Page 104 of Merciless Prince

“I had nothing to do with that.”

“Bullshit. You thought I was going to tell her everything, so you got someone to run her off the road as a warning to me.”

Killian’s brows dipped even lower. “Shay, I swear, I had nothing to do with that. I knew she was in a coma, obviously, because everyone at Bellingham heard about it, but I didn’t make it happen.”

I rolled my eyes upward. “Sure.”

“I wouldn’t do that after what you told us at the initiation,” he said, looking over at me again. “I know I can be a sick fucking prick sometimes, but that would be fucked up even by my standards.”

I frowned. “What did I tell you at the initiation?”

“About the way you lost your parents,” he replied. “They were run off the road by a drunk guy, and it really fucked you up. Right?”

A lump appeared in my throat. I turned away and looked out the window to hide the tears shimmering in my eyes.

“I’m serious, Shay,” Killian went on. “I didn’t hurt Cori, and I wouldn’t hurt any of your other friends either.”

“What would you do to them, then?” I asked, turning back to him. “If I told you their names.”

He rubbed his jaw. “You told Derrick that they thought the grotto stuff was an amateur film shoot, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I was the only one who suspected something else was going on.”

“Then we wouldn’t even need to talk to them. We’d just have to monitor them for a while, like we were doing with you before all of this.”

“So you’d stalk them and surveil them forever?” I asked, raising a brow.

“Not forever. Just as long as it takes for us to be sure that they’re never going to tell anyone what they saw. That’s a lot better than pain or death, isn’t it?”

I swallowed thickly. “I guess so.”

“Just think about it for a while. You’ll see I’m right.”

I folded my arms. “What about me?” I said. “I know it wasn’t a movie. I know you guys really killed Joe Cafferty, and I know youdon’t trust me not to tell the cops or anyone else. But you also said you won’t kill me either. So what are you going to do with me?”

Killian stared straight ahead at the road. “You know the answer to that, Shay.”

My shoulders slumped, and I sank lower in my seat. He was right. I already knew the answer. He would never kill me, but he would never let me go, either.

I fought back tears the whole way to Beaumont Island, and I refused to look at Killian. The sight of his handsome face made me want to cry even more.

In another world, another lifetime, I wouldn’t mind belonging to a man like him. But it had to be my choice. It couldn’t be likethis.

When we finally made it back to my room on the fourth floor of the castle, it was almost half past three in the morning. I sat on the end of the bed, too scared to meet Killian’s eyes as he stared down at me.

“Are you going to punish me for trying to escape?” I asked, voice barely above a murmur.

He shook his head. “Not tonight.”

With that, he turned and left the room, locking me in once again.

I crawled up the bed and quietly slipped under the blankets as the unspoken promise of later punishment lingered in the air, filling me with unease that felt like eels in my belly. Somehow, just knowing that it was coming seemed worse than the actual punishment itself.

I rolled onto my back and closed my eyes, mind spinning with possibilities, awaiting my fate.

30

Shay