Page 81 of A Princess, Stolen
I want you, his eyes said even though I could hardly see them. But that was not all. They also promised to inflict the greatest possible pain on me that he knew. A suffering that had something to do with the personal hatred of me.I want you, body and soul: to possess, to destroy, and to kill you. He radiated it from every pore.
“Why are you doing this?” Nathan asked challengingly and I was sure that he interpreted Isaac’s expression the same way I did.
“Why?” Isaac came closer, running his hand through his hair and laughing. “I offer you plan B. No more games, no more false names, just brutal reality.” The moon had risen and cast its silver light over Isaac’s face, his high cheekbones and confident, thin lips. It frightened me even more that he looked highly intelligent. He snapped his fingers casually and his mercenaryhanded him a piece of paper, which he unfolded agonizingly slowly. It looked like a torn page from a newspaper.
He looked at me. “Do you believe, little lady, that your father would turn himself in and turn the machinery of the press, environmentalists, and envious people against him? Even if he did, maybe he would talk his way out of it as soon as you were free again. He could claim that strangers forced him to give false testimony because otherwise, they would have killed you. The world and the economy would certainly love to believe him, after all, they would lose all their oil.”
My mouth went dry. Of course, he was right.
He held up the paper. “Why don’t you read us the answer we’re all curious about? Come on, come to me, little lady!”
“The devil she will!” Nathan spat at him.
The man next to him stepped closer and the muzzle of the revolver almost kissed Nathan’s temple.
Blood pounded in my ears. Suddenly, it was as quiet as a ghost ship. Before, someone had been coughing here and there, scratching themselves or shifting their weight, now, however, it seemed as if an invisible animal had eaten all the sound. In the silence, someone cocked their weapon, but I didn’t know who they were aiming at. Fear consumed all my senses. All I saw was Nathan storming forward, only to be stopped by a giant and the mercenary. There was a scream, the sound of blows, and then Nathan was lying on the ground, the barrel of the gun against his neck.
I wanted to run to him, but his piercing gaze held me back.No!
Nobody moved. Nobody seemed to be breathing. All the men on the crew stood there frozen as if pillars of salt while the mercenary with the rifle ripped the headband from Nathan’s head and handed it to Isaac.
For a moment, I thought he was going to put it on like a captain’s armband, but he waved me over with it.
It was pointless to resist, downright ridiculous. My heart galloped away with me. I have no idea how I made it to him, if I was shaking, or how many steps I took. I also barely felt him put his arm around me from behind just below my neck so that his hand was on my collarbone. The hug felt caring, protective, but it made the blood in my veins freeze.
“Read!” he ordered and his breath ran like fire across the top of my head. With his free hand, he held the sheet of paper in front of my nose, but it took me a few seconds to find the beginning.
“Nicholas Garrett Hampton files criminal charges against unknown persons.” I paused, hesitating, and heard the murmur of disbelief.
Isaac ran his fingers along my collarbone and I stiffened. “What are you waiting for, little lady? Read what your father did.”
I had to search for the line again because the letters were dancing back and forth. “The world is appalled,” I read, trying to speak clearly despite my fear. “And with it, Nicholas Garrett Hampton, prominent oil magnate and multi-billionaire from New York. As he announced yesterday…as he announced yesterday, one of his most profitable companies, the Hampton Oil Company of Alberta, Canada, is guilty of one of the most serious environmental crimes in living memory.” For a moment, I felt dizzy. Dad had reacted!Finally!Tears welled up in my eyes. Maybe he wasn’t guilty after all and this was all a huge misunderstanding. Perhaps he had been forced to do so by someone higher up?
I read on but my voice was audibly trembling. “According to him, high-ranking employees of the Hampton Oil Company have been deliberately manipulating the figures of environmentalreports for decades, allowing highly toxic substances to enter the surrounding lakes and rivers. In addition, toxic waste products were illegally discharged into the groundwater. The exact substances involved and the impact this has on residents of the neighboring villages and communities have not yet been disclosed. The only thing that is certain at this point is that the company is conducting an internal investigation into the culprits. ‘This is a heinous crime against humanity and nature, which we will investigate, along with all consequences, down to the last man,’ Hampton promised yesterday in a press conference.”
