“What do you want from me?” I ask, my eyes are glued to Dani. In my head there are visions of Dragon and his brothers, of my child. I do my best to fight down the panic inside of me, but I can’t, not completely.
“I thought you would see to reason. I’ll tell you what, Ms. Wentworth, because you’re being so intelligent in your decisions, I shall only demand things that will be easy for you to do. First, you and Melinda will be coming back to New York with me.”
My hand goes to my stomach, rubbing where the pain still lingers. I can feel movement and it helps me breathe easier. I’m fucking scared. I have no idea how to proceed. If I can just get through all of this till I can get back to Dragon, he can fix this. He has to fix this.
“I…Dragon will never allow that.”
“Oh, but he will. You will make him believe that you don’t want this life for your child. You will not go through with the wedding. Once Mr. West is convinced, he’ll turn his back on you. It should be easy enough, I hear he has his own stable of women available. I can almost admire him for that. It somewhat makes up for him having no breeding or class.
I let the insults to Dragon roll off my back, if I don’t it will get me killed. It’s not easy and had I not been pregnant, it wouldn’t have stopped me. I just keep repeating, ‘there’s more than me to worry about, there’s more than me to worry about’. As mantras go, it kind of sucks.
“If I don’t do as you ask?”
“We’ve gone through this. Maybe I should show you that I mean business? Would you like a piece of Melinda early? Small though, I still have plans for her so marring her beauty is not an option just yet. A finger perhaps? Or toe? Though, I did love when she would wear those stilettos. Donald? Take off one of Mrs. Kavanagh’s fingers. It doesn’t matter which really, except for the ring finger. I want her to have my ring on her finger and this time I will decide when it comes off.”
‘Donald’ (though creepy guy really fits him much better) kicks Dani hard in the stomach. She weakly cries out as her body curls from the pain. He bends over and roughly grabs her hand yanking it towards him. He takes out a wicked looking hunting knife and hits a button so it unfolds.
“Stop!”
He doesn’t, so I turn to the pig behind me.
“Make him stop! Don’t hurt her anymore! I’ll do it!”
He raises his hand and I look quickly over to see Donald has stopped, though I can see that there is blood dripping from Dani’s finger.
“I’ll do it! Just please don’t hurt her anymore.”
“You fell into line so easily, Ms. Wentworth. Should I take you on your word, you think?”
“I said, I’ll do it. You’re not leaving me with much choice.”
“Well, yes, this is true. Still, I think you capitulated a little too easy.”
“Just stop!” I cry and the tears have been flowing steady from me since I got here, but now the panic is all the way into my soul. I can’t see a way out of this and I know even if I give the madman what he wants, he’ll eventually kill Dani, me, my baby and maybe even Dragon and the rest of the crew. I’m not na?ve enough to even make myself believe that I am preventing anything by giving into him. No, I’m merely buying time.
“For now, I will take you at your word.”
I try and breathe slower, before I pass out. I’m wringing my hands at this point to try and keep the shaking under control.
I’m going to start carrying a gun.
The thought rings in my head. If I had a gun I’d shoot the bastard between the eyes and this mess would be over with. This makes twice now that life has exploded and I was defenseless both times. This shit has to end.
“Rest assured, Ms. Wentworth, if you do not adhere to the bargain we have made, I will make sure you and everyone you care about regret it.”
“I understand.”
“Donald will return you back to town. I’ll expect to hear that you’ve broken off your engagement. If I don’t there will be repercussions.”
“I can’t just break it off without reason, Dragon will be suspicious!”
“That is not my problem, Ms. Wentworth, it is yours. I just warn you, do not push me. You will not like how I push back. You helped Melinda leave me five years ago. You were not so concerned with the problems that brought into my life or the consequences of your actions then. I suggest you do not get distracted by them now.”
I don’t answer. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters at this point. I let Donald lead me back outside to the waiting limo. Michael doesn’t follow and it makes me sick to leave Dani with him. Again, I have no choice.