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Past and present.
Merging together.
White spots danced in front of her, and she wanted so badly to give in to them. Allow unconsciousness to wipe everything away.
Only if she gave in to the urge, she’d be completely helpless.
The white dots grew, likely would have claimed her, but the sound of shouting voices came from outside her room.
Grateful for the distraction, Lila shoved away her fears and the memories that haunted her and hobbled toward the door. Balancing on her good foot, she pressed her ear against the wood.
“She’s mine. That was the deal,” Ross screamed.
“Idiot. Do you really think I was going to let you keep her? She’s not a pet.”
“Of course, she’s not a pet. She’s a woman. One who I bought fourteen years ago. She belongs to me, not you.”
“Stupid man.” Zara’s voice was haughty and pure ice. There was an evilness that hadn’t been there before. In the mansion before she’d run, Zara had seemed content to watch whatever Ross wanted to do to her, more focused on her own plans.
What had changed?
“You really are a fool.”
“Don’t insult me, Zara. It won’t go well for you,” Ross said. While there was an edge of anger to his tone, it was nothing like Zara’s. Ross was a bad man, a rapist for sure, and he’d gone along with Zara kidnapping her, but he wasn’t evil. Not in the same way Zara was.
“You really think you’re in control here, don’t you?” Zara sounded amused now. “You were never in control, Ross, and you were never getting the girl. She’s mine. They’re all mine. But you’re going to be the one who gets the blame.”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you really so stupid you haven’t figured it out?” Zara scoffed. “You are the fall guy, you ridiculous moron.”
“Fall guy? For what? I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t. It’s why you’re so perfect for the job. When Lila turns up dead, and there’s evidence of her being at the mansion in Switzerland that you own, you don’t think her family is going to go public with the fact that you raped her as a teen?”
“They wouldn’t. If they do they expose themselves and the fact they gave her to me.”
“And who’s going to corroborate that story? You? Is anyone going to believe you after you killed her?”
“I would never kill Lila.” Ross sounded outraged by the notion.
“No, but I would. I will. I’m going to. And then I’m going to turn my husband in. Tell the cops how you went crazy. Went after the girl you were obsessed with. I’ll make sure it’s known that she was involved with one of Prey’s Alpha Team, so when they find all their dead bodies, they’ll think you killed them for trying to take your girl away from you,” Zara sing-songed the last as though she were excited about her plan.
Zara obviously had no idea that Prey already knew she was Kristoff Mikhailov’s Dark Beauty. Her plan would never work, but the woman didn’t know that, and Alpha Team wasn’t here. That meant nothing was stopping the woman from killing her now.
“No one will believe that.”
“Course they will. I’m an actress. My husband is crazy,” Zara’s voice changed, filled with fear, laden with tears. “He took my poor friend Liliana. He’s obsessed with her. She fought him and he got angry. He killed her. There were men, they tried to save Liliana, but he had them all killed too. I was so afraid he was going to kill me as well. See?” Zara’s voice returned to normal and now she sounded pleased with herself. “No way they won’t believe me. And then I’ll have a platform, a reason to come forward to fight against the government. They don’t protect us, they don’t care about us, they bow down to the wealthy. I’ll step in, bring about change, and show people a new way.”
“A way that gives you all the power,” Ross snapped. “I won’t let you use Lila.”
“Too late.”
Sounds of a scuffle came from the hall, and Lila took a step back. There was a grunt of pain she knew came from Ross, and then everything went silent.
Too silent.
The kind of eerie silence that said something was about to happen.
