Page 75 of Alone with the Beastly Duke
She could not bear being so close to him as he reeked of beer, fish, and spoilt food. Toby wrapped Jasmine’s hair around his fist and yanked hard at it. Jasmine yelped in pain.
“Give me a reason, and I might just do it,” he said with his stinking mouth close to Jasmine’s ear.
Jasmine recoiled in terror, and her blood ran cold. She tried to pull away from him, but he yanked her hair again, causing her to gasp as searing pain coursed through her temple.
“You will get no money if you kill me, and you will go to prison!” Jasmine seethed.
Jasmine swung with her elbow, and she connected with the soft part of Toby’s belly. He grunted and at that moment, his hold on Jasmine weakened. She used that opportunity to kick his right hand where the gun was. The gun fell to the floor, and on realizing what had just happened, Toby lunged for it. This was the moment that Jasmine had been waiting for.
Knowing that Toby would beat her to picking up the gun, she kicked the gun as hard as she could further into the dark room while giving Toby a jab right on his Adam’s apple. Toby cliched his throat and stumbled back.
Jasmine did not wait to see what Toby was going to do next because she quickly ran toward the door. All that she had on her mind was how to get out of the rotting ship and back home to her family in one piece.
“I shall kill ya!” he shouted.
As Jasmine ran out of the storeroom, she was briefly confused as to which direction to go in order to get off the ship. Fortunately, she saw the sky from a crack in one of the doors of the boat, so she knew that it would definitely lead her to the outside. She ran out of the door and saw a staircase that led to the deck of the ship where she was able to escape.
She only took a deep breath when she had gotten off the ship. She, however, did not stop running even though it proved tasking since she was barefooted on one foot and had a dress shoe on the other foot. Running barefoot on the seashore meant that seashells and stones hurt Jasmine’s feet, but she did not care. She kept running as she was determined to put as much distance as possible between herself and the kidnappers.
Jasmine yelped as she slammed into a huge figure. Her heart thudded in fear at the thought that she had been caught, yet again.
“Jasmine!” a tender voice that she would recognize anywhere said.
Jasmine looked up to see Axel in front of her, his hair blowing in the wind. She had never been so pleased to see him as she was at that moment.
She flung herself at him, hugging him. He hugged her harder, patting her back while she burst into tears.
“Did they hurt you?” Axel asked, looking her all over.
“Save for a few scratches, I am fine,” she replied.
“Yeww!” a loud voice shouted behind them.
Jasmine turned around to see Toby, clutching his side, face red with anger. Jasmine held on tightly to Axel, fear enveloping her.
“Give me just a moment,” Axel said, before striding off with wild and raw anger on his face.
“Don’t you ever touch her again!” Jasmine heard Axel say before landing Toby a blow that knocked the wind right out of him.
That was not enough for Axel, though. He hauled Toby to his feet and dealt him another blow. This time, Toby crumpled like a rag on the floor, looking lifeless. It was then that Jasmine felt safe enough to approach.
“Is… is he dead?” she asked.
Axel shook his head. “He has enough breath in him to go to prison for a very long time.”
Jasmine turned around at the sound of running feet to see Pip running away. She did not have to tell Axel that the man running away was one of her other kidnappers because he took after Pip and caught up to him easily.
“Please, please,” Pip whimpered when Axel caught up to him.
Axel lifted him up with ease as though he were lifting a child.
“Put me down!” Pip cried out.
“I will show you down,” Axel growled, releasing his grip on Pip.
Pip fell to the floor with such force that Jasmine winced, wondering if he had not broken any bones. Axel walked menacingly toward the scoundrel.
“Please!” Pip whimpered.
