Wrong Kind of Paradise (28 page)

“I like to call it wisdom. After all, why do all the filthy work when a man can just get others to do it

for you,” Phillip protested and staggered to his feet. “Seems stupid to waste so much energy on

inconsequential activities. When you’re as rich as I am, you don’t need friends. That, my dear brother, is

the benefit of money.”

“Apparently, you don’t need honor either.”

Phillip slowly tilted his head to the right and straightened his spine. “Honor is for the weak-minded.

And you mistake me for a man who cares, Logan.” He straightened his overcoat and brushed the dust from

the material. “But I digress,” he murmured.

“You’d have to have a heart to care.”

“And we’ve already established that I don’t so let’s move on. Shall we?” Phillip shuffled across

the floor to Angel and circled her. “She is stunning, dear brother. Exquisite. I can’t decide if I wish to go

on with the original plan to kill her while you watch or sell her into slavery. She would make a hell of a

courtesan, my friend.”

Logan lurched forward with a roar as several hands shot out and clamped down on his arms to stay

him. Logan dragged the men with him several steps before they tackled him to the floor. “You touch one

hair on her head, Phillip, and I’ll gut you like the pig you are.”

Phillip chuckled but took a step back. “This will be more fun than I imagined.” He paused before

Angel and lost his smile. “You are very much like your mother, dear girl. I must say, seeing you has re-

opened an old wound on my heart.”

“I thought you didn’t have one,” Angel reminded him.

Phillip smirked. “She’s astute as well. After your mother’s betrayal, I knew there was no way I

could allow her and Logan to live happily. And then I learned there had been a child of the union. What a

delightful discovery. What better form of revenge than cutting out the heart of my adversary? And you my

dear, will provide me with the means to do that.”

Phillip reached out to grasp her chin and raise her face to him, but she yanked away from him. He

gave a tight smile in return. “And to think you were delivered into my waiting arms by your own lover.”

~*~

There were so many feet stirring up the stale dust inside the tiny room, she coughed. The heat of so

many packed bodies made the temperature in the already scorching room rise.

Perspiration trickled down the side of her cheek to drop off her jaw. Drip, drip, drip, water

dribbled into a puddle somewhere and caused her mouth to dry. Nothing had turned out as she had

imagined. Nothing had gone right, from the moment they had come up with this crazy plan. Luck had

deserted her long ago, and uncertainty clouded her mind. How would she manage to get them out of this

mess now?

Blac came to at that moment and stirred on the ground. Relief washed through her and her eyes

misted. He sat up and met her gaze. But several sabers surrounded him and he raised his hands, climbing

to his knees. His eyes cautioned her to show no emotion but she couldn’t help it. She loved him. She

wasn’t ready to lose him or her father yet.

Phillip turned to Blac. “Ahh, he’s awake again. Excellent. Just in time too.”

“Time for what?” Blac asked, shaking his head.

Phillip retrieved the sword from the ground. He snatched Angel from the man who held her and

yanked her back against him, the blade settling at the base of her throat. She gasped.

Paralyzed with terror, Angel ceased to breath and her heart pounded against her rib cage. The vise

of his arm against her neck cut off any air. She clawed at the hands holding her, struggling to free herself,

but the blade entered her vision. “One more move, Angel, and you’ll watch your blood spill across the

ground.”

Her glance moved to Blac. He struggled against the arms that had captured him. Men subdued her

father, but he heaved one of the soldiers to the ground before another took his place. Logan roared his

fury.

They were outnumbered six-to-one. They were outgunned and all the odds were in the viscount’s

favor.

Time had run out.

Twenty-two

A low rumble sprang up from beneath their feet. The viscount’s arm loosened just a little as he

steadied himself. Confusion ran through the room as the redcoats toppled like toy soldiers, one atop the

other. Angel glanced to Blac with widened eyes, gripping the viscount’s arm in utter terror. “What’s that

sound?”

Blac shook his head. The sound grew louder. The ground beneath them shook as glass shattered.

Everyone seemed to pause in slow motion as realization dawned on them.

“Earthquake!” Blac shouted and bound from his position on the floor toward her. The soldiers let

him go as panic rushed through the ranks. Blac shoved the sword away from her throat and sent a fist into

Phillip’s face. The viscount crumpled to the floor.

“Don’t let Logan get away,” the viscount shouted, trying to lumber to his feet.

Logan roared in fury but several men pinned him down. “Get her out of here, Blac. I’ll cover you.”

Two more men leapt into the fray and Logan toppled to the floor under the mound of redcoats. Angel

screamed through the hand covering her mouth.

Blac hesitated.

“Get her...out...of here,” Logan bellowed from under the pile of bodies.

Blac seized her wrist and dragged her to the doorway, but she struggled against the hold. “Papa! I

can’t leave him. Please!”

But Blac hauled her to the door, ignoring her protests.

She squinted at the brilliance of the sun as her eyes adjusted to the light. The waves in the harbor

heaved and tossed the ships about like toys until one of the docks splintered in half before her very eyes.

The horrid sound of wood crackling as ships bashed into each other seemed eerie under the roar of

extremely high waves.

The house next to them disappeared into the ground as if it had been sucked down into the earth like

a whirlpool.

Her heart dropped into her stomach as realization of what was happening hit her. Blac dragged her

around the building. He shoved people out of their way until they reached the front, just as another shop

next to them sank beneath the surface.

Glancing back, she screamed. “Papa!”

She turned to search for her father but Blac’s hand around her wrist stayed her. A whole section of

the wharves trembled like waves on land before it collapsed into the depths of the sea.

