Page 121 of Coercion

His eyes drop, they take in the skimpy dress and my body beneath it, before he notices the leather around my neck.

“Preston.” I murmur his name but I don’t say it loud enough for anyone to hear above the sound of crashing water from the waterfall a few metres away.

He stops. Pauses. Looks around for a fraction of a second. He’s not nearly close enough to touch but right now, that’s a good thing.

That keeps him safe.

Keeps him alive.

“I missed you.” He says.

“I missed you too.” I reply.

He lets out a sigh. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”

I nod. In so many ways I would choose a different fate, a different ending, but my life was never one of fairy tales and miracles.

And what better way than to die with purpose?

To die for something significant rather than because someone has simply decided it.

No, to die for Preston, to die to save him, that makes this bearable, that makes this fear inside me containable.

“Have they hurt you?” He asks.

I frown, my head shaking slightly. My family can read into it what they will. After all, soon I’ll no doubt have a bullet in my brain, and nothing will matter.

“If they’ve laid a finger on you…”

“That’s enough.” My mother says, stepping out from where she’s been hiding.

He takes a sharp inhale of air then looks back at me in surprise.

“She’s…” I begin but my mother sends a quick shock through the collar and I yelp before falling silent.

“That’s enough.” My mother repeats. “We’re not here to talk about Ruby.”

“Funny,” Preston smirks. “I thought that’s exactly what I was here for. To talk to my wife.”

“She won’t be your wife for much longer.”

Preston’s jaw ticks. He glances back at me and again, I shake my head. I don’t want him to think I’m happy with that, that I’d agree to that, that despite everything he’s done, I’d willingly walk away from him.

“What do you want, Diana?” He growls.

“I want my revenge.” She snarls. “You and Nico really think you could just take what you wanted, steal from me and I’d just crawl away…”

He smirks. “No,” He murmurs. “But we wish you had. We gave you an opportunity. We gave you a chance five years ago.”

“And then you helped Levi.” My mother spits.

Preston takes a step forward and she holds the little device in her hand up, flashes it like it’s a gun. “One more step Preston and I’ll make Ruby pay.”

“Leave her out of this.” He replies.

“Why? She’s a part of this, she always has been. You and Nico made sure of that.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”