“I told you, I took a detour so you and me could talk. I turned off the flight communicator so nobody could track us,” Sebastian says curtly. “We’re hundreds of miles off our official flight plan. Nobody’s coming to rescue you, because nobody knows where the fuck we are!”
His words sink in.
I let out a hysterical laugh. “You mean… Because you were kidnapping me, we’re going to freeze to death out here? That’s just perfect,” I say, giving him a slow clap. “Amazing work. Truly, that’s the genius planning and strategy I would expect from the great Sebastian Wolfe.”
He glares. “You should be thanking me,” Sebastian growls, finding a duffel bag in the wreckage that must be his own luggage.
“Thanking you?” I echo in disbelief.
“Yes. Because if we’d been on the official flight plan, that explosion would have crashed us down in the middle of nowhere. Instead, we’re about twenty miles from my lodge. We can make it by nightfall, but only if we start walking now.” He hefts his bag and climbs through the gaping hole in the side of the cabin, out into the snow.
He pauses to look back at me impatiently. “Avery, I’m not fucking around here. We need to go. Now.”
I don’t move. “I wouldn’t go anywhere with you if my life depended on it.”
“Fine.” Sebastian scowls. “It’s your choice. Stay here and freeze. Or maybe the wolves will get you first.”
He starts to walk, trudging determinedly in the snow—without once looking back.
I watch him go, his figure getting smaller and smaller, further away.
Leaving me here alone. With no food, no warmth, no chance of rescue. No hope of surviving the night.
It’s either Sebastian or the wolves.
Damn it.
I quickly unbuckle my sandals and switch them out for a pair of boots in my case. Rifling through the rest of my things, I grab a wool hat and a scarf. I wasn’t exactly dressing for the snow, but I do the best I can. Then, I gather some clothes and a few other essentials, cramming them into my shoulder bag before climbing awkwardly out of the plane after Sebastian.
“Wait!” I call out, struggling to catch up as my feet sink into the snow. “Sebastian!”
He doesn’t stop, but he slows a little, until I finally draw level with him. “How far is it?” I ask, fastening my coat tighter. The sun is still high in the sky, but the mountains are looming, snowy, all around us, and the silence is ominous, filling me with unease.
Sebastian doesn’t reply.
“I said, how far?” I try again, hating that I’m stuck with him.
“I don’t know, five hours’ walk north, maybe six,” Sebastian says, checking his expensive watch. It turns out, there’s some kind of compass on the watch face, and he adjusts direction, pointing to the narrow passage between two mountain peaks. “If we follow the valley, we should hit a road eventually.”
“And then?”
“Then we pray we make it before nightfall.”
I gulp. “My ankle hurts,” I say, feeling the ache with every step. “I don’t think I can walk for that long.”
Sebastian sends me a scornful look. “You can take it.”
His reply is like a sharp slap, mocking me with the same words he groaned in passion. How I loved hearing his filthy orders.
How I begged for more.
The shame ricochets through me, mingling with my fear and fury, until I can’t see straight.
I stop walking. “You think this is funny?”
Sebastian keeps walking. My fury builds.
“This isn’t a joke!” I scream, my voice echoing in the empty valley. I charge after him, suddenly incensed by his cool composure. Reaching him, I shove hard at his back. “None of this is funny!”
Caught by surprise, Sebastian stumbles, almost losing his footing in the snow.
“People are dead because of you!” I yell, the terror and tension boiling over. “Does that mean anything?”
Sebastian sneers at me. “You mean, like your precious Miles.”
I recoil from the unfeeling tone. “I mean your father,” I shoot back, wanting to hurt him.
He recoils. “Don’t you dare talk about my father,” he orders.
“No?” I taunt him. Wanting him to hurt, like I do. Wanting him to suffer. “Then how about Bianca’s father?” I add. “Or does he not matter to you, either? Just collateral damage along the way.”
Sebastian’s hand flexes, and for a terrible moment, I wonder what he’ll do. What he’s capable of, out here in the middle of nowhere, with no rules or audience to hold him back.
Then he narrows his eyes at me. “You should be careful, Little Sparrow,” he says, his voice low and deadly. “There’s nowhere for you to fly away.”
“I was never your Sparrow,” I hurl back at him, furious. “You just saw what I wanted you to see. Someone meek, and delicate. Someone you could keep trapped in a gilded cage. God, you were so easy to fool,” I say scornfully. Sebastian’s jaw clenches tighter, a telltale sign I’m getting to him.
Good.
“Did it make you feel like a big shot, getting to teach the innocent girl?” I continue, taunting him. I know I’m playing with fire here, but I can’t hold back. Not anymore. “Did it make you feel like a real man, knowing I had nothing to compare to you? That you were my first, my only one?”
“No.” Sebastian growls in answer, his eyes flashing in anger. “It made me feel like a fucking God. The way you would moan for me,” he adds, prowling closer to me. “The way you would beg for my cock. Deeper,” he mimics, “‘God, Seb, more.’ You loved every minute of it. Every fucking inch,” he sneers. “And don’t think you can deny it now. You may have faked a lot of things, Avery, but even you can’t fake the way that sweet cunt went off for me.”
“No,” I lie, shameful and furious at myself for ever wanting him.
“Yes,” he vows, reaching out to grip my chin. He holds me there, his eyes burning into me, rage and something even more dangerous lurking in their depths. “You know it’s true. We both do. How much you loved being my good little whore.”
I shudder at his words, and we both know, it’s not revulsion making my body react.
I wrench away. “I hate you,” I vow, shaking with fury.
“Then that’s something we have in common, Sparrow. Because I hate me, too.”
Sebastian starts walking again, heading determinedly towards the valley.
I have no choice but to follow.
2
AVERY
Sebastian sets a fast pace, his longer legs striding through the snow, and it doesn’t take me long until I’m out of breath and struggling to keep up. But I refuse to ask him to slow down or admit how much my body is aching.
I’d rather die than show him weakness now.
We walk for hours in silence in the snow, and my muscles are screaming by the time we hit a deserted mountain road. I pause, gasping for breath. “Do you think anyone will be out driving?” I ask hopefully.
He shakes his head. “It’s a service road. Emergencies only.”