks like the acrid smell of sour milk. I retch behind his sweaty hand, twisting and fighting to get free, but it’s no use. I’m just not strong enough. Another one of them leans into the van and snatches something up, something from the envelope, and pockets it. Then he bends down to take the gun from Nico and shoves it into the back of his pants.
I’m shoved into the van that hit us, a nondescript white in colour, and three of the five alphas climb in with me, one of them shot in the arm by the looks of it. There are no seats, just an empty space, like a workman’s van, so I curl up on the far side as they slam the door shut, and the other two climb in the front. We set off with a screech of tyres.
The one who spoke to Nico gives me a level stare. “You are a pain in the ass, just like your mother,” he says.
I look up and see his face for the first time. Gasping, my blood runs cold.
“What are you doing here?” I whisper.
He shrugs and looks to the side. “I have a few things to sort out over here. You are easier to get to than Cesca, which is surprising seeing who your father is.”
Trying to swallow away the tickle in my throat, my mouth is dry, so I cough and splutter.
Blinking, I tell myself this isn’t happening. I don’t know much about my uncle, my mum’s brother, but I know he lives in Italy and isn’t supposed to be in this country. He and my father have…issues.
Lorenzo Calabrese gives me a penetrating stare out of eyes that are exactly like my mother’s, but they are dead. There is no life, no passion, no love. Nothing.
It’s frightening.
I’m scared and alone; I don’t have my phone or Nico, not even Cain to help me.
“Nico,” I croak, paralysed with fear for him.
“He’ll live. He’s as stubborn as an ox.”
Taking no comfort from that, I ask, “What do you want with me?”
“I want to get to your mother. A simple swap. Her for you.”
“Why?”
“She has something I want.”
Wondering what that could possibly be, all I know is that I’m on a collision course with a danger that I know nothing about, but instead of feeling scared, I suddenly feel calm. I’m a pawn, sure, one he wants to swap out for the Queen, but pawns have their place in a game of chess. They are underestimated. I don’t know what Lorenzo is really after apart from something from my mother, and whatever he stole from me, which in turn I stole from Atlas. I’m guessing it’s the piece I spotted earlier that I didn’t recognise. It was a large cameo brooch set in bronze.
I have no idea what’s really going on here, but I intend to find out. He has shot Nico, possibly killed him and abducted me, not to mention there is the whole complication with Atlas, and Nico’s apparent Taskforce that is after my dad. One thing is for sure, I need to pull myself together, think, and act accordingly. There is a lot to figure out, but the best way is to start with what I do know, and that is, that this man is family.
It’s not a lot, but blood is thicker than water, so they say.
Giving myself a minute to grieve for my bodyguard, and sending up a prayer to whatever deity is out there that he is alive, as my uncle says, I put on my game face.
Neverunderestimate the pawn.
ChapterSeventeen
Cain
