Cruel Surrender by Terri Anne Browning

Ciana

***This chapter may be considered too graphic for some readers.***

I didn’t realize how much I needed a girls’ night out until I was on the dance floor at Medusa’s with Nova and Cali. I’d had fun with my family the weekend of Nova’s graduation, but this was different. I didn’t have to hide how miserable I was or pretend like everything was okay. Nova might love Ryan more than anything or anyone, but if I confided in her, she would take my secrets to the grave.

But as we danced, I could feel my energy draining. The babies sucked the life right out of me. Most days, it was an effort just to make it to and from work without falling asleep standing up. I tended to eat my lunch as quickly as possible and then spend the rest of my break taking a nap in one of the exam rooms so Milo didn’t see me sleeping.

One minute, I was dancing with the girls. The next, Pietro was carrying me to the limo. I tried to keep my eyes open, but they wouldn’t cooperate. I felt myself being shifted, and just as my head touched Nova’s lap, I heard Milo asking, “Should we take her to the hospital?”

My stomach lurched at the thought of ending up in the hospital. There would be no way to hide I was pregnant from a doctor in the ER—or Nova and the guards. “Don’t need a hospital. Just my bed. I’m just tired. Geesh,” I tried to play off my anxiety as annoyance.

“You basically passed out on the dance floor.” The concern in Nova’s voice made me feel guilty, but not enough to reveal my secret in front of the guards and Cali. She might have been pissed at Garret at the moment, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t spill the beans to my cousin if and when they happened to make up. Garret could be just as bad as Ryan at times with the overprotectiveness, but he hadn’t learned to control his emotions very well yet. “You need to see a doctor, C.”

“Just need a bed,” I argued, fighting a yawn. “Trust me, I’m a medical professional.”

“She would know if something was wrong with her.” Cali backed me up, and I could have hugged her if I weren’t so damn tired.

“Fine,” Nova muttered before throwing out instructions to the guards. “Let’s drop Cali off at home and then get back to the compound.” I started to relax until she threatened, “But I’m telling Zia about this, and if she insists you need to see a doctor, you are going.”

“Whatever you say, Mom,” I snarked, but I was too exhausted to really argue about it. I’d worry about what I would tell my mom regarding my extreme tiredness later. But I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to hide my growing stomach for much longer. I was already showing more than I thought I would be at this stage of my pregnancy, even with three babies swimming around in there.

So far, my fear of carrying multiples was for naught. Other than the fatigue, which was completely normal with triplets, I hadn’t had a single complication. Even my morning sickness had been short-lived. Then again, I was able to have a weekly ultrasound, and the smallest thing that didn’t feel right, Darcy was there to tell me what I needed to do to correct anything that might seem off. I was lucky to have a friend who could guide me through such a frightening time.

I was asleep before the limo even pulled into traffic.

The sounds of horns honking angrily was my only warning before I was being rolled onto the floor of the limo. Startled, I blinked up at Nova, who was on top of me. “What’s going on?” I asked, only to have the unmistakable sound of gunfire reach my ears.

Nova was too busy pulling Cali down beside us to answer before using her body to shield us both. I gulped in fear as the limo sped up. I had no idea what was happening, but I was terrified. My family had a number of enemies that wanted each and every one of us dead, but I knew in my gut that this had to do with Sheena.

For all of two seconds, I wondered if Bain was a part of this ambush, but the sound of bullets hitting the outside of the limo made bile lift into my throat, and I clutched at my belly protectively. All thoughts of my ex fled my head as I began to pray.

But it wasn’t until Nova told Ryan to remember she loved him no matter what happened that my fear escalated. If she was preparing him for the possibility of losing her, then I knew this wasn’t going to end well.

Suddenly, we were rammed from behind, tossing us forward with great force. I screamed, the sound echoed by Cali. Pietro tossed out orders, telling us to hold on because the driver was knocked out.

He was out cold, but we were still speeding through the night? No, we should have at least been slowing down, not going faster.

“Stop, stop, stop!” I screamed, my fear getting the better of me. “We have to stop. Why aren’t we stopping?”

Nova sat upright, getting in my face in an attempt to soothe me. “C, calm down. It’s okay.”

“Nova, the driver is knocked out. So why aren’t we stopping?” Tears spilled down my face. Oh God, we were going to die. This was it. I was going to die.

And the babies…

Bain wouldn’t even know he was going to be a father. Would he have cared? Or was this all his doing?

I didn’t know, and that only made me sob harder.

“Fuck,” Nova whispered, realization dawning along with a new flash of terror on her beautiful face before yelling at her bodyguard. “Pietro!”

“His foot is trapped on the gas,” the guard called back to us. “I’m trying!” There was a pause, quickly followed by, “Motherfucker! Hold on!”

I barely had time to brace myself before the world went completely dark.

It washer cackle that pulled me from the darkness. I remembered it all too well from that single meeting back on the island. It’d haunted my nightmares, causing me to jerk awake on numerous occasions, sweat soaking my sheets. During her little visit to see me that time, all she’d done was talk. But it had been the evil shining like neon beacons out of her eyes that had scared me the most.

My lids snapped upward, my eyes shifting around frantically in search of the owner of that cackle. The brightness of the light hanging overhead blinded me for a moment before I was able to see again, but I quickly took stock of the room. Sheena stood at the foot of the table I was lying on, a metal one, the kind a butcher might chop up fresh meat on.

I shuddered.

She was dressed all in black, her hair pulled back in a stylish bun that made her face look sharper. That evil grin was on her lips, showing her even, white teeth as she smirked down at me. Behind her, I could see shadows of others, but they were out of the range of the light glaring down on top of me to see more than the basic outline of their bodies. I could tell three of them were male, but one was smaller, making it hard to know if it was a fourth man or a woman until I heard their voice.