“Enough!” Isaac pushed me away and I stumbled two steps forward, the general threat on my skin like a hot whisper. “That,” Isaac said now, holding the newspaper over his head, “is worse than getting punched in the face. Hampton picks his scapegoats to send to jail for him and then he gets his or their insurance to pay for the damages. Nothing happens to him, of course…” Something brutal appeared in his eyes and he lapsed into a jargon that was surely better understood here. “He’s fucking us. Every single one of us and all those who have been dead for a long time. Our parents, our siblings, our sons, daughters, cousins, and nephews…” He looked around as if he wanted to capture the mentality of these men and a few nodded in agreement. Isaac nodded back. “How many graves have you dug already this summer because in winter, the ice is too thick? How many people have you lost? When you go to Coldville, the first thing you see is a long, miserable row of white crosses. White crosses in front of black fir trees! Hundreds!” For a moment, there was dead silence. Then he moved to Nathan, who was now kneeling on the ground, the barrel of the gun still against his neck. “And you, Nathaniel? What are you doing? Are ass, tits, and a smile enough to fry your brain?”
Nathan spat blood on the ground. “She has nothing to do with her father’s machinations. She’s innocent, just like the dead from Coldville.”
“Do you think this is about whether she’s guilty or not? It’s about Hampton, damn it! She is his only weak point. He thinks we’re a bunch of harmless environmental fanatics who don’t follow words with actions. We have to make a decision here and now. And that is whether we’re going to let Hampton fuck us or not.” The harshness in his voice froze my blood and my fear sank into the depths of my soul. He came toward me with long strides. I saw it too late, but it wouldn’t have done any good even if I had seen it coming. He grabbed me by the hair and pulled me a few yards with him. “Do you seriously think she wouldn’t betray you if you let her go home? Noah, Kjertan”—he looked from Troy to Pan and back again—“do you think she’ll remember you or your words once she’s back home in her luxury penthouse, back with Daddy, who lied his way out of the scandal? Just look at you!” He tugged at my hair like a madman, my scalp burning, and out of reflex and fear, tears welled up in my eyes. “You are social nothings in her eyes. Even less than that. She only smiles at you because she relies on your favors. Do any of you seriously believe she would have even glanced at you on the street?” He laughed hard. “She would have crossed the street. As soon as she’s free, she’ll sing like a little bird. Daddy will lull her into a false sense of security and make her forget who the bad guy is.”
Another ominous silence followed. My courage sank even lower because his words sounded convincing. Even I was suddenly no longer certain what I would do once free.
“I say we make Hampton finally understand how serious we truly are!” He let go of me, nodded, and the next moment someone hit me in the face so hard that, for a few seconds, all I saw was a red, flickering wall. Pain burned from my cheek to my lips and I tasted blood; but before I could react, my head flewaround from a second blow. My jawbone exploded. I staggered but someone grabbed me from behind and held me so tightly that I could hardly move.
My ears were ringing. I was dazed, everything a hundred light years away. The screaming, more shots, obviously someone wanted to help me. I tried several times to wriggle out of the iron grip, but I couldn’t. I merely thrashed around helplessly until I suddenly saw a shape in front of me. I blinked hard and recognized Isaac.
“Your father wants to fuck us, so we’ll fuck him too,” I heard him say. The man behind me held my head so I couldn’t turn it. At first, I thought they were going to hit me again, but instead, there were a few flashes and I thought I saw a cell phone, but it was blurry.
Then, I saw Isaac in front of me. “Don’t think it can’t get worse. This is only the beginning, little lady. The beginning of something you’ll only understand at the very end. At a time when you understand me.”
“My father will never plead guilty,” I exclaimed, feeling the swelling of my lip. “Never. No matter what you do to me.”
Isaac leaned down a little and gently stroked my cheek with his knuckles. “You think I don’t know that?” he whispered so softly that only I could hear.
Chapter 17
Ididn’t know what was worse: the truth behind his words, his touch, or that he pretended to know me. My cheek burned under his knuckles, and for a split second, he smiled as briefly and fleetingly as Nathan. “I’ll be right back, Willa Nevaeh Rae.” My stomach clenched. He ran his thumb over my swollen lip, then turned and disappeared.
