In the casino, my boyfriend Nathan Pierce's cousin Amanda Clark gambled away 30 million dollars. When she couldn't pay, the so-called 'Prince of Winterhaven,' Lucas Hartley held her captive and threatened to cut off her hand. Amanda is practically shaking with fear, but Nathan doesn't hesitate for a second. He grabs me and shoves me forward instead. "Don't take Amanda's hand. Take hers." He pins my wrist to the table, and his voice goes all soft and sweet. "Amanda's gonna be a world-class pianist someday. Her hands are priceless, you know? But you? You just cut fish at the market. You'll be fine with one hand. And if it really comes down to it, I'll take care of you." Amanda hides behind him, putting on a fake, concerned tone. "Yeah, Emma. This is Mr. Hartley's place. Maybe you could just help us out here? I mean, he's got a reputation for being brutal. If we don't make him happy today, we're all gonna die." I almost laugh. Sure, I work at the fish market, but that's only because my therapist suggested repetitive manual work might help me manage my bipolar condition. It's supposed to be stress relief or whatever. These two are scared of Winterhaven's prince, but they don't seem too worried about his older sister. Which happens to be me—the Hartley family's eldest daughter. *** The prince of Winterhaven, my little brother, Lucas Hartley, looks at me, and I can see the confusion on his face. "Wait, you look so familiar... Do I know you?" I pull my hat down lower and adjust my mask. Dad's hunting for a traitor in the family right now, and Lucas is basically suspect number one. I can't blow my cover here. But before I can do anything, Nathan steps forward and slams my hand down on the table. "She's nobody. Just some girl who works at a fish market. There's no way she'd know someone like you, sir." Amanda immediately clings to his arm. "Nate, stop... Emma's gonna get hurt." She's saying "stop," but her body language tells a completely different story. She keeps backing away from me, and every few seconds, she glances over with a smirk like she's enjoying this whole thing. "Come on, Emma. Just help Nate out, okay?" Amanda pouted. "It's 30 million dollars. His company just started up, and he doesn't have that kind of money. You don't have any family anyway. Even if you end up disabled, Nate's not gonna leave you." I don't say anything. I just look up at Lucas instead. This kid's gotten bold in the three years since I've seen him. What's he doing waving a knife around like some kind of gangster? Lucas seems to notice me staring. He frowns and looks at me more carefully, but I'm covered in dried fish blood from head to toe and I reek. It's pretty hard to connect that to Emma Hartley, Winterhaven's princess. "Hey, fish girl." Lucas points the knife at me. "Your boyfriend wants to chop off your hand, and you're fine with that?" I'm about to say something when Nathan panics. He slaps his hand over my mouth and turns to Lucas with a big fake smile plastered on his face. "Mr. Hartley, she's fine with it! I promise!" Amanda jumps right in. "Emma's completely obsessed with Nate. She'd die for him without even blinking, so losing a hand is nothing. Besides, she used to work at a nightclub. She's danced for tips in clubs before. Losing a hand won't stop her from selling herself, right, Emma?" A nightclub? I was inspecting one of my own venues when she saw me there, and now she's spreading these disgusting lies? Nathan yanks me over to him and his face goes cold. "Emma, don't be stupid right now. Amanda's got a real future ahead of her as a pianist. If you take this hit for us today, I'll marry you immediately. But if you don't do this, we're done. Over." I feel pretty helpless, so I quickly fire off a few messages to my dad. But the second I look at his reply, Nathan grabs me and raises the knife. "Emma! You think this is your fish market or something? Put that damn phone away! Don't worry though. I'll make it quick and painless. I'll get you the best doctors and the best prosthetic money can buy." I stare at that knife and at the twisted look on his face, and I feel myself starting to lose control. I've been off my medication for two weeks now, and my doctor warned me it could mess with my impulse control. Turns out he was right about that, because right now, I don't feel like killing fish today. Today, I feel like tearing everything apart. But thinking about the family situation, I rub my temples and force myself to stay calm. "Fine. You can cut off my hand. Just give me a minute first, okay?"
