Page 42 of Sadie's Highlander (Highland Protector 1)

“I shall kill every damn one of ye!” Alec’s roar echoed down from above. He sat astride his great black horse just outside the still smoking hole in the mountainside. He held a sword raised high overhead. Bloody rage and fury emanated from him as he glared down at them all. His brothers flanked him, each of them on horseback wielding his own weapon. They looked like the weapons Sadie had seen on display beside the ancient Heartstone. But how could they have survived the blast? Were those just replicas, or had the MacDara brothers managed to locate the real ones in the rubble? Sadie closed her eyes, then slowly forced them back open. “I hope those are the real weapons,” she whispered to herself.

The four MacDara brothers looked as ominous as the four horsemen of the apocalypse—and even more intent on dealing out death and destruction. Alec moved forward, taking the lead. Teeth bared and the MacDara colors lashed across his chest, his plaid snapped in the wind, goading him on to battle. “Get the hell off m’land or surrender yer life t’me! I’ll have yer heads on pikes so all will ken what happens to fools when they break their oaths to the MacDaras.”

“Holy shit, that guy’s nuts. Hey Delia!” A middle-aged man that Sadie recognized as one of Delia’s producers from the East Coast scurried past, coming to a halt as he glanced her way and saw who she was. “Hey! You! Do something. You’re his whore while we’re here. Go calm him down. Give him a blow job or something.”

“Where is my bitch of a sister?” Sadie asked, not giving two shits about the pompous little asshole and his insults. There was more at stake here than name-calling. Too damn much more. “Where the hell is she?”

“Right here, baby sister. Help you with something?” Delia picked her way out of the woods overlooking the wreckage, arms calmly folded across the front of her flawless silk blouse. She smiled proudly as she demurely flicked a finger toward the assembled actors below. “That scene was perfection!” Gingerly working her way across the rough ground, Delia stopped and hugged herself with a delighted shiver, then turned and winked at Sadie. “And I saved about half a mil by pulling it off here instead of renting a closed set and hiring a team of pyrotechnics specialists. Even after I pay off the MacDaras for the damages, it’ll still be way cheaper.”

“How could you?” Sadie charged toward her sister. “I’m gonna kill you…I’m going to fucking kill you!”

Delia’s eyes widened and she stumbled backward, jabbing a shaking finger at Sadie. “You’d better calm down and remember who signs your paycheck.”

Sadie drew back and unleashed the rage-infused uppercut she’d been holding back for years. It felt so right when her fist connected solidly with Delia’s chin and knocked the vicious bitch backward, sending her tumbling down the hillside. Sadie rushed after her. No way in hell was she even near finished kicking Delia’s ass.

Delia floundered to her hands and knees, weaving and skittering sideways like a wounded crab. “I’ll ruin you!” she shrieked. “I’ll make you wish you were never born!”

Sadie grabbed Delia by the hair and jerked her to her feet. “You’ve already ruined me!” She wrenched Delia back and forth like an under-stuffed rag doll, backhanded her hard across the mouth, then slung her across the clearing. “I fucking hate you!”

Slapping away the hands of the film crew trying to help her regain her footing, Delia stood half bent over, gasping for air. She pressed trembling fingers to her already swelling mouth. Her hands shook even harder as she stared down at her blood-splattered palms. “Call the police,” she said in a low, murderous hiss. “And call my fucking lawyer,” she added.

“Cops are already here. Look.”

Sadie turned and looked in the direction the hairdresser was pointing. Blue lights flickered in a long line through the trunks of the trees lining the narrow dirt road. Sirens wailed and fire engine hornswah-wahedthrough the once serenely quiet forest. The beating rhythm of a helicopter thumped high overhead, whipping what was left of the leafy treetops back and forth in an angry whirlwind.

“Ye will all rue the day ye broke an oath to a MacDara!” Alec and his brothers pounded around the clearing, using their horses and weapons to herd the scattered crew of Realm Spinners Productions into a cowering cluster in its center. Alec had fully reverted to the unrelenting warrior he’d once been. Enraged man and monstrous black horse moved as one. Vengeance flashed in the deadly glint of Alec’s sword and fiery bloodlust shone in his face.

