“No.” I reached for the door handle and pulled, only the door didn’t open.
Trapped by something across my waist and chest, I struggled and realized I was being held down by a seat belt. One Felicity must have tightened for me.
“I can’t leave. We have to go back.” I hit the button at my hip, freeing me from the restraint, and reached for the door handle again, willing to throw myself out of this car if I had to. “We can’t leave Luc. You don’t know what they did. They—”
“Natalie. Stop!” Felicity’s hand closed over my arm, pulling me back from the door hard as she struggled with me and tried to drive. “He’s not there. They let him go already. Marco has him.”
Everything came to a screeching stop in my brain.
I twisted back to Felicity and stared at her. Dark, ratty curls whipped in front of my eyes, blocking my vision, but I didn’t care. I was too afraid to believe what she’d just said was true. “Marco has him? Are you sure?”
“Yes. And if you stop fighting me, I’ll take you to him.”
“Please.” Tears filled my eyes. Tears that made everything fuzzy and slipped past my lashes. Tears I didn’t even try to hold back. “Please tell me he’s okay.”
Felicity let go of me, pushed a lock of hair back from her face, and focused on the road, but her jaw clenched, and her features tightened. “I’m not going to lie to you. He’s not good.”
“Oh God...”
I closed my eyes and leaned forward, rocking slowly to keep from getting sick all over again. “Oh God...”
“Hey. Look at me, Natalie. I need you to hold it together. Luc needs you to hold it together. He’s going to get through this, but he won’t be able to do it without you. Do you remember our conversation in the kitchen yesterday? Natalie, focus. What did I tell you yesterday?”
I swallowed hard and forced my eyes open, fighting to recall our conversation in her kitchen only hours ago when we’d been waiting for Marco and Luc to return with Dante. “Y-you said that if things went to shit, th-that I’d be the only one who could keep him grounded.”
“And that hasn’t changed. Physically, Luc is going to heal from this, but mentally—emotionally—it could break him. I’m counting on you to make sure that doesn’t happen. We’re all counting on that, Natalie. You know how important Luc is.”
Nausea swirled in my stomach as I looked out at the passing scenery through watery vision, barely seeing the rolling Tuscan hills.
She was talking about Luc’s future with his House. He was the heir, destined to one day take his father’s place as the Grand Duke. And when he did, Felicity and Marco and hundreds of others in hiding were hopeful they could rise up against the evil Knights and overthrow the entire dynasty.
“He doesn’t care about any of that,” I said, throat thick. “And neither do I.”
“I know you don’t right now, and I don’t blame you. But if Luc breaks, you’re going to lose him too. You don’t want that to happen, do you?”
Oh God... I swallowed back a sob and shook my head.
“Then I need to you to get yourself together before we see him. Natalie, they made sure you were there for a reason. They wanted him to know you saw it all. He’s going to be racked with guilt about that. You can’t let him wallow in it. You have to be his strength now.”
“Fee, they...” I wrapped my arms around my waist and fought back the nausea and misery. “They raped him. Like it was nothing. And his parents were standing right there. Watching.” Bile pushed up my throat all over again. “Directing it.”
“I know.” Her warm hand closed over mine against my thigh. “They’re sick people, Natalie. But Luc isn’t like them.”
“I know he’s not.”
“No matter what happens, make him believe that.”
We pulled onto a small airfield. I blinked and sat up straighter.
“What’s going on?” I asked as she bypassed the parking lot and pulled around behind the main building.
“Something we could get in big trouble for. We’re getting Luc out of here, which is why we have to hurry. The Knights agreed to release Luc into Marco’s care, but once they realize we didn’t head back to the villa, they’ll be searching for us.”
She slowed behind a large black SUV parked not far from a private jet, its engines already running. As we rolled to a stop, I spotted Marco’s familiar dark hair and broad shoulders as he rushed down the jet’s stairs. Behind him, a man who looked to be a pilot followed. They both raced to the back of the SUV.
“Oh God,” I whispered as they opened the back double doors and reached inside.
“Breathe,” Felicity said, shoving the car into Park and reaching for her door. “You’re no help to him if you lose your shit right now.”
Felicity climbed out and rushed to the back of the SUV.
Swallowing hard, I reached for my own door handle and popped the lever, but I felt as if I was moving in slow motion as I climbed out. Felt I was in a nightmarish dream I had to soon wake from.
Wind whipped my unruly hair around my face as I closed the car door. Marco and the pilot slowly pulled Luc out of the back of the vehicle.
I held my breath, unable to move, unable to help. He was wearing nothing but loose gray sweatpants riding low on his hips. No shirt, no shoes, no socks. His dark hair was damp, his muscular body limp, his limbs not seeming to work. His head hung forward as each man slung an arm over their shoulders and supported his weight. And the groan that echoed my direction was laced with a pain I felt deep in my own bones.
My heart pounded hard as they carried him toward the jet. I turned to follow, desperate to touch him and see for myself he was breathing. Then I saw his back—the skin broken open in long red strips, swollen, oozing, bleeding—and all that sickness I’d been holding back surged right up my throat.
“Oh fuck....” I jerked forward, braced my hands on my knees, and gagged, dry heaving because there was nothing left in my stomach.
Something warm wrapped my arm, tugging me up. Before I knew what was happening, I was being pulled forward.
“Breathe, Natalie. One step at a time.” Dazed, I glanced to my right, where Felicity was pulling me with her toward the plane, a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. “We don’t have time to waste. You can do this.”
I wasn’t sure how. I could barely think. Didn’t know where I was. The world spun around me. All I could see were those oozing cuts on Luc’s back. All I could hear were his groans of pain mixed with the high-pitched shriek from that kitten.
My head grew light. Something pressed against my back and pushed me forward. Vaguely, I was aware of metal beneath my feet. Of plush dark walls around me.
A clank echoed, like a heavy door closing, then I heard Felicity say, “Did you file a flight plan?”
“Yes,” a man answered with a clipped British accent. “But I gave them a bum destination.”
“Good. We have to go. Like yesterday.”
“I’m on it. This is going to be a quick takeoff. Might get rough.”
The man moved away from me. I was still having trouble seeing. Didn’t know where he’d gone.