32. Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Two

Mackenzie

W ho the fuck have I been spending time with over the last ten months? Because Emily Beaufort is like a whole other person right now, kneeling at her husband’s feet with her palms resting against her thighs and her head lowered while he glares at my mom in silence with the creepiest grin on his face. Mom is also silent, her eyes closed and her breaths uneven. She’s trying so hard to stay calm, but it won’t be long until she breaks. There was a restraining order against this man after he made her life Hell once before.

I need to get us off this fucking plane.

“Why are you here?” I whisper to Ryan, who is sitting next to me, hoping the law-abiding man I thought I knew is still in there. The fact that he’s here at all is fucking insane, but he’s quietly obeyed the orders Harrison Beaufort has given him so far without question.

The car ride over here was only the beginning. He was like a stone wall, didn’t even turn to acknowledge me or Mom. If Emily hadn’t made sure we saw the gun in her hand, I would’ve made an escape attempt before now. But from experience, getting shot fucking hurts and I’m not risking my life like that again if I can help it. I have too much to live for now.

My son won’t grow up without one of his parents.

Ryan’s ignoring me and I’m desperately trying to figure out how to get these handcuffs off. Maybe then I can grab the gun Ryan’s holding at his side and get the fuck off this plane before it takes off.

“Ryan?” I whisper again.

“I told you to be quiet, girl.” Harrison stands, but not before stroking Emily’s head like a dog. Long gone is the confident woman I thought I knew.

Mom whimpers when he moves closer to her and presses his palm against her shoulder. It does something I can’t quite explain to my insides.

“Yes, you have. And you’ve got us trapped in this sardine box so…what now? What’s the whole evil villain plan you’ve got going on here?” I smile internally as he moves away from Mom, coming to tower over me instead.

“You talk too much for a woman. Your brother told me that you needed a beating every now and then to keep you in your place. Is that what you need, little girl?” He begins unbuckling his belt and his sinister sneer reminds me so much of Jake, it makes more sense that he was such a psychopath.

“You said she was mine, Mr. Beaufort.” Holy shit on a stick, Ryan can talk.

Wait…

“What?” I spin my head toward Ryan, who stands from his seat beside me and is now at eye level with Harrison.

“Well keep your woman in check then, Ryan. I can call The Firm and have you kicked out just as quickly as you were accepted.”

What in the actual fuck are they talking about?

“Of course, Mr. Beaufort, sir.” Ryan glares at me, but there’s a hint of apology in his eyes so I think this could work in my favor somehow. “Behave, Mackenzie. He outranks me, so he can punish you when he sees fit. Just stay quiet and it’ll all be okay.”

“You need to be firmer. Never explain yourself to a woman.” Harrison shakes his head and re-buckles his belt before taking his seat once more. “Emily, lick my shoes.” She follows his instructions and I’m trying to not gag at the sight. “See? No reason given, and look how well she listens.” Bending down, he grips Emily’s chin and roughly pulls her mouth to his. But it doesn’t look like the fun kind of rough. Then he simply shoves her aside, where she resumes her submissive pose.

“I’ll have to get Darlene trained to an acceptable standard.” It’s not easy to stay silent, but he’s doing what I asked and giving his villainous speech, so I’m gonna let him continue while I wrack my brain for an escape route before the plane starts moving. Harrison turns his attention to Mom, who still has her eyes closed and her cuffed hands fisted. “It would have been easier if you didn’t run from me years ago. Breaking the younger version of you would have been a much sweeter treat. But alas, you got away…” He chuckles, and I’m positive he’s talking to himself at this point because his captive audience doesn’t really give a shit. “The fates had a different idea because our son found me, my love. He told me everything. So of course, I had to arrange a little accident for your husband, and the drugs I provided kept you in one place. You were nice and pliable every time I paid you a visit.”

My whole body trembles with the need to kill this man. It’s as strong as my need to kill my brother, and I did that…but like with Jake, I need to do this right. I’ve learned my lesson that spontaneity is not my friend. Which means no outbursts, no matter how difficult that is.

“It just so happens you lived in the perfect little town for me to experiment with. You’d be surprised at how many people are willing to sell drugs or break the law for a little extra money.” Harrison huffs a laugh. “Peasants are all the fucking same. Easily addicted to a quick thrill, even though it’s dangerous. Then there’s the ones who like to think they’re a part of the solution, buying the antidote to the problem I created in the first place…ha fucking idiots. So I’m making more than enough for us to live out our lives on my new island…”

“Are you going to behave?” Ryan’s whispered words revolt me but I suppress the shiver that begs to roll through my body and use this as an advantage.

Gritting my teeth, I sigh heavily and lean into Ryan, resting my head against his bicep. I feel him flinch a little but he quickly relaxes into it as Harrison continues his little rant that I’m blanking out as much as possible.

I nod, reaching my cuffed hands up and stroking his arm, but I make it look awkward as hell.

“Ryan, the cuffs hurt. Could you loosen them, just a little?” Tilting my head up, I look through my lashes and he scowls.

“I’m not dumb, Mackenzie. You know I can’t do that.”

“STOP!” Mom’s scream makes me jump and I twist in my seat to see her hands in her hair, twisting huge clumps, her head bowed as she rocks in her seat.

“Oh, Darlene. There’s that feisty girl I remember from all those years ago.” Harrison moves so quickly, backhanding Mom once, twice, and a third time before she passes out.

