Chapter 321
Ellie’s POV
Dominic had chosen Vivian.
He’d watched a knife press against the throat of his mate and yet he had still picked her.
Just like I always knew he would.
The rogue’s shoulder dug painfully into my low belly as he hauled me through the trees. Nausea roiled in my stomach from the constant swinging motions. My shoulder was on fire and my entire body ached.
I hardly felt any of it. Because none of it hurt as much as the look on Dominic’s face when he had said Vivian’s name.
I understood why he’d saved her. From a logistical standpoint, it made sense; her life was at risk. If the rogues were to be trusted, then mine was not. Or so they said. It was a simple decision: save both of our lives, or only one. Anyone would have chosen to save both.
But it was the way that Vivian had looked at me as they left that really stuck with me. She was clutching Dominic’s arms, sobbing into his chest, but when she looked at me over his shoulder, I saw that snide little smirk.
It was gone in a second, replaced by tears and trembling, but I’d seen it. And I knew.
Vivian had planned this, somehow. She had been involved in some way, just as I suspected, just as I had told Dominic she would be, and now she was getting exactly what she wanted.
If he had only listened to me yesterday, then perhaps none of this would have happened. But he’d taken her side again, just like he always did, and now here I was: being carried into the wilderness by rogues like a sack of stolen goods while Vivian got to cozy up at home with my mate, feed lies into his head, and manipulate him into not coming back for me at all.
I could already imagine it. She would play victim for days. Insist on having him by her bedside. And he would stay, because she was always his main priority. He would tell himself that he could come for me later, when it was convenient.
By the time he decided to come for me, if at all, then I might already be dead, or at least, unable to be found.
It was almost funny. In my past life, I had died slowly from the wolfsbane toxin while Dominic stood by and did nothing. In this life, my own sister had orchestrated my kidnapping and watched as Dominic handed me over to a pack of criminals.
I couldn’t decide which was worse.
As the rogues carried me deeper and deeper into the forest, I made a silent vow; if I survived this-when I survived this-I was ending the marriage. I didn’t care what Dominic said, didn’t care what punishments he tried to dole out. I was leaving, and he couldn’t stop me, and I was never looking back. Not even for a second.
He’d had his chance. Hell, he’d had multiple chances. And he’d blown every single one of them, and I’d been fool enough to keep handing them out.
Well, I was never going to fall for his tricks again. Or Vivian’s. I was done. With this, with him, and with her.
The rogues kept moving, dragging me deeper into the forest. I lost track of time. It could have been an hour or three. My shoulder wound still wouldn’t heal; I could feel the blood dripping down the back of my neck, caking in my hair that I had spent so long styling just right. My legs went numb from the pressure against my belly, and at one point, I retched up what little food was left in my belly from the motion sickness caused by all the swinging.
Eventually, we stopped.
“We’ll rest here,” Eyepatch said. “Keep moving in the morning.”
I looked up and saw a cave entrance, dark and gaping like an open mouth. One of the rogues shoved me inside, and I stumbled, catching myself on the rough stone wall.
1/2
+30 Bonus
The cave was small and damp, with a ceiling so low the rogues had to duck to avoid hitting their heads. They built a fire in the center and laid out some bedrolls, one of which they shoved me down onto. They loosened the bonds around my ankles just a little and moved my hands to the front of my body, although they kept them tied. No need for the gag, though. We were too far for anyone to hear my screams.
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