“Gather’m up and get’m in the cars, boys, before Mr. Alec kills’m all and we have to fill out all that damn paperwork. I ain’t in the mood to have to arrange shipment of a bunch of city folks’ bodies back to Hollywood.” Brady’s sheriff stomped out from behind a thicket of thorny blackberry bushes, motioning toward Delia, the film crew, and Sadie. He pointed several of his men toward what was left of the keep. “And don’t forget therealstupid ones. The ones that think we didn’t see’m run inside the castle and try to hide.” The sheriff gave a disgusted shake of his head. “Damn disrespectful dumb-asses.”

“I’ve already called my lawyer!” Delia’s voice grew more shrill as she snapped around and glared at a young deputy attempting to move in behind her and pull her hands around to her back. She motioned at Sadie with an angry jerk of her head. “And I want to file assault charges against that bitch over there. Look what she did to my lip.” Delia leaned closer to the matter-of-fact officer cuffing her wrists. “And look at my face. I think she fractured my chin. And-and maybe even chipped one of my teeth.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the deputy answered in a politely bored tone that conveyed he really felt that Delia deserved whatever she got. “Watch your step, ma’am.” He took Delia firmly by the elbow and nudged her forward.

“I’ll need to cuff you, ma’am.” One of North Carolina’s finest stood beside Sadie, calmly waiting, a set of handcuffs dangling from one hand.

They’d called the state troopers too? Delia’s crew must’ve panicked when they saw her kicking Delia’s ass. Sadie held out her hands and tucked her chin. Life as she once knew it was now over, but at least she’d beaten the shit out of Delia first. Sadie sniffed. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to the officer.

“Yes, ma’am. Come with me now.” The state trooper took her arm and firmly walked her along beside him.

“County jail or…uhm…city?” Sadie swallowed hard against the knot of emotions choking her. What the hell difference did it make? From now on, wherever she was, she’d always be alone. Just like old times.

Chapter 23

“I’m honored you thought of me for your one phone call.”

A sharp elbow dug into Sadie’s ribs. “Hey. Wake up. I think that old lady’s talkin’ to you.”

Sadie lifted her head from her bent arm and straightened from the half-curled position in the corner at the end of the bench. Sure enough, her call hadn’t been wasted. She hadn’t figured it would be. Sheer old-lady nosiness alone would’ve brought Miss Martha across state lines just to get a shot at a firsthand telling of what had gone down at Highland Life and Legends. She prided herself on ruling supreme over all things gossipy in Brady. Alec had warned Sadie early on that Miss Martha knew all and wouldn’t hesitate a heartbeat to tell it.

The stern-faced matron stood outside the holding cell, her thin hands clasped tightly across her narrow middle as she eyed Sadie’s cellmates as though they needed to be sprayed down for fleas.

Sadie rose and slowly made her way to the front of the large containment area for offenders waiting to either be picked up, bailed out, or moved to a more permanent arrangement at the New Hanover County Facility. She gripped the cold bars in front of Miss Martha but couldn’t quite make herself look the old woman in the eye. Instead, she stared at the floor, fixing her attention on Miss Martha’s neon-teal running shoes with the lime-green laces that probably glowed in the dark. “Thank you for showing up. I didn’t know anyone else to call.”

“I paid your fine and told them I’d see to it that you made it to court on Monday. I’m not surprised Judge Watson’s getting this settled so fast. I’m thinkin’ he wants Hollywood out of Brady to avoid a rash of homicides.” Miss Martha turned and snapped her fingers at the young officer leaning against the wall, idly tapping the screen of his phone. “Young man! You think you could tear yourself away from that contraption long enough to get this girl out? Time’s a-wastin’ and I forgot to set my DVR to record themPretty Little Fibbers…orPetty Little Hussies…or whatever the blue blazes they’re called. Anyway—get a move on, boy!” She clapped her hands, herding the slow-moving officer into faster gear.

If her world hadn’t just fallen to pieces, Sadie would’ve laughed out loud. Miss Martha might be tiny, but she was just as feisty as her larger twin, Miss Lydia—and nobody in Brady crossed her.

The weight of all she’d lost nearly crushing her, Sadie shuffled out of the cell and down to the window the officer had pointed out for her to pick up her belongings. She leaned against the steel shelf, staring down at the scratched dip under the window.

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