Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
My tears break the dam and roll down my face. “Stace, no.” I shake my head. “Please, for me… don’t do this.”
He wraps me in an embrace.
“Don’t make me lose you, too,” I sob into his shoulder.
He holds me for an extended time and eventually he replies, “Baby, I’m not yours to keep. He owns me. I have nothing to lose.”
* * *
I sit in the dawn light alone at the desk in the cabin. Stace started work at 5am this morning in preparation for Vikinos’ arrival at 10am.
I’m soul searching, praying to my mother to save him. He has forbidden me to leave the cabin today and has already brought me back enough food for a week.
As if I can eat any of it. I feel sick.
I can’t imagine what is has been like for him, to live on this boat knowing its owner murdered his brother when he was trying to save him.
The guilt he must feel.
* * *
He takes the knife and slices her neck and she lets out a garbled wail.
My eyes widen in horror. “No,” I cry. “Stop it, stop it. Let her go!” I scream as the tears run down my face. I slam my head from side to side frantically as I try to break free from the ropes that tie me to the chair. The chair rocks as I try desperately to escape.
“You, animal. Let her go!” I scream. I shake my head harder. “No, no, no, no, Mom. Mom, look at me. Look at me,” I cry. “Mom, hang on. Just hang on.”
Her stare becomes vacant and I screw up my face in pain. The room starts to spin as my eyes drop to the sea of her blood that runs down her body and onto the floor.
“Mom. Mom!” I cry. “Let her fucking go!” I scream. “Kill me. Kill me,” I cry. “No, you can’t do this! Please, don’t do this,” I sob.
“This is what happens when you disobey me, my Roshina.” His deep voice growls.
She shudders as she tries to say something.
“I love you, Mom,” I cry.
A trace of a smile crosses her face and then her head drops as the last of her life drips out.
I turn to the Devil. My father. “I hate you. I fucking hate you. I will kill you!” I scream as I go ballistic and try to break free from the chair.
His hard hand hits me across the face.
* * *
I lick my bottom lip like I can still taste the blood from his hits.
My eyes fill with tears at the horrific memory, and six years later, I can still feel my beautiful mother’s life drain from her body.
I know what Stace feels. Better than anyone, I understand.
I stare at the wall for hours until eventually I know what I have to do.
I need to do this for him today.
I need to kill Vikinos.
* * *
The sun dances on the water, and the reflection from the metal railing is off putting. I stand up against the wall on the far end of the walkway.
The women are hidden, the men are all at their stations, and Stace and another two men are on the deck flagging in the chopper.
I can hear it hovering above the ship and I close my eyes as I prepare for what I am about to do.
All hell is about to break loose.
I slowly close my eyes, and when I reopen them, I am at my mother’s murder.
Kill or be killed.
* * *
The chopper slowly comes in, and as soon as they pass where they can see me, I walk forward and lean my rifle on the handrail to look through the glass eyepiece.
I rearrange my finger on the trigger and I wait. I have gone over every possible scenario in my head a million times, and I honestly believe this is the only way I stand a chance to catch them unaware. If I wait, I risk Stace trying to take him out first and then it may be too late. This is the only way I can guarantee Stace’s safety.
Ten years of practice in a shooting range and it all comes down to this.
If I miss, I’m dead.
If I hit, I’m also dead.
But Stace will be alive, and he will know that I love him.
My eyes cloud over and I shake my head to remove the fog.
Focus.
I stare through the lens and I count three men in the chopper. The pilot, a guard and then him.
I take aim and watch as the pilot goes through the shut down technique.
“Just get out of the chopper,” I whisper.
I tighten my grip on the trigger as my heart hammers heavily in my chest.
“Kill or be killed,” I breathe.
Stace approaches the chopper and then opens the door and I narrow my eyes as I steel myself.