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“What?” Damon’s voice elevated. He gripped the bar across from Lily. “You can’t do that.”
“We’re not taking any chances,” Henrik said.
“You’ll replace my stuff, right?” Damon asked. “You owe me that much.”
“I owe you nothing,” Henrik snarled. “And neither does the lady. And if you ever treat a woman similarly, your hard drives won’t be the only thing I take a hammer to.”
Henrik’s words, his leveled glare, sent chills through her. Damon’s eyes widened. “Smash them all, Doug,” he said, his voice breaking.
Henrik nodded with a cold smile. “I knew you would be reasonable.”
Lily would never forget the sounds that followed. Every smash was a boon to her soul. They watched as Doug fiddled with the back of Damon’s desktop computer tower and pummeled the metal insides, crashing hard until the shell and all its pieces resembled confetti. He then set a tablet on the desk and smashed it as well. Damon let out moans every so often, but Lily took satisfaction in those as well. Could she be sure these were the only places the emails and whatever screenshots had been taken of them were stored?
If Damon dared double-cross the prince, he was stupider than she thought. His face was pale and gaunt by the time Doug finished.
“There,” Doug said. “That’s all of them.”
“You’re sure?” Henrik said. “I would hate to see you behind these bars as an accomplice.”
Doug’s eyes widened. “I didn’t accomplice nothing. They’re all destroyed. Every last picture.”
Lily glanced to Damon for verification. “Is he telling the truth?”
Damon exhaled, shoulders slumping. “Yeah, man, you only had him shatter all my tech. You saw him clear my files. They’re all gone. I swear.”
“They’d better be,” Henrik said. “Thank you for being so compliant.” He then turned to Lily and gestured toward the direction they’d entered. Lily’s body trembled and floated all at once. Her mind couldn’t register the fact, but she was safe. She couldn’t believe it, but she’d watched Doug shatter every ounce of metal he could. What about cloud drives? Were the emails saved anywhere else?
Doug had said he’d deleted them. She had to trust their fear in the prince’s threats. Deep down, her heart told her the pictures, the emails, were gone. Well and truly gone. She was free.
“I did what you wanted. Now let me out.”
Lily paused and glanced back. Henrik was a few paces away from Damon’s cell, but his presence filled the entire area. Henrik eyed the bars, eyed Damon, with disdain. “King Thomas wants to speak with you now that I’m finished. The matter of your grievances against Miss Hope has been handled, but the matter of your breaking and entering the Onsker Godt castle and your threats, the King will dole out justice on that front. Try not to worry.”
Damon let out a pathetic whimper. “Let me out of here.”
With a hand on the small of her back, Henrik led Lily out the dismal lineup of cells and toward the stairs.
“Lily,” Damon called. “Don’t leave me here!”
She turned back to him. Every step she took in his direction was easier than the last. “Goodbye, Damon. You were my biggest mistake.”
He dangled an arm between the bars in her direction. “I’m sorry I treated you that way, baby. Just let me out. Tell the Prince to let me go.”
“It’s out of my hands.” She took full satisfaction at turning her back to him. The fear and anxiety she’d harbored for years slipped from her a little more with every step she took so that by the time she reached Henrik near the stairs, she managed the deepest breath she’d been able to take in a long time.
Lily climbed a few stairs and then stopped. Henrik must have heard her slow because he peered to see why she wasn’t moving.
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
“Thank you,” she told him, peering up. His broad shoulders, his confident posture, his heartbreaking expression of softness toward her. She basked in everything about him.
“It was the least I could do.” He opened his mouth as if wanting to say something else, but then thought better of it. Instead, he lifted a hand to stroke her cheek.
Lily closed her eyes, shying away from the touch.
The two of them climbed their way out of the castle’s lower levels, though to Lily the ascent felt like she was climbing out of so much more. Just a half an hour before she had been weighed down with so much sorrow and grief, so much worry. She’d never forget the view of those devices being shattered, or of Damon being brought low by Henrik’s commanding presence.
She wanted to tell him how grateful she was. She wanted to beg to stay, to be given another chance. But how could she ask for one, after what he just did for her? The emails were gone, and that needed to be enough.
