4
1693 Words
CAMILLE
The property was surrounded by French limestone, and the golden gates were far too high and precarious for me to climb. The grooves in the stone were deep enough for my fingers, so I climbed to the top and dropped to the other side of the property. Lush landscape gave it complete privacy. A fountain was in the center of the roundabout, large lily pads and fallen flowers floating on the surface.
I’d never seen Cauldron in the flesh, and as far as I could tell, he never came and went from his property.
It made me wonder if his butler was telling the truth—that he really wasn’t home.
I walked to the front doors, rang the doorbell several times to announce my presence, and waited for the butler to answer.
He opened the door, his expression far more irritated than it’d ever been before. “Mademoiselle—”
“Just let me talk to him. I’ll take a phone call at this point, alright?”
With one hand on the door, he stared me down. “Your entitlement is very obnoxious, to say the least. Mr. Beaufort’s time is extremely valuable, and it’s not for you to claim just because you say so. Consider this your final warning. Trespass on Mr. Beaufort’s property again, and you’ll be shot.”
“Shot?” I asked incredulously. “Come on, you’re really going to shoot me even though I clearly pose no threat to you?”
“Your disturbance is enough reason,” he said. “And it wouldn’t be the first time.”
Wow, okay. “Your threat would be a lot more terrifying if I weren’t running from threats far worse than yours. Could you tell him that I wish to speak to him about Grave? Just pass on the message.”
“I have,” he said in a bored voice. “I wish I could convey how little he cares, but that’s just not possible.”
The disappointment hit me like another punch to the face. “If I could just talk to him—”
“Everyone wishes they could talk to him. But peasants don’t make the rules, royalty does.”
“Wow, I’m a peasant now?”
“Lower than that.” He started to shut the door.
I shoved my foot inside. “I’m not going to stop until he speaks to me. My life depends on it.”
He tried to shut the door. Shut it hard. Even slammed it.
I didn’t move my foot out of principle, even when my eyes watered.
“Mademoiselle, if you don’t leave this property, I will call the police.”
“Good. I’ll tell them you threatened to shoot me when they arrive.”
“They would be unsurprised.” This time, he lifted my foot by the pantleg and dropped it on the other side of the door. “I sincerely hope we never see each other again. Not just for your sake, but for my own sanity.”
I sat in a café near the coast, watching all the yachts and sailboats in the beautiful blue sea. When I looked up Cauldron online, I saw lots of pictures of him, and most of them were of him standing on a yacht, shirtless, with tanned girls in bikinis around him. As if the guy didn’t already have everything, he was sexy as sin. Tall, dark, and handsome. His unbuttoned shirt revealed a hard body defined by a religious dedication to his workouts.
I literally rolled my eyes as I swiped through his pictures, seeing a man on top of the world.
I knew I was just jealous…but still.
The odds of him helping me just got slimmer.
As I looked through the pictures, I realized he was always on the same yacht, meaning he didn’t rent it.
He owned it.
“I bet that’s where he is…” I paid for my coffee and headed straight for the docks.
Day after day, I waited for his yacht to dock with all the other yachts.
They were basically luxury hotels that floated on water. Some of them had helicopters parked on top. Actual helicopters. It was common to see a car full of pretty girls pull up to the yacht first and break out the champagne, the billionaire showing up a couple hours later, ready to party on the open ocean.
It was a life I would never know.
Finally, I recognized his yacht. It approached the dock, pure white and beautiful, looking like a cruise ship more than a personal boat. It was midday when it arrived, and it took a bit of time for the captain to position the boat so the men below could secure it in place.
They dropped the ramp from the yacht to the dock, so the girls could walk off, pulling their luggage behind them, their wraps covering bikinis underneath. In their sun hats and sunglasses, they looked as if they weren’t quite ready for the vacation to end.
Couldn’t blame them.
I took the opportunity to walk up the ramp and step foot on the yacht. There were several sitting areas, the furniture pristine white like no one had spilled a drink during the voyage or no one had ever sat there. The thing had to be three full floors, at least.
Cauldron finally emerged, only the top button of his shirt undone, his sunglasses hanging in the opening. He was in dark trousers and boots, like the vacation had ended the second the yacht pulled into the harbor. He didn’t notice me right away, probably dismissing me as a member of the staff because I wasn’t wearing a thong bikini and top that barely contained my boobage.
“Cauldron.”
He turned at the sound of his name, and once his eyes were on me, everything changed.
I couldn’t feel the sea air against my skin, couldn’t feel the heat pressed up against me, didn’t notice the gentle waves smacking against the hull over the edge. His stare was so powerful that it stole my entire focus.
He halted as those dark eyes stared into mine, brimming with both intelligence and annoyance. It took less than a few seconds for him to figure out exactly who I was, to deduce that I was the same woman who wouldn’t stop trespassing on his property. He drew closer, taking his time, utterly calm despite the provocation.
“I’m sorry to show up like this—”
His movements were so fast that I couldn’t anticipate them. His hand grabbed me by the throat and squeezed me so hard I choked. Cold metal from a barrel suddenly pressed through my hair and into my scalp, digging into the flesh. Then I heard the c**k of the gun. “Was my butler unclear?”
I gripped his wrist and struggled to breathe, my feet almost off the floor because he’d lifted me with that powerful arm.
“You think I won’t shoot you because you’re a woman?” His nose was close to mine, his handsome face stern with ferocity. “I will blow your f*****g brains out and toss your body overboard, you understand me?” He squeezed harder, officially choking me. “My staff will spray the bits of your brain off my deck, and your former idiocy will be chum in the water.” He finally released my throat so I could take a breath, but the barrel was moved to my cheek, digging deep into the flesh. “Understand?”
I heaved for air, my lungs screaming from the lack of oxygen.
“Answer me.” He kept his hold on my neck but allowed me to breathe.
It was a stupid thing to say, but I said it anyway. “You aren’t going to shoot me in public.”
“You don’t think so?” Out of nowhere, he backhanded me. Hit me so hard I stumbled backward across the deck.
I got to my feet quickly, ignoring the sting in my cheek. When I rounded on him, I was the one who was furious. “Asshole, I just want to talk to you—”
He aimed the gun right between my eyes. “This is your final warning. Show your face again, I’ll pull the trigger.” His security team stepped onto the deck, carrying machine guns and rifles. “Put this woman on a train to Paris. I want her out of my town for good.”
“Your town?” I asked incredulously. “b***h, you don’t own Cap-Ferrat.”
The look he gave me said otherwise. “b***h, I own everything.”
Paris was the last place I wanted to be, but his security detail literally forced me onto the train and blocked the doors until the train pulled out. I ended up back in the place I’d just fled, and I had to keep a low profile until I returned to Cap-Ferrat.
You didn’t think I’d given up, did you?
I had an ass that didn’t quit.
A week later, I made it back to the coastal village, but I didn’t bother jumping over the wall of his residence again.
I knew how that would end.
I had a much better idea.
A private security detail watched over the yachts parked at the dock, but they didn’t have enough manpower to keep watch of everything at once, so when they weren’t looking, I climbed on to his yacht with a small suitcase and slipped inside.
He was either arrogant or careless because most of the doors were left unlocked. It was easy to find the keys to the palace, and soon, I had access to the entire yacht. There was food in the chef’s kitchen, fresh linens on all the beds, more booze than I could ever drink by myself.
Basically, f*****g paradise.
Now all I had to do was wait for him to come back.
Grave would never find me there, so I was happy to wait a lifetime for that asshole to return for his next vacation.
- Writer
