Page 3 of Wrathful King
Good.Let them suffer. I had no regrets.
Suddenly, desperation washed through me. I was out of bullets and the men closing in looked too strong to fight.
I didn’t stand a chance.
“Finally we meet,” the man drawled. “It’s been a long time coming, Reina.”
Terror buckled my knees as I placed myself between him and Amon. I prayed there was help coming. Bullets were still flying around, but the fight seemed to have shifted away from us. Where were Hiroshi and Hana?
“And who the fuck are you?” I spat, sounding braver than I felt.
“Your future. Perez Cortes, at your service.” The voice slithered down my spine. “I’m so happy to finally have the golden child. You’ll be my biggest prize yet.” The man was crazy if he thought I’d be goinganywherewith him. His eyes fell to Amon’s body and his lips curled into a menacing smile, revealing unnaturally white teeth. Shivers broke across my skin as he flicked a glance over his shoulder. “Check his pulse.”
“Don’t youtouchhim,” I snarled, the emptiness in my chest matching that of the man’s eyes.
He took another step closer, the stench of his cologne invading my senses. “And who’s going to stop me?”
I launched myself forward and shoved him with all my strength, making him stumble. “I am.”
He stared at me, shocked, as he straightened his suit jacket. The nearby sounds of shouting and guns being fired faded into the background, leaving me with something more terrifying: the malice of this man. These guys had some serious backup.
Fear wrapped its invisible hand around my throat and my heart roared in my chest. The message ringing in my head was loud and clear.
This is the end.
My eyes drifted back to my husband’s body and the blood, chaos, and death surrounding us fell away. I’d rather die looking at him than at the evil that stood before me.
Then in one quick move, Perez Cortes pulled out a gun. Eyes never straying from Amon’s bloodied face, I braced myself for the bullet that never came. Instead, I watched in slow motion as it hit my husband, the bullet jerking his body.
I screamed and screamed and screamed until my voice became hoarse and a hard object connected with the back of my head, turning the world black.
* * *
I’d fallen into a deep pit of darkness.
My eyelids felt like lead. I tried to open them but they refused to move. Constant rocking shifted me back and forth, making me feel sick. Waves of nausea rushed through me and my temples throbbed like nothing else.
Slowly cracking open my crusted eyes, I was greeted by utter darkness. A flicker of panic ripped through me, tightening my throat with desperation. My heart was beating so hard it slammed against my ribs.
I squeezed my eyelids shut once more, my body pulsating with pain as I focused on the muffled sounds around me. Agonized cries. Soft whimpers. A constant buzzing.
Then the smell registered. Metal and salt.
I tried to muster the energy to move, but my brain felt too big for my skull, pulsing until the pressure became unbearable and threatened to explode. The ache drilled into me, kept me frozen in place.Where am I, and why am I so weak?
The only logical explanation was that I’d been injected with something. My mouth was drier than the Sahara and my tongue was heavy. The sounds around me, however dulled, pierced through my skull.
As my blurry eyes roamed the dark, I tried to shift again.
No luck. I forced myself to remember how I got here. Snapshots from the yacht, arriving in the Philippines, Amon’s mother and Hiroshi—
“Amon?” I cried out, my voice hoarse. No answer. Just a terrifying silence. A sob crawled up my throat but I fought the urge to break down or let the panic take over as images of Amon sprawled on the ground rushed in. A tear slipped through my lashes. “No,” I whispered softly, more tears rolling down my cheeks as my shoulders curled in and began to shake.
A choking fear gripped me—for him, for myself. Where was he?
I finally regained enough strength to let my fingers roam, finding my hands and feet bound together with rope. My eyes traveled around me, furiously blinking the haze away. I was in a damp, steel-enforced box.The buzzing.The constant humming.The rocking…
I had to be on a boat. But how?
