Zacharias froze, but then he smiled evilly. He slapped her hard, and Wendy fell to the ground. The bastard started taking out his belt. “And so what? She should thank her lucky stars, I want her. I’m the Leafensteins’ second-in-line. Her family only lives thanks to me. I’ll tell Annabelle that you’re the one who attacked her sister.
“It’s your word against mine. She’s going to kill you, and it’ll have nothing to do with me.”
I was panicking, but my legs were broken, and I couldn’t move. I spilled the truth. “Enough! I’m the Leafensteins’ second-in-line! Wendy is under my protection! Touch her, and my family will make the rest of your life your worst personal hell!”
Zacharias guffawed. “Nice acting, but the Leafensteins’ heir has confessed that I’m his brother. You don’t get to impersonate me.”
That shocked me. No one told me about that. My parents were deeply in love and had no children outside of their marriage. Gregory told me I was his only brother, so who was this guy?
Before I could figure it out, Zacharias came up to me, dark and venomous. He was going to kick me. There was a river down there. If that kick were to connect, I’d die.
I pushed myself up with whatever strength I had left. I had to save myself. Then, Wendy lunged at Zacharias and grabbed his calf like our lives depended on it. “Go! Go, Horatio, go! I’ll hold him off!”
Her insistence infuriated Zacharias. He was about to attack both of us, but then the roars of a helicopter’s rotors interrupted him. My family was here.
The secretary leaped off the helicopter and saved Wendy and me. Someone knocked Zacharias out and dragged him to gods-knew-where. Wendy passed out from the shock, and I told someone to take her to the hospital immediately.
My bones were broken, but I just tied something around the wounded part to keep it stable. I waited outside the ER for what seemed like an eternity, but eventually, Wendy was pushed into a ward, and I calmed down.
I called Gregory and told him I was safe. I also told him about my story, and he was livid. “Give me their names! Dammit, work got me, or I’d have been there myself! I’d break the bastard! They’ll never know peace!”
