Page 51 of A Princess, Stolen
Suddenly, something occurred to me. Something that had never occurred to me before, but it was the most obvious thing of all. Why had I never thought of it before?
Nervous, I fiddled with my braid and found the bracelet with the high-carat ring tied tightly to it. I pulled it out violently and presented the ring in the palm of my hand.
“You…you can have it,” I said haltingly. “It’s my mom’s wedding ring. It’s worth half a million, maybe even more.” Several men inhaled sharply. A murmur of disbelief went through the group. “Okay, you probably wanted a lot more money, but with this, each of you can live a good life.” I looked pleadingly at Nathan, who stared back in dismay, a dark,troubled expression on his pale face. “There are thirteen of you, fourteen with Isaac. That’s…that’s over seventy thousand for each of you. That’s better than ending up with nothing or being arrested. The longer you detain me, the riskier it becomes. By now, my father must have sent a task force to search for you, one that works without police knowledge. That’s probably why he’s not paying. He thinks they’ll find me at any moment, they must be following a lead. They might not even be Americans but Russians. Besides, he also has several private armies on the Syrian border. Mercenaries who fight and kill for money…but you know that.” In truth, I didn’t believe Dad could just withdraw his armies, but they didn’t need to know that. “Maybe they’ll never hand you over, but lock you up somewhere and torture you. For touching his…his precious gem. You can drop me off on land today. I won’t tell anyone. I promise. You can sell the ring on the dark net in Europe or wherever. I’ll tell my father I lost it.”
“A million,” Pan muttered, to whom I was holding out my hand. “For that tiny thing?”
Next to him, Ilias growled something I didn’t understand and Pan growled back in the foreign language. Now that they were standing next to each other, I could only tell them apart by Ilias’ pain-filled posture and the dark green bandana he wore, unlike Pan.
“It could be yours.” I tried again.
Nathan stepped forward. “It’s not possible. Keep it.” He closed my fingers so that the ring and bracelet were hidden inside. “And the rest of you keep your hands off it. It’s just as off-limits to you as the girl, understand? Don’t even think about it!”
“Why?” I looked at him in confusion, and once again, a murmur ran through the group.
“We don’t want money.”
The words shocked me so much that I stumbled back a step. “Excuse me?” I whispered, aghast. “What do you want? Nobody abducts a billionaire’s daughter and doesn’t demand money. That’s unheard of.”
“Your father’s money means nothing to us. Money only puts people in chains,” Nathan claimed frostily.
I didn’t understand anything anymore. Nathan least of all. “What do you want, then?” I looked from one to the other, but my gaze finally settled on Nathan. He crossed his arms as if he had to keep me at a distance again and his narrow eyes flashed with bitter pride. “We want justice.”
“Justice…” The syllables melted on my tongue and faded. That couldn’t be true. “That’s not true, you’re lying!”
“Watch what you say!”
“Liar!” I shouted at him, though I wasn’t angry at him but Dad.
For a moment, I thought he was going to slap me, but instead, he clenched his hands and flared his nostrils. “Your father ruined everyone’s life here. We don’t want his dirty money. We want the truth. We want reparations.”
“Don’t you mean something else by reparations?” I asked fiercely. “Something like revenge?” My hands were shaking. No, I was shaking! From anger and incomprehension, for something I didn’t understand.
“Call it what you want,” Nathan replied as cool as the first day. “And don’t get your hopes up of being rescued, princess. No one will find you here. Not even a special task force or a private army.” His tone left no room for doubt.
Impulsively, I pushed him away and used my arms to force my way out of the crowd before hearing Troy ask as I climbed down the stairs, “Should I bring her back?”
I didn’t wait for Nathan’s answer and hurried down the corridor to my old cell. The key was in the lock, so I pulled it out and locked myself inside. At least that way no one could get in.
I stood there for a moment, staring at the white, bare walls and the bars that locked me in. Cold surrounded me like packed ice. I felt as if Dad had stabbed me in the back even though there was certainly a calculated intent behind it all.
We want the truth. We want reparations.
For what? Had Dad actually done something that had hurt them? If it were true, it had to be something significant, something horrendous, otherwise, they never would have abducted me. But maybe they were wrong. Maybe they were lying. Unfortunately, Nathan’s words didn’t sound like a lie to me. And if they were, then it was a lie he believed.
Tired, I slid down the far wall. I was freezing; it would have been better if I had taken a blanket with me. Shivering, I pulled the thick sweater over my thighs and stared at the ring in my hand, the ruby and the brilliant-cut diamonds that generously framed it. My heart grew heavy as I thought of Mom.
“I can’t swim! And neither can Willa!”
“Give her to me! Give her to me!”
“Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!”
I held the ruby up to the light and a splash of color painted itself on my fingers like in the Palace of Shards. Who would turn down so much money when they had nothing? Or were they discussing whether to accept my offer? After all, Nathan had even said that this, the Agamemnon, was the greatest luxury he had ever had.
I listened to see if I could hear them talking, but it was quiet. We were still anchored and the engines were off. I closed my fingers around the band and the ring and pressed my fist against my forehead.Let her have the ring!
Maybe everything Nathan said was true, but Dad wasn’t to blame. His lawyers kept signing contracts without him knowing the exact wording; he had employees for that. And why did Isaac make it such a personal matter? Because he felt betrayed by Dad?
