The closer I pad to Fien, the more wetness fills her eyes. Even being raised in hell wouldn’t see her eager to run into my arms. I have a bloody knife in my hand, and I’m sweating profusely. I very much look like an ax murderer.
After tossing the knife to the floor, I scrub a hand across my face, then hold out my arms. “That’s it, Fien,” I say on a sob when she moves out from behind her door enough I can see all of her adorable face. “I won’t hurt you. I swear. We’re just going to go see Dada.”
I think I have her convinced.
I think she’s on my side.
Then the mat is pulled out from beneath my feet.
While crying for her Mama, Fien sidesteps me with the agility of an up-and-coming state championship quarterback. She races to India at the other end of the corridor, smirking smugly about the devastation on my face.
How did she get past me? I haven’t spent a lot of time here, but since I was lonely, and I pace the halls when I’m feeling that way, I know her floorplan intimately. There’s no other entrance to the third floor except the stairwell I just climbed. Unless…
My mouth pops open when the truth smacks into me.
India’s home has a secret stairwell like the ranch Fien was held captive at.
“You… you…” Come on mouth, put this bitch in her place. “You killed my baby!”
I snatch up the knife I threw down before holding it out in front of myself. Fien will most likely never forgive the murderous look on my face, but I’ll do my best to erase it from her memories when I take down the conniving, two-faced bitch she has confused with her mother.
“Why did you do that to my baby? What harm could it have ever done to you? Dimitri wasneveryours. He didn’t even sleep with you, so why do you think you have a claim to any children he has?”
Like the heartless snake she is, India says matter-of-factly, “My family’s royal lineage hasn’t been tainted in centuries, and I refuse to let it start with me.”
“What?” Nothing she said makes any sense. Fien isn’t her child, so how could my child with Dimitri ‘taint’ her family’s legacy.
It takes a little longer for the truth to smack into me this time around. The delay is understandable. This is as unkosher as it gets.
“You’re Fien’s mother.” Since I’m not asking a question, it doesn’t sound like one. “How? Dimitri went to Audrey’s ultrasound. He watched Fien’s brutal birth… more than once.” The truth pummeling into me makes the pain in my stomach ten times worse. “You can’t have children. That’s how you knew about miscarriages and fibroids.” I can barely breathe through the madness swamping me when disturbing thought after disturbing thought enters my mind. “Audrey was your surrogate. That’s why Fien doesn’t respond to her like she does you because she knows Audrey isn’t her mother.” When she doesn’t attempt to deny my claims, my words get extra snappy. “You kept her from her father this entire time. Why would you do that, India? What did Dimitri ever do to you?”
Any chance of getting answers out of her is hit out of the park when the thud of someone climbing the stairwell two stairs at a time booms into my ears.
Dimitri races our way, his speed as brutal as the lies that fall from India’s mouth when he reaches the landing. “Thank God you’re here, Dimi. Roxanne killed Audrey before she turned the knife onto Fien.” She sucks in breaths like she’s on the verge of a panic attack before continuing with a sob, “I made it to Fien with barely a second to spare, but I’m scared, Dimi. She tried to kill your daughter. She tried to kill Fien.”
“No…” The pain shredding through me becomes too much to bear. It sees me dropping the knife so I can cradle my aching stomach that’s begging for me to bend in two. “I didn’t hurt Fien. I’d never hurt her.Argh…”
I’m unsure if my gargled scream is from the intense sharpness hitting my lower stomach or from India using Dimitri’s distraction to her advantage. She snatches up the knife wedged between us as quickly as Dimitri yanks his gun out of his trousers.
Instead of directing it at me, the supposed perpetrator, Dimitri aims his gun at the pleat between India’s blonde brows, unimpressed she has the sharp side of the knife pressed against Fien’s throat. “You will never make it out of here alive. I will gut you where you fucking stand if a droplet of blood beads on her neck!”
India is either an idiot, or she doesn’t fear death. “One nick of her arterywillkill her.” Her voice is unlike anything I’ve ever heard. “You know this, Dimitri. We’re miles from the closest hospital. Help willneverget here in time.”
When she pierces the blade in deep enough to make Fien sob for her daddy, I fall to my knees, both pained by the devastation on Fien’s little face and the pain buckling my legs out from beneath me.
“Do you want your daughter to die!” India screams when my topple diverts Dimitri’s eyes to me for the quickest second. “Isshemore important than your flesh and blood?” Spit seethes from her mouth when she hisses out ‘she.’
I shake my head at the same time Dimitri mumbles, “No.”
I’m not only agreeing that I’ll never be more important than Fien, I’m trying to relay to Dimitri that India won’t do as she’s threatening. She might be a callous, cold-hearted bitch, but that doesn’t mean she will kill her daughter. I just can’t get my mouth to work. I’m in too much pain to speak. I’m barely conscious, so I can’t be expected to talk.
“Then, put down your gun, step away from the banister, and let me leave.” Dimitri firms his grip instead of weakening it. It frustrates India to no end. “Do it or I’ll kill your daughter like I did the bastard child you were going to have withher.”
When she jerks her head to me during the last part of her statement, something inside of me cracks. I’m on my knees, confident I’m on the verge of death, but I somehow manage to charge for India.
I stumble more than I sprint, but my fumbling movements are all that is needed for India to take her eyes off the prize for just a second. When she drops her knife to my stomach, preparing to maim me as she did Audrey, Dimitri snatches Fien from her arms, cradles her into his chest, then falls back while firing.
Bang. Bang. Bang,booms into my ears.
