Page 124 of Locked in Wonderland

The words had barely left my mouth when the door opened and Kellan Hart stepped outside.

Chapter Thirty-nine

“You have something of mine,” Kellan called. “I want it back.”

While Nico looked calm, I was anything but, my pulse thrumming and a thin layer of sweat gathering at the base of my spine despite the cool breeze.

“Don’t say a word,” Nico warned. “Don’t even look at him. Let me handle this.”

Handle it? How? Was he going to fight him?

I might have asked, but Nico was already striding toward him. Don’t even look at him proved an impossible instruction. My gaze stayed fixed on the two of them as Nico crowded Kellan back against the door.

Nico seemed to do most of the talking, every line of his body taut with tension. I couldn’t hear a word. The distance was too great and the birds too loud. All I could do was sit there like a sacrificial lamb and wait to see who came out the victor.

Fifteen minutes until the boat.

They were still talking.

Kellan planted a hand in the middle of Nico’s chest and shoved him hard enough to make him stumble back a few paces. It didn’t deter him. He closed the distance again, his body blocking me from Kellan’s eyeline, either accidentally or on purpose.

Ten minutes until the boat.

Their voices grew louder, a few words carrying across on the wind, but not enough for me to piece together the conversation or guess how it was going. I forced myself to envision the worst possible scenario: Nico stepping aside and Kellan dragging me back into Wonderland to a life of pain and humiliation that would end only one way.

It was enough to drive me to my feet, my gaze drifting out to sea.

I’d never been a great swimmer, but I could swim. Maybe I could make it to the boat. Or maybe I’d drown. Either sounded preferable. All I had to do was find the courage to jump.

The slam of a door made me whirl around, adrenaline surging.

No Kellan.

Just Nico strolling toward me, looking far more relaxed than someone who’d just spent the last few minutes in a heated argument had any right to. He came to a stop beside me. “Were you thinking about jumping in?”

“Yes.”

“Interesting.” His gaze followed mine to the water. “How far do you think you would’ve got?”

“Probably not far.”

Nico smiled. “Maybe we should test it out in the interests of science.”

“Or you could tell me what happened.”

“He wanted you. He expected me to hand you over. I told him I would—”

“You what?”

“Let me finish.” There wasn’t the slightest hint of irritation in his voice. “I told him I would. Then I pointed out it’d remove my reason for leaving. I gave him two options. I stay and spend the rest of my life poking my nose into every little thing he’s got going on, some of which Queenie and Henry know nothing about. Or I leave, and he never has to see my face again.”

“You played Russian roulette with my life.”

Nico laughed. “Not really. Kellan’s choice was never in doubt.”

“No?”

He shook his head. “Kellan’s a simple man when it comes down to it. He has two desires in life.”