Chapter 2

~Rielle

My heart stopped for a moment and the ground tilted under me. But I had to keep listening. I had to know.

"Can't wait to be rid of the thing. She was a pain in the ass like her father." Lucinda shuddered at the memory of the man who saved her family from bankruptcy.

"He did not see it coming," Jameson said with utmost glee. He laughed. "Seeing his corpse was so freeing. The shackles were finally off. We would not have to pay back a dime."

"It's sad, you know," Lucinda said. "That he left everything to such a retarded child."

"Not for long," Gloria said.

They laughed again.

I could suddenly not hear anything over the loud thumping of my heart. My shock had swallowed every other emotion that I should have felt. They killed my father. They killed the only person that I had because of the debts they owed and I was foolish enough to let them get away with it. Then fear settled in my stomach, heavy as lead. I was not safe. I had to leave before they knew I had heard.

I slowly rose to my feet and took a step backwards away from the door. They did not know I had heard, they continued conversing. Heavy hands clamped over my shoulders as I heard a voice. "Miss, you know it is impolite to eavesdrop."

My heart threatened to break through my ribs. I recognized the voice without turning. It was Brutus, Jameson's Beta.

I swallowed the rock hard lump that formed in my throat.

"Brutus…" That was all I could say before pain tore through my skull and I felt nothing.

*****

The bitter sting of ice cold water pulled me out of my unconsciousness. My head throbbed badly but I opened my eyes to find myself in a chamber illuminated by a single torch that sat yards away.

I heard a snap of someone's finger. "Wake up." Ordered a voice that was achingly familiar.

I raised my head to meet Jameson's stare. The low light shadowed his features but I knew he was grinning.

I looked away from him and around my surroundings. I was not in some chamber, I was in a dungeon. Then it all came back in painful flashes, all that had happened and all I had heard.

"You're finally awake," Lucinda stepped in front of me. She took my chin harshly and surveyed my face. "Except for the lump on your head, this will do nicely."

I tried to move only to realise that I could not move my body or speak. Panic slammed into me. What had they done to me?

"Don't bother," Jameson said, easily. "Struggling would be a waste since you don't have long to live."

My heart stopped, they were going to kill me.

As though reading my mind another voice piped up. "We promise that it won't be quick." Gloria

She moved closer to me, her eyes filled with loathing. "You have no idea how long I have waited for this day. You were a leach, sticking to my darling Jamie for all these years. I was fucking forced to stand in the sidelines." She drew her hand back and struck me hard across the face.

I could do nothing but to take it, still unable to move.

Then she hit me, again and again and again until Jameson held her back. "That's enough, darling." He held her to his chest.

The sight hurt more than the slaps.

Lucinda raised a sheet of paper to my face. "We have already assisted you in writing the suicide letter so you don't have to strain your wrist." She mocked.

"Shall we begin?" She asked and they nodded. Brutus, who had had his arms crossed in the corner of the room, finally moved. He brought a sharp blade to Lucinda.

I tried to move, willing my cells to comply but my body was as unmoving as a boulder.

Lucinda took my wrist and placed it on the table. Our eyes met and I let my tears slip through, hoping I could reach into her humanity. Into the mother that I once knew.

She only smiled but it was all teeth and sharp edges. "I have no mercy for you, dear. It is better for us this way." Then she took the blade to my wrist, pierced and pulled so hard. I would have screamed if I could but that was just another liberty that had been taken from me.

The blood bubbled quickly to the surface and spilled freely. The pain was immense and all consuming. She did the same with my other wrist and it did not take long before the edges of my vision began to darken.

I would die by their hands, like my father and they would get everything that he had worked for. There would be no justice. No reckoning for those who deceived and used me. I would never get to avenge my father.

"She should be dead soon," I heard a voice but my brain was in too much shambles for me to place it. "Let's go." I heard retreating footsteps.

I felt cold and heavy. I could not cry out but everything hurt. I wanted to be strong, to hold on until someone would find me. I could not die like this. Yet, the pain was unrelenting in its brutality so I prayed for reprieve. I prayed for death.

I heard footfalls and a dark figure approaching. Death had answered my prayers and came for me at last. But then fear took over, bringing with it a sense of self-preservation.

I tried to fight again, squirming and writhing through the pain. I felt arms around me, holding me to a muscled chest. I had heard that death was cold but this body was warm. Death held me to him and despite the pain, I felt my body relax on its own accord.

"Stay alive for me, princess." His voice was silk over gravel and my abused body tingled.

My last thought before I was pulled into darkness's embrace was, why would death tell me to stay alive?