Page 31 of Beast

Not me.

But someone else.

Yes, he had a radio. I recalled him speaking on it before, but the conversation back then wasn’t clear, not like it was now.

“I heard you the first time around,” he whispered.

“So, she’s dead!” the eerie voice said over the radio, and I froze.

I closed my eyes, too scared to open them again. Deep down in my bones, I knew who “she” was. They were talking about me.

“No!” he barked and then jumped off the edge of the bed. And as he shifted, I knew that no more was he on the other side of it. Then he abruptly left the room. I waited until his footsteps faded down the hallway and the back door creaked open and then clicked closed. I opened my eyes fully.

My heart raced and my head hurt. Hearing the words being said reminded me of my reality. I wasn’t here on a fucking honeymoon. Tomas wasn’t my boyfriend, nor my fiancé.

He’d drugged me and taken me against my will. All the things that I’d shut out about our relationship suddenly became my reality as I thought about the way he’d treated me over the last few days.

I had to stop acting like some fucked-up, naive twenty-one-year-old who didn’t know her left from her right. Those times had truly been over and done with, now that I knew it really was a question of survival.

Did I want to live?

Yes.

There was only one way that I could do that and it was to get out of here, fast, and that meant only one thing. I had to run. That was the only solution, even if Tomas didn’t want to kill me, whoever he was speaking to clearly did and he could come here and do the job if Tomas didn’t. There had to be a way off this fucking island, and I intended to find it. Or as the guy on the other end of the radio had said, I should be dead.

13

BEAST

I’d never fucking hated my job as much as I did now. They really wanted Natalia dead? A pain twisted in my chest. Not happening, and I would kill them all to keep her safe. I left her sleeping in bed and leapt off the balcony to clear my head. I had to fucking get some air. I hiked down to the ocean, away from the beach house.

How long would it take before they requested proof? Or until they discovered where we were and came for her themselves? I stared out at the waves, throwing broken shells out into the water and trying to figure out how to fix this.

I clenched my fists, not caring that the nails bit into my palms. They wouldn’t touch her.

She was mine!

With the desire to press her into my chest and wrap my arms around her, I hustled inside. At the kitchen sink, I splashed water on my face and took out a beer. I downed the alcohol before I set the bottle into the trash. I had to think about what to do. Figure out how to get us out of this shit.

Careful not to wake her, I took my time going back to the bedroom. Inside, I paused, not hearing her breathing. I gently tossed back the covers.Empty?

Strange.

She was on the bed sleeping a few minutes ago. I moved through the house looking for her. The silence rang through my place like someone had struck a gong and the vibration of it pulsed in the air.

“Natalia,” I bellowed.

Nothing.

I didn’t get it. She was dead asleep a few minutes ago. Where would she go without trying to find me?

Shit!

She must have overheard me on the radio.

A weight sank into my gut and I went to the front window, looking out across half the island. There! Her figure raced across the dune straight to my boat.

One of my men must have brought it there. I didn’t see it earlier when I was on the balcony. They’ve started to put things in place already so that I could dispose of her. The call was clear, but they were putting it all into action now.

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