Page 118 of Cooper

Obviously, I have options. I could go back to college for a master’s degree. Or get a low-stress job working retail or in the service industry. I could even become a nanny or something.

It’s just that none of those things sound even a little bit interesting.

I sit up and stretch. I want to go for a run, but it’s been ridiculously hot this week, well above the norm for July in this part of the country, and my parents don’t have air conditioning. Normally they don’t need it, but this week has been brutal.

I hear my parents bustling around since it’s Sunday and they’re going to church. It’s far, and my father’s old truck doesn’t have air conditioning either, so I offered to drive them in my borrowed SUV. Plus, we live almost twenty kilometers outside of town, so taking them means I can go to the local internet café and catch up on my email and texts since service is spotty here.

I pull on shorts and a T-shirt before brushing my hair into a ponytail. I’ve just slipped my feet into sandals when I hear what sounds like yelling and a thump. Papa is probably puttering and making my mother late, so I grab my purse and run down the stairs, hoping I’m not too late for coffee before we have to leave.

“—go to hell!” I hear my father’s roar just as I get into the kitchen and freeze at the scene in front of me.

Pieter is there, holding a knife to my mother’s throat.

Papa’s face is red, like it gets when he’s furious, and Mama looks annoyed.

“I want my wife!” Pieter yells when he sees me. “Bring her to me or I will slice your mother’s throat.”

I slowly put down my purse, so as not to do anything that might make him think that I’m going to charge him.

“She’s in Hiskale, Pieter,” I say quietly. “But if you want to see her, we can.”

“She can’t keep my children from me.”

“She doesn’t want to, but when you drink you get violent, and she worries for their safety. You want them to see you like this?” I stare at him pointedly.

“You’re a bitch! She was fine until you got your fancy Royal Protector job! You think you’re better than me, you and your thug American boyfriend.” He’s breathing hard now, and his hand shakes a little against my mother’s neck. She and I exchange a look, and I know she’ll fight if I give her a signal. I’m just not close enough yet.

“We don’t. We’ve simply found our purpose, working for the royal family.” I speak in a soothing tone, and despite the circumstances, what I just said is the truth.

“What about me?” he yells. “They give those jobs to Americans instead of to their own people!”

“Look at you,” I respond. “Drunk. Out of shape. Could you protect the king? Do you even know how? Those Americans are willing todiefor our king.”

“Fuck you!” He presses the knife close enough to my mother’s throat to make me nervous.

Except I’m so calm it’s almost unnerving.

My training has kicked in, and I’m laser focused on what I’m going to do.

I’ve edged closer, almost to a point where I can take his legs out from under him.

“None of this is Mama’s fault,” I say. “She’s never been anything but good to you.”

“She doesn’t like me. None of you thought I was good enough for Lucianna!”

“You’re an embarrassment,” my father mutters. “And if you hurt my wife, I will gut you like the pigs from last year’s slaughter.”

“You’re a pathetic old man who can’t even keep his daughters under control!” Pieter snaps, his bloodshot eyes blazing with hatred. “If you had raised them better, my wife would be here instead of whoring about in Hiskale.”

I refrain from rolling my eyes and take another step.

“Pieter, this isn’t the way to get your family back. Put down the knife and let’s call Luci. You can talk to Greta.” My voice is so calm and smooth I almost don’t recognize it.

“I want my girls,” he growls. “All of them. You’re going to bring them to me. You need to drive to Hiskale, pick them up, and bring them back.”

Like hell.

“That’s a long round trip for one day,” I say instead.

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