I don’t want to die
!

The terrain crackled behind her and spread. No matter how fast they ran, it followed behind them.

We’re going to die!

“Run, damn it! Angel, run!”

Fighting tears, she heaved air into her lungs, and her sides burned from the effort as they cut through

the alleyways toward High Street. Fear skittered down her spine. Her feet pumped harder but no matter

how fast she ran it didn’t seem to be fast enough. Blac’s vise-like grip on her wrist jerked her along

behind him, and her skin stung in protest.

Completely aware of her feet moving forward, Angel felt her steps drag as if she were slogging

through waist-high water. Time slowed until it ticked second by second.

An explosion rocked the ground beneath Angel and more of the earth behind her vanished,

swallowed up by Mother Nature herself. Nature’s rampage cast her wrath on Port Royal, shattering the

serenity of this warm, sunny afternoon. Cries rent the air along with what sounded like claps of thunder, as

building after building crumbled under the weight of the earth’s fist.

Thick clouds of dust sprang up and wafted back down around them, choking off any source of clean

air.
Is this where we die?

Blac yanked her to the right and they tumbled to the hard packed ground, just as the split in the earth

lengthened, ingesting the ground they had just vacated.

Stunned, Angel gulped in air. Her knees stung from the fall and the stitch in her side rent heavy

gasps from her. She paused. Her gaze settled across the street to the only building left intact. A man lifted

a half-empty bottle of liquor to his lips as he walked out the front door and another scrambled to his feet.

But the earth gave way beneath him. Just before he plummeted into the abyss, he latched onto the ledge

and cried out in horror. The drunkard stared down at him and took another drink. The man’s pleas for help

ripped Angel’s heart from her chest.

She eased to her knees, set on making it across the way to grab his hand, but the entire house

dissipated before her eyes. She gasped and toppled back on her rear, clapping a palm over her mouth in

an attempt to stifle her scream. Dazed, her entire body shook with fear.

“There’s nothing you could’ve done for them, Angel.” Blac caught her face in his strong hands.

“Nothing. Now get up and keep moving.”

She knew he spoke the truth but her mind didn’t want to listen. Her heart ached at her inability to

save another life, at the helplessness she felt as the world crashed around her.

Tremors rippled across the surface of the street and her eyes widened. “Is there another one?”

Blac scrambled to his feet again and tugged her up with him. “Get up. We have to get to higher

ground. Now!”

“Why?”

He didn’t answer her as they dodged running people and zigzagged their way through the back

alleys. Chaos ensued all around them. He slammed through a gate and into a courtyard. Before they

reached the entrance to the building, another rumble shook the earth, followed by an ear-splitting roar.

“What is that?” she cried out, gripping his hand. Terror seized her heart in its desperate grasp and

planted her feet. Frozen in place, a shriek lodged in her throat. Angel sensed death over her shoulder.

She whipped around and spied a ten-foot high wall of water crashing through the middle of the

town. Her eyes widened.

“Run!” Blac shouted.

She darted into the house behind him and up the stairs. They reached a veranda. He glanced around

frantically searching for something and then leaned over the side of the rail. Clasping her wrist, he

dragged her to the edge. “Jump!”

“What?” Had he lost his mind?

The monster-like wave hit the side of the house and toppled the far wall behind them. Glass

shattered under the force, and the plaster splintered into a thousand pieces. She shrieked, turned, and

together they jumped off the edge.

Both feet hit the wagon beneath them with a thud and her legs buckled underneath her. Pain jarred

her knees as she collapsed, and the wall of water swept under the wagon, lifting it in its palm, carrying

them in its grasp.

Angel clung to the front of the wagon. Blac settled in behind her with an arm on either side of her.

The wagon tilted dangerously and teetered on the tip of the wave, slinging Blac off his feet.

She seized his arm and shrieked his name.

Oh my God, don’t let us die
!

He regained his footing and clutched the side of the wagon. Ocean spray splattered across her face

and soaked her hair. A three-story structure loomed ahead of them.
They were going to crash right into

it!

Angel pointed but there was no way they could steer this damn thing. Blac reached an arm around

her waist and settled inside the wagon with his back against the side and her between his legs. His arms

covered her head and he sheltered her entire body with his own. “I love you, Angel,” he whispered in her

ear.

Before she could reply, they collided with the building at full speed.

~*~

Wood fragmented all around Angel, and suddenly she sank into the waves. She screamed but her

mouth filled with salt water instead. The force of the impact separated them, and she was yanked from

Blac’s grasp. She reached for Blac but was inhaled into the deepest brine.

Thrashing to grasp hold of anything solid, she slammed into the wall behind her and cracked her

head against the brick. She cried out. Pain ricocheted down her neck and red swirls entered her vision as

she realized it was her blood. With her lungs nearly bursting for lack of air, she swam for the surface and

broke through with a gasp of relief.

The pressure of the wave smothered any source of air and water rose until she could no longer keep

her head above it.

She sank beneath the tide and bobbed back up. Her gaze swept the area. Blac, knocked unconscious,

was pinned against the same wall, his chin hanging against his chest.

Was he dead?

Her heart fluttered to a stop. She struggled to swim toward him but the force of the raging water

kept her immobile, flattened against the wall. She gasped. She had to reach him. With her legs, she pushed

against the bricks but sprang back once again. Two inches gained at best.

“Blac!” Fluid filled her mouth and drowned out his name. She coughed. Damn it! Frustration

elicited tears and urged her forward.

She inched toward him. The pressure against her chest threatened to cave in her lungs, and she