Page 96 of The Heart of a Villain

I expect him to burst out in anger, so I move subtly once again, leaning on my hands as if breathing heavily while covering a rock with my palm, squeezing it, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

“I’d say I won.” I frown, and he elaborates, “Rush fell in love with you, and now I’ve got you. You’re their weakness, and that’s how I’m going to end them.”

So I’m a weapon to be used against them? If they haven’t killed each other back at the mansion, then he expects them to come to the rescue, and then plans to… what?

The light bulb in my head turns on, horror filling my every bone. “You want to kill me in front of them?”

That’s why he brought me to the waterfall, isn’t it?

“Oh, yes. Especially here. Where my brother married his wife and fucked her for the first time.” I hold back the desire to vomit right after these disgusting words, while counting to ten inside because I need to escape him now. “Because that’s the place where Rush and Rafael were conceived.”

Madness, pure madness and evilness that should never walk this earth, for it brings nothing but destruction and pain to those around them.

“Even if you kill me, they won’t let you live.”

He clicks his tongue and dismisses my words. “They’d be too busy killing each other or stuck in grief to pay any attention to me. I’d get my Lavender, the spitting image of Olivia, sans the fucking eyes, and live the life my brother denied me.” He grins. “I’ll be a king on this island, with a side business. With a queen by my side.”

He’s completely delusional. Revenge consumed him to a point it distorted his reality, so he believes all this bullshit.

“There is just one thing,” I say in a low voice, barely above a whisper, and his brow furrows. “There is just one thing,” I repeat in the same pitch again, and although annoyance flashes on his face, he comes closer, leaning toward me to hear me better. “I have no intention of dying.”

With this, I deliver the blow to his head with the rock, his scream echoing in the space as I get up and try to get away.

I manage to take only a few steps before he wraps his arm around my shoulders, pressing me to his chest, while I do my best to rip it away.

“Fucking little bitch!” he hisses in my ear, the blade coming up and resting on my throat.

One little move and he will slice it open.

That’s when we hear heavy footsteps running on the grass, and in a second, Rush and Dad burst out of the forest, both bruised and with blood on their clothes.

And both horrified at the view in front of them.

My soul weeps at the sight of my dad, and I say, “Daddy!” In this moment, I become a little girl once again, who could always count on her father to save her.

“Stay back!” Jade orders, stepping backward, and my stomach flips because we are going to the edge of the waterfall. “One move and I will kill her.”

A muscle twitches in my dad’s cheek, and he settles his loving gaze on me while Rush tightens his hold on the gun, caressing me with his eyes as if begging me to hold on.

In all my wild dreams, I never expected this kind of culmination to their conflict, them on one side trying to save my life, while a madman has me hostage on the other.

“She isn’t the one you want,” Rush speaks up, his tone even, although I know he is terrified for me. “Lachlan and me, we were always your targets, right?”

Jade takes another step, pulling me with him, and the blade glances my skin, making me wince, which doesn’t go unnoticed by the men who love me.

“Let her go, Jade.” His grip on me tightens after Dad’s next words. “She’s like Olivia. Collateral damage in a game that men played.”

“She was supposed to survive all this! I just wanted to kill the boys and make you believe we died!” he shouts, breathing heavily while hugging me, and I hate all this. I barely control erupting into hysterics. “You were constantly on the hunt for me. I couldn’t live like this. And I knew she contacted you! Scott family always meddling in my plans. First, my business and queen, then Lavender, and now my revenge!”

Dad stays silent, although I don’t miss how he assess the situation, and then he shares a long look with Rush.

They must come to a mutual agreement because they give each other an almost invisible nod and then zero their attention on Jade again.

Slowly, Rush and Dad lower their guns to the ground, not taking their eyes off us. “Let Aileen go, and have a go at us.”

“You think I’d believe in your surrender?” Jade drags us backward, and I gasp when we stand right on the edge, the water slapping us on my calves while I make the mistake of glancing down.

Nothing but big and sharp rocks await me there, and I have zero chance of surviving this. “Rush,” I call his name, and he clenches his jaw, while Dad closes his eyes for a second because with Rush’s name alone, I basically confessed to him my feelings for the man.

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