“For your sake, you better have,” John replied. “I could just as easily kill Lady Octavia as I could hand her over to her brother.”
Octavia glanced at her other two abductors who were holding pistols aimed at Fredrick and Harred. They both had looks of uneasiness on their faces as their gazes darted towards the woodlands. There were plenty of places to hide just off the path, and she assumed they had made that assumption as well.
John shoved the pistol into Lady Octavia’s side and she let out a cry of pain. “Once Lord Kendal is in our hands, we will turn over Lady Octavia.”
Fredrick shook his head. “That isn’t going to work for me. I want you to release my sister and you may leave with your lives.”
“Our lives?” John scoffed. “Surely you are not that delusional.”
“I don’t play games, especially when it comes to my sister’s safety, and this is your only warning,” Fredrick stated.
One of her other abductors said in a hushed voice, “Perhaps we should walk away.”
“Nonsense!” John exclaimed. “Lord Chatsworth is just all talk. He is just trying to scare us. Nothing more.”
“I would listen to your comrade,” Fredrick urged. “He seems like the smartest one of you three.”
John pointed the pistol at Lord Kendal and cocked it. “It might be best if I just kill Lord Kendal and be done with it.”
As Harred stared at the pistol, he felt no fear. He should. But he didn’t. Whatever happened, he knew this was not the end. He trusted the plan that Greydon had set into motion.
Fredrick stepped in front of Harred, blocking him from the shooter. “You don’t want to shoot this man,” he said.
“Yes, I do,” the burly man replied. “Once I kill him, I can collect the money and this will all be over.”
“Unfortunately, the moment your finger twitches on that trigger, you will be shot by one of the snipers that are posted in the woodlands,” Fredrick revealed.
The man’s eyes nervously darted towards the woodlands. “You are lying.”
“Am I?” Fredrick asked. “Do you truly want to find out if I am telling the truth?”
Greydon stepped out from behind a tree and pointed a pistol at the man’s back. “You are surrounded by men that owed me a favor, and it would be best for you to put your pistols down.”
The other two abductors lowered their weapons to the ground and ran towards the woodlands, disappearing within.
“They won’t be getting far,” Greydon said.
The lone abductor tightened his hold on his pistol and shouted, “You were supposed to come alone. That was the deal.”
“We had no deal,” Fredrick stated. “You made a big mistake by abducting my sister. I cannot let that go unanswered.”
Indecision crossed the man’s face and Octavia must have seen it, too. She slammed her foot into the top of the man’s boot and yanked her arm away.
While Octavia started running towards her brother, the man pointed his pistol at her back, causing Greydon to discharge his pistol into the back of the man’s leg.
The abductor dropped to the ground, howling in pain, as he held his wound tightly. “You shot me!” he shouted.
Octavia ran into her brother’s open arms and he warmly embraced her. “You are safe now,” Fredrick said. “No one will hurt you now.”
Greydon approached Octavia’s abductor and stripped him of his pistol.
Fredrick leaned back and met Octavia’s gaze with disapproval etched on his features. “What were you thinking?” he asked. “I had it handled.”
With a stubborn tilt of her chin, Octavia responded, “I was thinking that I was tired of having a pistol pointed at me.”
Harred placed a hand on her sleeve. “I, for one, am immensely grateful that you were able to get away from your attacker safely.”
Octavia gave her brother a smug smile. “Did you hear that, Brother?” she asked. “Harred thinks I did the right thing.”
