Page 118 of Hook

Darkness descends and I feel everything slipping away.

40

GWENDOLYNE

It all happens in a blur.

One moment he’s standing there, the next he’s on the ground.

My world spins around me. My heart beats at a thousand miles an hour. The blood pooling around him is horrific. He’s not moving and all I can think is the worst.

What if he’s dead?

My hand instinctively moves to my stomach where his baby is growing inside me. A tear trickles down my cheek as I wonder if he or she will grow up fatherless.

Piero smirks at me. “Shedding a tear for your husband, I see,” He chuckles. “He did get under your skin, didn’t he?”

I swallow hard, my hatred for this man swelling within me. He’s a complete and utter asshole.

“It’s time to tie up loose ends. I may not get your empire through marriage, but with Cillian gone and you and your father dead, there’ll be no one to fight my takeover of San Diego.”

My father shakes his head. “How much would it take for you to walk away and leave us alone?”

He laughs. “There’s no price that can be paid. I’m taking everything and this time I won’t leave loose ends as they come back to bite you on the ass.” He nods at Cillian’s body. “Here’s a prime example.”

Tilly won’t look me in the eye as she stands behind Piero. I believed that she genuinely wanted to help me, when all along she intended to return me to Piero so he could murder me and my father.

It’s hard to believe someone could be so cold, but I’m finding that my dad has sheltered me from real life for far too long. I’ve become too innocent and gullible and I hate that about myself.

The flash of metal catches my eye first as Cillian miraculously claws himself to his feet, his hook firmly fixed in place. He’s still bleeding from the abdomen and it makes my heart thunder. He shouldn’t be standing, he should be getting help as soon as possible before he loses too much blood.

Tilly and Smyth are both looking in our direction too, which gives him the air of surprise.

He places the hook around Tilly’s throat and her eyes go wide. “I would rethink your entire plan unless you want her to die,” Cillian says, his voice stable considering the amount of blood he’s lost.

Piero turns around and I notice the panic that flashes across his face. He cares for her. A woman he pushed away to stalk his enemy for five years.

“What makes you think I give a shit whether you slit her throat?”

Cillian smirks and there’s a darkness in his eyes that scares me. “You wouldn’t trust just anyone with surveilling me. You’d choose the person closest to you in this world, because you don’t trust.”

Piero’s jaw works and Tilly is begging him with her eyes. “That’s bullshit,” he breathes.

“It’s the truth and you know it. If I’m wrong, I’ll kill her and you won’t bat an eye.” Cillian draws the sharp tip of his hook across her throat, blood pooling there.

“Stop!” Piero growls, nostrils flaring. “What do you want?”

Cillian laughs, shaking his head. “What do I want?” He wobbles, and I can tell he’s struggling to remain upright. “What I wanted was to destroy you the way you destroyed me, but I don’t care about that anymore.”

Piero’s brow furrows. “You don’t?”

“No, I want you to fuck off and stay in Los Angeles. Never step foot on San Diego territory again and leave my wife and her family alone. In turn, I’ll leave you and your pretty little tilly alone.”

Piero falls silent, and that’s when my dad speaks. “Are you expecting me to be okay with you keeping my daughter as your wife?”

I set my hand gently on his arm. “I want to be with Cillian, Dad.”

His nose wrinkles in disgust. “I’ll never understand how that’s possible. He kidnapped you, sweetheart.”

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