“Get your filthy fucking hands off my Mom!” I struggle with my seatbelt, finally getting it undone, and stand. As soon as I do, I realize what a mistake it was, but there’s only so long I can hold back on my instinct here.

“Who the fuck do you think you are, little girl?” Harrison turns that backhand on me, impacting my cheek and knocking me to the floor. My face heats and I hold my palm up to my cheek. It’s going to bruise. “Ryan may be your new master, but your mother belongs to me. Which means you also belong to me, and I won’t tolerate disobedience.” He’s towering over me, his belt off, and he whips it down across my back, the buckle making me scream out on impact.

I’m at a disadvantage here and I need to be smarter.

The belt swooshes through the air once more, and I can’t contain the scream again as it whacks against the same spot on my back as last time.

“Mr. Beaufort, c’mon. Let me deal with her when we arrive. You said there’s a trainer The Firm uses sometimes, we’ll get him to come to the island and she’ll be the perfect submissive in no time.” Ryan stands between me and the next hit from Harrison’s belt.

“Do you hear that, girl? Your new master is taking responsibility for you. Aren’t you a lucky little slave?” Harrison sits back down with Emily still at his feet. “Last warning for her, Ryan. Keep. Her. In. Line.”

My blood is boiling with rage and hatred, but Ryan’s obsession with me is my only advantage at this point.

“Yes, Mr. Beaufort, sir.” He turns to me, dragging me up by the arm, but it’s not painful, just forceful. “Please sit and be quiet. This isn’t the biker compound you’ve been living in, Mac. This is the real world. If you’d just said yes to being mine in the first place, things wouldn’t have gone this far.”

I want to rip his face off as he carefully sits me down in my seat, but I’m getting the gist of what’s going on here, so I play the perfect little submissive and furrow my brow with worry.

“I’m so sorry, Ryan. I agree. Thank you.” The words taste like acid on my tongue, but I say them anyway, resting my head against his bicep again when he sits beside me.

“For what?”

Hook…

Line…

“For saving me.”

“Really? I knew it. I knew that place was bad for you. It’s okay now. I have you.” Sinker.

He drapes his arm across my shoulders, using his hand to pull me closer, and I have to resist the very real urge to gag.

Instead of asking, this time I rub gently at my wrists, hissing quietly in pretend pain. I carefully scratch the cuffs over my skin though, to leave visible marks for Ryan to see. The scream of motorcycle engines reaches my ears. It’s faint over the noise from the plane, but it’s there, and I fight the urge to jump for joy. We’re not out of this yet.

The plane begins moving then, without warning, and my heart drops to my stomach. Fuck . Time isn’t on my side here.

I hear Harrison grumbling something about hurrying the fuck up, but I ignore it, playing up the pain in my wrists a little more. It’s useless, Ryan doesn’t say another word, but Harrison gets up and walks to the cockpit, telling the pilot off for taking so long.

This is it. I need to do something now, before this plane takes off, and it needs to work.

Harrison hasn’t got a weapon that I can see, and Ryan’s gun is back in his holster against his ribs. I don’t think I can grab it, but I have a pretty good feeling that he won’t use it on me.

Standing quickly, because Ryan didn’t put my seatbelt back on, I rush over to where Emily is still kneeling and tear out the hair bodkin from her neatly coiffed bun.

“What the fuc—”

I stab Harrison in the eye with one of the sticks, the easiest and softest place I can do real damage with what I have. Grinder told me that I should always aim for the eyes because even if they don’t die, they’re blinded for life. Hopefully I’ve shoved it in far enough that he does die quite quickly. He yells, Emily screams, Ryan stands and grips his gun. Out of nowhere, Mom is tackling Ryan just as pop pop pop sounds are hitting the side of the plane. She grabs his weapon, pointing it at the wailing Harrison, and shoots, right before an explosion causes the plane to veer off the tarmac. A few more shots go off, the screaming doesn’t stop, and I lose my struggle to stay standing, being thrown to the other side of the plane and landing on a now-very-dead Harrison, bleeding out.

I need to get to Mom. She’s been knocked unconscious by something, and the gun is beneath her. I’m hoping she’s only unconscious anyway because I can’t deal with any other outcome.

“What are you doing, Kenz? You said you’d be mine.” Ryan tries to grab me as I step over him to get to Mom, and the first thing I do is check her pulse. Thank fuck for that. She’s alive. Now I need to keep myself alive too because I need my boys. They need me. There are no other options.

My gaze catches on the wing outside the window as the flames erupt as if by magic, but I refuse to be distracted so I reach for the gun and point it at Ryan. As far as I can tell, he’s been doing Harrison’s dirty work because he’s a fucking simp for his lifestyle and was promised he could own me. Ha. No.

“Fuck this shit!” The pilot suddenly appears, his hands in the air and he opens the door, letting the stairs down and being shoved to the ground in his attempt to escape the charging Sons of Khaos.

My man and his brothers barge onto the plane, making the space look even smaller than before, and Aleko’s eyes immediately find mine.

He wastes no time in stalking toward me, purpose in every step, before he grips the back of my head, my hair tangled between his long fingers, and kisses me so hard my lips bruise. Pulling back, but still with his hold in my hair, the smirk that makes all my dreams come true spreads across his face, and yeah, he raises that damn brow.

“Going on our honeymoon without me, Cherry baby?”