Crown Jewels (Off-Limits Romance #1)(89)

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Lucy





I’m still pregnant. I don’t know how I know—but I can feel it. It’s the only thing that kept me treading water when I could barely move my hands and my feet were still tied last night. Sometimes, I could get my head against one of the uppermost stairs, so that helped too.

My mind feels slightly clearer than it has been feeling, even though I’m shivering against Liam and I feel as if I’m on the verge of crying.

“She shouldn’t be here at all. Lucy has nothing to do with this,” Liam tells the man in front of us.

He shrugs. “In any event, you’ve got two choices. Put Lucy down. We put her in the boat. I’ll shoot her up again with ketamine. She won’t remember anything. And then I’ll push the boat toward mainland. You jump off the rocks at the north point of the island, go for a swim, and don’t come back.” My stomach freezes at the man’s horrible words. “I’ll have an anon call placed to the water guard, and they’ll come rescue Lucy.”

“What’s my other option,” Liam asks in a low voice.

“You and Lucy make a run for it, and I’ll shoot both of you.”

Liam slowly shakes his head. “Neither.”

“You want back inside the dungeon, then? Give you some time to decide?”

My whole body stiffens with my need to scream “no,” so I’m stunned when Liam says, “Not the dungeon. I want to sit with Lucy on the beach so I can talk to her. So I can get her ready for the boat—if I decide to send her off.”

The man chuckles. “You don’t make the rules here, I do. And you know why that is. I could have been a good father to you. A good father to the little rosebud. I asked your mother to choose, and she chose him. Did I ever tell you that? I don’t think Dru knows, not the full story. We were lovers since we were children, but she chose the throne instead of me.”

Liam’s body doesn’t move as the man’s face reddens, his mouth tautens. “I would have loved her. Given her the world. Look at me now,” he says, holding his arms out. “I’m ambitious. Successful! Your father—your faux father—he’s a laughingstock! The people of Gael can’t wait to see him out of power. Me—I’m popular.”

“That’s debatable,” Liam says drolly.

The man laughs. “Go on and debate it. I—”

One second I’m in Liam’s arms and the next I’ve hit the hard ground. I hear grunts, the smack of flesh on flesh. I hear a curse that doesn’t come from Liam—and then I hear Liam’s voice, my name. “Go, Lucy!”

It takes me a long moment to realize that my feet are still tied, but my hands aren’t. I have to focus hard to free my ankles from the rope wound around them. I have to block out Liam and Ronald, even as I see the older man on top of Liam. I see a gleam of metal, and I jump up without thinking. My legs are still slightly tied, but I can move enough to throw myself on Ronald’s shoulders.

I wrap my legs around his waist and wrap my weak fingers around his neck. He throws his hands up and back, trying to grab at me, to shake me off—and it’s a good thing; he’d had a gun to Liam’s head!

The distraction enables Liam to get a punch in. Ronald barks and brings the gun down on Liam’s temple.

Blood spurts from the wound, and I grab Ronald by his ear. I pull so hard, I hope I pull it off.

“You’re not my father,” I hear Liam growl. He backhands Ronald, who tries to get Liam in the face with his gun. Liam grabs at the man’s right wrist. I try to shift my body weight to Ronald’s right shoulder, even as he tries to shake me off.

“You’re nothing,” Ronald growls.

Liam’s got his fingers wrapped around the gun’s barrel. His eyes fly to mine for just a moment, telling me to go. Instead I lean down, biting Ronald’s neck as hard as I can. As the man tries to shake me off, Liam gets the gun.

“MOVE!”

I know the word is meant for me, and so I scramble off Ronald. The gun goes off so fast, and it’s so loud, I’m stunned and on my ass for a long moment.

Then I realize Ronald’s on the grass; he’s bleeding from his chest. Liam’s face is bloody, too. He’s staring at the gun. He blinks at me.

“Lucy?”

His voice sounds low and unsteady.

“This is my gun,” he says, starting to pant. “I know the safety.” His eyes blink as he looks down on Ronald. “I don’t have service here. I don’t have phone service.”

“My phone’s wet.”

I read the panic on Liam’s pale face. I can see the terror in his trembling shoulders. As he closes the distance between us, Ronald starts to gurgle.

“Lucy.” I’m pulled against his chest, and then we’re moving. Liam is steering me away from Ronald. “Fuck. Lucy. I’m sorry. I’m so, so, so sorry.”

He wraps his arms around me, kissing me as blood pours from his temple. I can feel him shaking hard. Or maybe that’s me.

“Are you hurt? Are you bleeding, Lucy?”

“I don’t think so.” I start sobbing. I cling to his neck. “I thought I was going to drown. I’m still pregnant, I don’t know for sure…I think.”