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Arianna didn’t have time to be outraged. If she didn’t fight, she’d be dead and they’d be flying off the balcony’s ledge to plan how to kill their next victim. The outside air stung her bare face and legs, but she was too full of hot terror to feel the cold.
Heart racing out of control, she prayed for help. Then she bit the Gifted Genius’s hand and kicked back at his leg with her spike heel.
He cursed and released her for just a moment. She screamed as loud as she could and tried to get around him and grab for the door.
His hand clamped over her mouth again, yanking her back and drawing her even tighter to his chest. Leaning back against the glass door, he wrapped a leg around both of hers to pin her in place.
“Kill her,” he demanded of his wife.
“Please,” the lady begged.
Arianna felt a glimmer of hope.
“Do it.” The Gifted Genius’s voice was colder than the biting wind. “Or you know the consequences. This is your shining moment.”
Tears raced down the woman’s face, but she nodded. Raising the knife, she stepped toward them.
Arianna screamed against his hand, fought and squirmed with everything she had as terror flooded her. She dug her fingernails into the Gifted Genius’s leg and tried to bite at his hand again. He only held her tighter; his breath coming in fast pants as if her death excited him.
She should’ve told Brad she loved him, even if he could never reciprocate. Now she’d never have the chance.
Death was racing toward her.
ChapterTen
Brad watchedas Arianna spun and ran from him. Agony weakened his limbs. His heart thudded dully in his chest, seeming to agree that without Arianna there wasn’t much hope or happiness in his future.
She couldn’t forgive him. He wanted to tell her so many more things, that he had ‘used her’ but that kiss with her had shown him she was the woman he wanted to be with, and how very wrong he’d been to ever pursue Annabelle. He wanted to tell her he loved her and wanted a future with her, but it wasn’t fair to overwhelm or push her right now.
Then it hit him. He couldn’t simply let her run away. He was her guard right now, and though everything with the wedding seemed to have gone well, the Gifted Genius was still at large and there were guests and extra staff milling about the castle.
“Ari!” he called, taking up pursuit.
She’d disappeared.
Mason was instantly by his side and running with him.
“Ari!” Brad called again.
From somewhere ahead and to his right, he heard her scream. It was cut off far too quickly.
He and Mason raced toward the scream. He couldn’t see her. Had someone hauled her behind one of the many thick patches of greenery or trees?
They slowed and both drew their pistols. Brad looked to Mason and tilted his head to the right. Mason nodded. He would come around to the right, Mason to the left.
Brad eased into the thick section of trees and bushes. Where was she?
A moment later, Mason appeared and shook his head. No sign of Arianna.
Frustration and fear boiled inside Brad. She couldn’t have simply disappeared.
Another muffled scream chilled him clear through. She was to their right. They both hurried through more trees and saw the glass balcony doors and retractable glass walls that surrounded the solarium.
Leaning against the glass door was a slight man with dark hair, wearing a black wingsuit. He was wrapped around somebody who could only be Arianna. It was dark out on the balcony, but it had to be her.
Brad and Mason approached the door silently. He peered through and could see a woman directly in front of Arianna and the man. She wore a similar black wingsuit, a silver knife clutched in her hand. The woman looked battered and terrified as she stared at Arianna and the man.
“Kill her!” the man yelled loud enough they could hear it through the door. He moved closer to his wife, away from the glass.
