Page 66 of Saved By the Cruel Highlander
“It’s time for ye to die, Holly,” the person hissed in her ear.
Her surprise at hearing a feminine voice was only second to her surprise at being strangled.
“Pl—” It was all Holly could get out while being strangled.
“Ye thought he could save ye?” the woman asked. “Ye really thought ye could get away from me? After everythin’ I’ve put into this? Ye should have done as ye were supposed to and married him, Holly. Ye should have married him and died as ye were supposed to. But ye didnae, did ye? And what now? Now, I have to kill ye with me bare hands, and then I have to find a way to get what I deserve. Do ye ken what that means, Holly?”
Holly scrambled frantically, kicking at the bed sheets, her face becoming as purple as a beetroot. Her vision blurred as the oxygen was drained out of her body. Her strength and resolve were weakening, and she was unable to get any leverage under the fabric.
“It means I will have to kill the people ye love and then take advantage of the confusion. The Laird, yer maid, the bairn.”
Holly almost exploded at the mention of Cole.
Ye willnae touch a hair on his head!
She couldn’t see, she couldn’t breathe, she could barely feel. All she knew in the world was that she was moments away from death, and as soon as she was dead, the woman strangling her would walk down the hallway and kill the boy she loved, and there would be no one around to stop her.
Holly pulled up her feet as far as she could and used her last ounce of strength to kick with as much might as she could, slamming herself and the woman behind her into the wooden headboard.
There was a grunt, and the fabric around her neck loosened. Tears filled her eyes. She still felt like she was underwater, unable to take a breath. She grabbed the fabric and pulled it off her neck, holding it in her fist. Then, she rolled over on the bed, trying to make a dash for the door.
“Dinnae!” the woman warned.
Holly gulped down a large lungful of air, her chest burning. Her vision slowly focused as she gulped down the air like someone drinking water at an oasis in the desert.
“Nae a sound!” the woman warned.
Holly’s vision cleared enough to see three things—a glinting blade pointed at her, the outline of the woman holding it, and the ribbon in her hand that had almost been the end of her. She looked down at the ribbon one more time and then up at the woman.
“Alice?” she asked.
She recognized the ribbon. It was the one she had gifted Alice in the tavern.
“Nae another word,” Alice warned. “I’m here to kill ye, and if ye scream, I’ll kill ye and have enough time to kill yer boy. If ye keep yer mouth shut, I’ll only kill ye.”
“I dinnae understand,” Holly croaked.
She had no strength now; she only had her words. She could barely move, let alone overpower Alice with a knife.
“What dinnae ye understand?” Alice scoffed. “Ye dinnae understand that yer faither killed mine when he hadnae harmed a hair on yer head?”
“What?” Holly managed. “He kidnapped me. He meant to sell me into prostitution.”
“Aye, well, that’s yer fault for wanderin’ off at the market.” Alice shook the knife. “Yer faither didnae need to kill mine, and Isuppose I dinnae need to kill ye, but life works in funny ways sometimes, does it nae?”
Holly shook her head, still trying to understand. She had heard what Alice said, but the lack of oxygen made her head swim.
“Ye want to kill me because me faither fought with yers?” Holly asked.
“Killedhim,” Alice hissed. “Yer faitherkilledmine. So, aye, ye deserve to die at me hand, but ye have made it hard. Instead of poison, I’ll slit yer pretty throat.”
“Ye were behind it?” Holly said, half a question.
“Of course, I was,” Alice said, with a malicious smile. “Do ye really think Felix had the intelligence to think up somethin’ like that by himself? It was hardly a chore to get him to do it, and I suppose the sex with him wasnae bad. It’s amazin’ what a man will do for ye when he thinks ye are in love with him—and especially whenheis in love with ye.”
“So what?” Holly asked, her strength coming back in dribs and drabs. “Ye concocted this plan, and ye would have Felix marry me, kill me, take me money, and then be with ye?”
“Aye, but ye make it sound overly simple when ye put it like that,” Alice said in frustration. “He would have been the perfect husband to ye, and I would still have made him sleep with me, just to keep him under me thumb. Ye are a bonny lass, Holly,and I cannae take any risks. And it would have been slow and subtle. He would have poisoned ye over time, and when ye were dead, nay one would have suspected a thing.