“Her hair is too pretty.” The voice was feminine but had a natural huskiness to it that would have been a man’s wet dream. “I don’t like it, Granny.”

She had a slight Irish accent, but I detected more of an American dialect than anything. My eyes strained to make out more of the woman, but it was no use.

“We can’t have that, now can we?” Sheena said, her eyes softening on the smaller shadow before turning back to me. She picked up a pair of kitchen shears, the kind I’d seen our cook use to cut up chicken, the kind that could crack through bone like it was nothing or slice through the thickest, toughest meat like it was parchment paper.

I gulped and tried to shift away from her as she walked along the table, but as I did, I realized my hands and feet were strapped to the table. “D-don’t,” I gritted out, trying to hide my fear but knowing I wasn’t successful when I heard the shadowed woman giggle. “Sheena, don’t do this. Don’t hurt me. It won’t get you what you want the most. Your granddaughter, she…” I gulped again when rage flamed high in her eyes. “It won’t bring her back if you hurt me.”

“Don’t you mention my granddaughter!” she shouted. “She was too good for you even to dare speak about her to me.”

Heart pounding, I tried to think fast, knowing if I didn’t get through to her, she would kill me. “You love your family. Why else would you be so distraught over losing your namesake?” I was able to move my hands enough to touch my stomach. “I-I’m your family now, Sheena. I’m pregnant. With Bain’s children.”

“Liar!” the voice from the shadows screeched.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her shift, but one look from Sheena and she stopped in her tracks. The old woman’s glare only lasted a mere second before she turned her hard yet curious gaze back on me.

“Pregnant?” Sheena lifted a brow along with the shears and started cutting my clothes off me.

I began to shiver, in both fear and as the cool air touched my bare skin. She didn’t stop until I was in nothing but my bra and panties, but there was no mistaking the way my stomach was distended. The baby bump was just starting to really pop, but a few stretch marks already mapped my skin.

“You said children.” Sheena skimmed the edge of the shears down the side of my belly, and I had to bite my lip to keep from whimpering in fear. “Twins?”

“Triplets,” I whispered.

She sighed heavily. “I was going to enjoy killing you, but if you really are carrying the next generation, I guess I’ll have to spare your pathetic life.” Her eyes were colder than the temperature of the room when they landed on me. “But if I find out that Bain isn’t the father, no one will be able to save you and your little bastards.”

She turned her back to me, and I almost released a relieved breath, until she took a step toward the table a few feet away from mine. I hadn’t noticed it before as I had been looking for all the dangers in the room. But as she crossed to the other table, I caught sight of…

“Nova!” I screamed, struggling against my bindings. “Nova, are you okay? Answer me!”

Sheena cackled again. “She can’t hear you from where she’s at now, lass. I’m sure she’s burning in hell, waiting for Ryan to come join her.”

“No!” I struggled harder and felt the skin on my wrists burn as the metal cut into my flesh. “Nova, please, look at me. Speak to me. Nova!”

Even as I was screaming, Sheena picked up an ax and swung it. The sound of bone breaking made my stomach turn, but she did it again and again until my sweet, beautiful cousin was in pieces on the table.

I screamed until my throat was raw. I wanted to look away, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t force my gaze from the horrific scene unfolding before me. When it was over, Sheena turned, blood splattered across her face, giving her a demented look. She was breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling as if she’d just run a mile uphill.

An odd ringing filled my ears, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the echo of the ax on the metal table as she’d savaged Nova or if shock had set in. My heart was breaking, yet I felt oddly numb. All I could do was look at what had once been one of my dearest friends, the girl who had taken hold of everyone’s heart and turned Ryan into an actual human when we were kids.

And now she’s gone?

No. She couldn’t be.

But even as my heart wanted to deny it, my brain knew the truth. That was Nova lying there. Her face smashed in, her long blond hair coated in blood. The white romper she’d worn to our girls’ night out and the necklace proclaiming her as Ryan’s Heart on her chest.

Vaguely, I heard Sheena speaking to me, but it was as if she was in a tunnel, her voice echoing through the room, barely making sense to me. She laughed about how easy it was to kill Nova, flaunting her death in my face with her chilling cackle. But I couldn’t bear to look away from the other table, and that only pissed Sheena off.

Nova had always been the equivalent of what I imagined an angel would look like. The first time I’d met her, even though she was only three years old, I’d known she couldn’t be anything other than a celestial being. How else could she have brought Ryan back to life at first glance? She’d turned him from a stoic little mini man into a fun-loving little boy whenever she was around.

The evil old hag picked up the shears again, cutting my hair, making the shadowed woman start to giggle again. When that didn’t elicit a reaction from me, and I refused to shift my gaze from Nova, she moved on, wanting to break me. The sting of the burns barely registered. When I refused to shed a tear or even whimper, it enraged her that much more.

But she didn’t realize I was already completely broken.

She’d taken Nova from me, from all of us. And there was no harsher torture than that.

This… It was all my fault.

Maybe if I’d given Sheena what she’d wanted to begin with, gone home and let everyone see how heartbroken I was over what Bain had done, then this wouldn’t have happened. If hurting me to hurt Ryan was all she’d wanted, I should have just let her have her way. Upsetting Ryan over my beat-up heart was nothing to how he was going to hurt when he realized his reason for living was now gone.

And I was to blame.

I should have told him everything. Instead, I’d kept it all to myself. And now…

I’d lost everything. Looking at the pieces of what was once one of the best people in the world, I knew, without a doubt, I no longer had anything good in my life. Nova was gone, and once Ryan found out I could have prevented all of this, I would lose him too.