He let go. “Such a waste.”
That’s all he said, such a fucking waste, as he grabbed my bound arms and literally dragged me across gravel. That’s what was beneath me, gravel, as he wrestled me away from a black sedan. He had to wrestle me, all the energy I had forced into bucking and kicking. I wouldn’t make whatever he was trying to fucking do easier for him, but since he had my arms, my fight didn’t provide for much. He easily worked me over the ground, then up and over metal. Train tracks…
What the fuck?
I screamed again, shooting my legs out with sharp kicks. I wrestled at the zip ties around my wrists, so tight and digging into my flesh. Principal Hastings had kept his hand over my mouth when he tied them, keeping me silent while he got me secure enough to push me through the trees and beautiful flowers of Royal’s backyard. He whispered through the bag while he’d done it, daring me to scream…
I was screaming now, the tears streaming down my face. “What do you want? Why are you doing this?”
He ignored me, muttering something, so many things.
“Always looking, always looking,” he said. “Both of you always looking at me.”
I had no idea what the fuck he was talking about, and when I tried to bite him, he literally grabbed my mouth. This accompanied a quick punch to my face, knocking me out enough where my head sagged and I groaned.
I choked, hacking, as he tied my ankles to the train tracks. He got my wrists next, muttering to me the whole time.
“The fire should have worked,” he said, over and over. “The fire… Why didn’t the fire work?”
“What fire?”
He barely listened to me, shaking his head and making the job he did on my wrists extra tight. His jaw clenched. “The fire should have worked. It should have taken care of all this, but he got you out. The little shit got you out.”
My eyes widened, the tears blinking down my face. “You started the fire at the vet clinic?”
He shot me nothing but another wild look, all he needed to do to prove I was right. He’d tried to kill me…
What. The. Hell…
“You came for your sister. You…” He stopped, his loose hair whipping all over. He pushed it away, going back to my ankles to double-bind them. “I told you to stay away, but no. You and your goddamn sister…”
My sister?
He bound my ankles so tight I feared he’d snap them. I whimpered, but that only got me a kick to the kneecaps. I screeched and immediately weight pinned me. Principal Hastings pressed a finger to my lips, a rough, salty finger as he hovered over me.
My stomach rolled, on the cusp of vomiting, and his hand moved from my mouth to my throat.
“You’re making me do this,” he said, frowning. “Both of you.”
“Do what?” The words shook from my lips, and his finger returned there.
He tsked. “I told you to stay away from Royal Prinze. That he would get you in trouble. You’re so much like her… Always in trouble and putting your nose in things that have nothing to do with you.”
“What—”
He shushed me again, more crazed muttering as he sat beside me. Propping his legs up, he rested elbows on them, shaking his head. “The Prinzes… so elite, aren’t they?”
The tears fell down the sides of my face, the sun in my eyes, as I realized the open air and where we were. I was at Route 80, on train tracks at Route 80. My sister died here.
Would I die here?
I closed my eyes, every ounce of my body quivering. “Principal Hastings… please.”
No way was he listening to me, not listening to anything, but eventually, he faced me. He frowned again. “They think they own the world but do nothing but cause trouble. You should have stayed away from him.” A chuckle curled his lip up, a complete fucking loon. “He made your sister believe she was a god. That she could take anything she wanted. That she could take what’s mine…”
“What’s yours?”
Finally, I got his attention, and when he shifted on top of me this second time, I believed I actually would vomit, right in his goddamn face.
Long fingers folded over my mouth, biting into my cheeks. “She was mine, and look what you made me do to her? You’re always looking at me, Ms. Lindquist. Always looking…”
A finger drifted over my lips, and I shuddered. He touched my throat. “Daisy loved me, you know? We were together. We were in love, and I did everything for her. Messed up things with my wife…” He gripped my throat, squeezing slightly. “I did everything.”
He leaned in, and I closed my eyes, his hot breath on the shell of my ear.
“Your sister only stood in the way of that,” he said. “I told Daisy we could be together. I told her I just had to leave Lena. She could leave her husband, and we could be together, but then your goddamn sister and her Prinze god complex!”
My eyes squeezed tight, not believing what I was hearing. I couldn’t be hearing this.
The hand around my neck gripped tighter. “So I took care of it,” he said, my breath leaving me. “I took care of everything, our obstacles… I got rid of the only thing between us, but it still wasn’t enough. Daisy didn’t want me. She’d been with your sister… she didn’t want me.”
My mouth trembled, my head shaking. “You… You murderer!”
The words didn’t leave long before the hand around my throat squeezed, cutting off all sound. Principal Hastings guided my head over via my neck, his nose
