sweet & brutal || h.s ✔️

~21~

He was right in front of me.

Nigel Williams. The most hated man on the planet. Why the entire planet, you ask? Because my hate for him was enough to count for the entire world.

"My daughter" He grinned. I cringed as he came closer.

"Fuck off" I said sharply. Suddenly he gripped my chin and forced my head to turn. I looked him in the eye as he got all up in my personal space.

"Listen you little brat. I will talk, you will listen and then I will get what I need from you" He spat. Like literally spat. He gritted his teeth so hard that when he spoke, saliva hit my face. I almost gagged from the scent of his breath. When he finally let go of me I coughed from not breathing for the last minute and wiped my cheek on my shirt in disgust.

"Talk" I said.

He glared at me and I just rolled my eyes.

"Have you ever wondered how your mother died" His voice cut through the air like glass, sending an icy chill down my spine. He sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

I swear I bared my teeth and struggled to be set free in my ropes like a caged lion. He smirked in satisfaction at my anger.

"You haven't?" He mocked a thinking face. "Well then allow me to tell you a little story"

"I don't want to listen to your shit" I snarled. He ignored me and kept speaking.

"A long time ago, a man and his wife had a daughter. When the child was about 3 the parents split. He went to live in Melbourne while his wife took their daughter and raised her away from him in Brisbane. He never heard from the pair again."

He took a sip of his water and then continued. I hope to god, that someone slipped toxin into his water. I pray to god.

"So the man indulged in his work. Started a drug trade and then worked his way to the top. 6 years later and he's the leader of a huge organization. He still hasn't heard from his daughter or her mother. So he begins to get curious. He wanted to see the creation he had made. His little daughter. She would be about 9 years old by then. So he asked one of his men to run a background check on the pair. Find them. But he couldn't."

"So he killed that guy and then proceeded to ask another. But all 14 men couldn't find anything. So he thought to himself. I'll visit Brisbane and see if I can find them. He reaches the border but then finds out he's been put on a list to never enter the kingdom. That's fucking weird he thought. So he dresses up as another man with a fake ID and eventually makes it past security. And then what does he see the minute he passes the border" Nigel's eyes turn to fury and he grips his water bottle tightly.

"A massive billboard with a picture of his wife and daughter, with the words 'Our Beloved Royalty; The Queen and Princess of the Sunshine Territory'" As the words came out of his mouth, his grip on the water bottle caused it to burst and water to go everywhere. Despite his outburst, I continued to listen.

"He thought that maybe it was just a trick but as he walks further into town, the names Queen Mariana and the 'Reckless Princess Aria' was anything anyone could ever speak about"

I didn't have enough time to cringe or feel any type of emotion at the hearing on my mother's name because Nigel took long strides and wrapped his arms around my neck. He didn't strangle me but had a firm grip on my neck.

"Your fucking mother was the Queen and she didn't tell me. For years I didn't know her real name. I didn't even know my own daughter's. She didn't even sign the marriage papers."

He gritted his teeth like an animal.

"So you know what I did. I killed her."

It was now my turn to act like an animal. I always suspected it but now that it was confirmed I was furious. I lunged at him through my ropes. I had applied so much force that my chair tipped over and I fell on top of him. I bit his skin harshly, trying to do as much damage as possible while being restricted. He pushed me off him and the guards placed my chair upright.

I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and glared at him. He straightened his collar and then stepped forward. His hands curled back into a fist and then he punched me. My head harshly snapped to the side but I gritted my teeth and refused to show pain. I just glared at him.

"Marriage certificates are easy to forge but rights to the kingdom are not" I focused on him.

"That's why I need you. That stupid whore wrote your name down as the heir to the throne" I growled at his name for my mother. He ignored me and continued to speak.

"If you sign it I will become king" he shoved the forms in front of my face and then removed them.

"But I know you won't give up easily. Not until you break...and I fully intend of that happening"

I tilted my head back and let out a cold, humorless laugh. I looked back at him emotionlessly.

"You can punch me, starve me, kick me, and even torture me. But I will never break" I said loud and clear for everyone to hear.

"You're right. You are my daughter after all. But even I...would break if I saw this" He clicked a button on a remote and the door opened. He stepped to the side allowing me to see behind him. I raised my eyebrows at him is disbelief of his theory and then shifted my gaze to the door.

My entire body froze and my sight blurred.

My eyes looked into the ones belonging to the man I love.

Harry.