Page 97 of A Girl and HER Prince
He caught her around the waist and wrenched her back. “Where is he?” he growled against her ear.
“I told you he’s down there.” She tried to fight him off. “Let me go!”
“Ha!” His breath was hot against her cheek, and he ripped her hair from his bristled face. “You’ve led me on a wild goose chase. Ahagápi_ mou! Such a smart American girl!” He laughed and carried her to the cliff’s edge.
Her face rammed against his chest. That’s when she saw the tattoos crawling behind the opened buttons of his shirt—they were ants! He was a Myrdon through and through.
“Tell me where he is or you’ll be sorry,kalé mou file!”
Of course he’d follow through on his threats! Fear dried her mouth. He was a rock-throwing sadist. “You’ll hurt him,” she shouted. “You’ll kill me anyway, so why should I tell you anything? You’re with Achilles!”
He scoffed. “That fool? He’d never have the guts to go through with something like this. Why do you think his stepfather sent me instead?” He twisted her arm back so that she screamed, but she wouldn’t talk! She kicked him in the knee. He grunted and dragged her closer to him to get a better grip on her.
The bodyguard was just too strong! Disturbingly, he still was able to hold her still as he tore his radio from his side. “How’s the princess?” he asked.
“Just ahead of us,” was the answer from a gruff, lowered voice. “She has no idea who owns this island.”
Yes, Deedee and Brisweresurrounded by traitors. From here, Livvy could see that wooden railings were the only things separating those two from the broken pathway and the sheer drop to the beach below. One wrong step… one wrong move and they were gone.
“Is anyone home up there or is it only Achilles’s mother?” Turner asked his accomplice.
“She’s up there with the staff. Don’t worry—she won’t see them.”
Turner released his finger from the speaker button. “Tell me where Venice is or I tell my friends to shove his sister off the cliff.”
Livvy screamed in response. Would Deedee hear her from here? “Deedee! Bris!”
Turner’s hand clamped over her mouth, stopping her shrill screams with anurp. “Wrong answer.” He pressed down the button. “Time for you to cause an ‘accident’…” he drawled, “but don’t make it look too much of one. We need to send a message.”
“Easy for you to say. The princess is surrounded by bodyguards.”
Livvy’s heart pounded as she tried to estimate their chances of surviving—her friends weren’t completely alone out there.
“Do what you’ve got to do,” Turner said.
Livvy slapped at the radio and he released her mouth, so she could get a word in edgewise. “Not so fast!” she told him. “Atreus Mnon wants her alive.”
“Yeah, sure he do—”
She cut him off, “He wants Achilles to marry Bris. You so much as bruise her and he’ll have your head. She’s the future queen of Tirreoy.”
Turner lifted the receiver. “Scratch that. Go for the redhead first.” He glanced over at Livvy with an evil smirk. “You ready to talk,agápi_ mou?”
That must be “dear” and “sweetheart” in Greek because it sure felt as condescending. Her heart beat wildly through her ribcage as she tried to think how to get the better of Turner.
“Come now, you can’t possibly think that you mean anything to that prince?” Turner sneered down at her. “Venice is playing with you, like Bris was toying with me… they cannot make a match with a commoner. And that is all we will ever mean to them.”
The truth of his words stabbed her like the knife he’d used on Venice.
“But I have a secret for you,” he whispered in her ear. “You aremyvery good friend. I don’t want to hurt you. I meant what I said—you’re the ray of sunshine after a heavy storm.”
His twisted vows of friendship rubbed her the wrong way.He has no idea what this ray of sunshine is capable of!
“Now let us get this unpleasant business over with,” he said, “and I promise you that Atreus Mnon will grant me your life.”
She kicked him in the knee. He released her with a grunt and she ran.
Chapter Thirty-Four
