His expression shot from me to the door, gauging the space, ire compiling along his jaw.
It was just a beat; tension crackling the space. We both moved at the same time, my hand curling around the handle, a cry breaking from my lips as his long arms grabbed me, whipping me around, slamming me painfully against the wall, my head cracking back, my hip hitting the bar, my eyes watering as the pain stabbed through me.
He pressed his form into me, his stinky breath and musty suit burning my nostrils. “You aren’t going anywhere, princess.” He sneered the title, his hands grasping my arms, pinning them back into the wall, shoving me tighter between the cabinet, wall, and himself.
“Get off me!” I bellowed.
“Not until you give me what I want, you fuckin’ little tease.”
“Not a chance!” I struggled against him, but he pinned all his weight on me, squashing me as his hands clumsily pawed at my clothes, trying to undo my jeans and shove up my sweater. “No! Stop!”
“You came to me.” He scoffed, panting for air as he tried to contain me. “How do you think that will look to the media? You think they will ever believe you? Stop fighting me. I know you want it…you’re practically begging me.” The entire end of his sentence mashed up together in a garble. “You want to save your family from ruin? Your relationship with Theo? I know something that will devastate you more than you could possibly imagine. You can oblige me or not. Either way, I will enjoy breaking that feisty spirit of yours.” His hands tore at the button of my jeans, trying to shove them down. I squirmed against his hold, but he had me restrained so tightly against the table and him, all I could do was wiggle my shoulders.
This can’t be happening.
“Help!” I bellowed. Maude didn’t seem to like me, but could she really step to the side and let this happen to someone? To the future princess? “Help!”
“You think she will come save you?” He laughed, his fingers so cold and boney they felt like a skeleton touching my skin, pushing at my sweater, running along my bra. “She’s so deaf, there’s a light in the kitchen to let her know someone is at the door. She won’t help you, girl, not that she would anyway. She has been in this house for forty years and turned a blind eye to all my lovers coming in and out.”
“Your lovers?” I sputtered. “You are sick! How do you even look at yourself? Can’t get a woman who actually wants to be with you, so you have to force them?”
“You think me so vile?” He growled. “At least I tell you the truth. You know I’m married. You know what I want. Can you say the same for your bodyguard?” He forced my jeans lower, propelling bile onto my tongue. A wretched whimper shot from my esophagus, waiting to crawl out of my body.
Think, Spencer. Think!
“Your bodyguard?” He leaned into me, almost like he couldn’t hold himself up anymore, his mouth scraping my ear, his fingers pushing into my knickers, “is married.”
With his words, his touch—rage snapped like a twig, inundating me like a wild animal.
“Shut up!” I shoved against his frame with everything I had, my nails scraping at his face, and he stumbled back. He cupped his cheek, peering down at the dots of blood. Only half his face contorted into wrath as he glared back for me.
But I was no longer there. The beast inside, the one that could rise like the phoenix, bellowed inside my chest.
Two things buried such deep hate in me: people harming innocent animals in any way,
And…
Men using power, position, blackmail, and intimidation to abuse women so their egos could feel better about the fact they lacked anything resembling a real man.
“You bitch!” He spat at me as he lurched for me.
Reaching across the table, I snatched up the closest object, swinging a crystal decanter bottle at him in threat.
A strange mangled noise came from him as he staggered backward, his hands going to his chest.
I didn’t even touch him. Was he going to play that game? Turn this around like I attacked him?
“Oh, how fast you crumble when the girl gets a little backbone! Come on, arsehole…fight me now!”
He curved over, gasping and gurgling. He peered up at me, half of his face appearing like it was dripping down his face, one arm falling lifeless to the side.
“Lord William?” I heard myself croak.
His face twisted, and a strained groan pitched from him as he toppled back, smashing into his desk.
Crash!
Both he and the desk hit the wood floor with a thud, all the contents inside spewing out like it threw up over the room. His hand clawed at his chest as he gasped for air.
“Oh. My. God.” I cried out, reflex driving me instantly down to his side. “Lord William?” His eyes were glazed over as he sweated profusely, groaning. Panic thumped up my vertebra. “Help! Someone help,” I screamed, realizing too late Maude probably wouldn’t hear me.
“Fuck. Fuck.” I crawled over the debris streamed on the ground, searching for his landline. I had left my cell back at the palace so they couldn’t track me if they found I was gone. My hands shaking, I dialed the emergency number, spitting out what I could to the dispatch.
“Hurry!” I screamed before I hung up, scrambling back over to him. He laid there unmoving, his skin pasty, oxygen no longer pumping his chest up and down. “Shite!”
A part of me, deep down, knew if he died, so would a lot of my problems…
How I wished I was that person, but I wasn’t. Like with animals, I wanted to save, protect, and help the creatures who couldn’t speak up for themselves. Lord William was one of those right now, no matter how much I hated him.
“Maude! Help!” I tried to call for her again, hoping she was close. An anguished noise coiled in my chest before I bent over, starting CPR.
How ironic, I still ended up having my mouth on him.
Either she was near or sensed a disturbance in the house she ran for so long. Maude burst into the room, her face paling, screaming as she fell down next to her employer. The sirens from the ambulance hinted in the distance.
Time moved both fast and glacially before figures bustled around me.
“Miss, we got this.” A man’s voice dominated the room, pushing me out of the way as the EMTs got to work.
I crawled back, my spine hitting one of the bookcases, the entire ground littered with objects from his overturned desk. My palm flattened on something glossy.
Maude flapped around uselessly, glaring at me as if I was the cause, constantly asking them if he was all right instead of letting them do their jobs. They tuned her out as they got him on a gurney, his breath steady, and wheeled him outside into the ambulance.
“You saved his life.” The female EMT turned to me, the acknowledgment of who I was popping on her face like fireworks. “Oh, my goodness…My lady.” She dipped her head, her eyes widening, “I-I didn’t know it was you. Are you all right? Were you hurt?” She peered around the room at the mess. It did look like we got into a brawl. Instinctively she reached for my hand to help me rise.
“No.” I shook my head, needing the steadiness of the ground under my arse. “I’m fine.”
“Well, I can say he is only alive because of you.” She stared at me with awe and respect. “He owes his life to you.”