I'm so frustrated right now. Dad's plan is almost complete, and I just need to stall as long as I possibly can. Nathan sees that I'm not fighting back anymore, and he looks so pleased with himself. "I knew you couldn't give me up. It's just one hand anyway. I'll take care of you after this is over. Amanda's my cousin, you know. I promised my aunt I'd look after her, and I can't break that promise." I almost laugh out loud at that. Cousin? Yeah right. More like his side piece. I caught them wrapped around each other before, and he told me Amanda was just losing her balance and he was helping her stay upright. Back then, I only saw Nathan as a way to kill time when I was bored, so I didn't bother calling him out on it. But now these two are showing off right in front of me like they've got nothing to be ashamed of. Where did they get the nerve? Amanda pipes up again. "Emma, you can't be selfish here. Mr. Hartley's time is so valuable. Why should he waste it waiting around for you?" Lucas watches all of this with an amused expression on his face. "This is getting interesting." "So if someone doesn't want to lose their hand, then maybe..." He looks at Amanda for a second, and I can see her tense up. Amanda starts shaking and grabs onto Nathan's arm. "Nate, save me..." Nathan immediately pulls Amanda behind him and gives Lucas this disgusting bootlicking smile. "Mr. Hartley, don't listen to her. She's just scared out of her mind right now. I'll do it right now. I'll cut off her hand immediately!" Nathan raises the knife and brings it down. My wrist tightens up, and I'm about to lose it, but Lucas speaks up again. "Hold on." Nathan freezes mid-swing. "Mr. Hartley, is there something else you need?" Lucas taps Amanda with the tip of his knife. "Don't cut her hand yet. Make her drink for what she owes first, round by round. We can chop it off after she's done." Before anyone can react, servers start bringing out rows and rows of shot glasses. They cover the entire table. The crowd around us starts whispering. "Mr. Hartley's pissed. I heard the last person who made him angry got carried out foaming at the mouth, and he's still in the hospital." "This girl's screwed. Not only is she gonna lose her hand, but now she's gonna get played to death first." Amanda's face goes completely pale, and Nathan has to hold her up. Then he turns around and shoves me forward instead. "Mr. Hartley, my girlfriend can really hold her liquor. She'll drink for Amanda!" I look at the table full of shots, and I actually smile. Drinking happens to be one of my specialties, and my baby brother here clearly learned all his dirty tricks from me. "You want me to drink? Fine, let's do this." I start going through the rows one by one, and I don't even blink. But Amanda's standing off to the side running her mouth. "Emma used to work at nightclubs, so of course she's different from the rest of us. Besides alcohol, she's probably swallowed plenty of other filthy things too, right?" I'm almost done with the last row when I pause for just a second. Nathan immediately starts pushing me. "Hurry up! Stop dragging your feet. Mr. Hartley's waiting." Amanda's feeling brave now, and she starts taunting me. "Emma, if you really can't handle it, just give up. It's only losing a hand. You can tough it out." I give her one cold look and reach for the last row of shots. But right then, someone's hand suddenly presses down on my glass.
I don't dare look up because I know it's Lucas. He grabs the glass out of my hand and casually throws it on the ground. Nathan's completely stunned. He asks carefully, "Mr. Hartley, what... what does this mean? She hasn't finished yet." Lucas ignores him and claps his hands instead. "I just realized something. Making her drink is boring. We should play something else. It's not every day I meet a woman who interests me this much." Watching Nathan act like a total lapdog makes me sick to my stomach. Next time I pick a boy toy, I need to have better standards. Lucas leans back in his chair and lights a cigarette. Through the smoke, he points at the dice cup on the table. "Since you're in my casino, we're playing dice. High or low. Simple as that. You win, the 30 million dollars gets wiped clean. You lose..." He pauses and looks between me and Amanda. "Lose a round, and you take off one piece of clothing." Amanda bursts into tears the second she hears that. She's wearing a strapless mini dress today, so there are barely two pieces to begin with. If she loses, she'll basically be stripping in front of everyone. "Nate, I can't do this. There are so many people here, and if I... how am I supposed to get married after this?" she sobs. Nathan looks like his heart's breaking. He turns to Lucas, practically begging. "Mr. Hartley, Amanda's a lady. She's young and all that. Making her take her clothes off doesn't seem right. Can we pick something else?" Lucas actually laughs at that, and then he kicks Nathan straight in the chest. "Who the hell do you think you are, telling me what to do?" Nathan struggles to his feet, and then he looks at me. "Emma! You know how to roll dice, right?" Before I can even answer, he just decides for me. "You're playing for Amanda." I have bipolar disorder, not some kind of masochism problem. I glance at the message on my phone and speak up. "I'm not playing." Nathan freezes for a second, and then he grabs me, absolutely furious. "Don't be ungrateful! Amanda comes from a respectable family, and you're basically nobody. What's the big deal if you take off some clothes? As long as it saves Amanda, you'll do whatever I tell you to do!" I can feel my temper flaring up, and I can't control it anymore. I smile at him instead. "Nathan, you really think I'm some pushover?"
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