Bastian
Chapter 139 - Wrong Calculation

✧Wrong Calculation✧

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

Bastian’s car passed by without so much as a hesitation in its speeding progression. Odette let her hand fall from banging on the window as she was left bereft of hope.

   Odette couldn’t believe her luck when it was Bastin’s car she saw coming toward them just as she was desperately trying to free her hands from the bindings. He was her last hope, but she could not reach out to him, like always.

   “We should go abroad, to some a place where no one knows who we are,” Franz said, he had barely stopped talking and acted like they could have a rosy future together.

   A wash of fear spread through Odette as she watched Franz, his chattering was frantic and his eyes stared out in mania. Then something caught her eye, a glint of metal on the back seat, strewn amongst the hastily packed luggage, it was a gun.

   She watched Franz closely, he didn’t seem to have picked up on the fact that she had noticed the gun, he was too busy talking frantically about the impossible future.

   Odette cautiously squirmed her way closer to the gun. If she wanted to get out of this mess, she was going to have to do it herself, as always. She was always alone, so it was futile to think that anyone would come and rescue her.

   “I will announce the child in your belly as my own. It wasn’t your fault that you were so mercilessly thrown to the wolves, but it will be okay now, I understand.”

   Franz’s delusions now spilled over into the realms of creating a happy family, as if they could be anything but dysfunctional, when you kidnap your half-brothers wife.

   Odette did her best to keep trying for the gun, afraid of Franz’s madness. It did not help that he was drunk and could barely keep control of the car. She had to stop him before they had a terrible accident.

   “You will learn to love me, Odette,” Franz said, laughing.

   As laughed, Odette shoved away a bag that was blocking her path to the gun and made a grab for it. Bastian had taught her how to shoot and the memories she thought were long forgotten, came back in a rush of vivid sensations.

‘Keep an eye on it.’

  She could feel Bastian at her back, positioning her, showing her the correct manner in which to hold a gun. She remembered the heat of his breath on the nape of her neck, the warmth of the golden sun, and he wind blowing between the sky and the sea.

   Odette followed Bastian’s instructions, taking deep breaths to calm her mind, but it was difficult to steady her hand. She made sure that the sights lined up properly as she aimed for the drivers seat. Her breathing was something Bastian had corrected several times.

   “Stop the car right now,” Odette yelled. Only then did Franz snap back to reality.

   “You’re not upset about what happened earlier, are you?” He looked at Odette in the rear view mirror and chuckled. “You know I only did that to save you, right?”

   “Stop making excuses and stop the car.” Odette brought the aim of the gun up to Franz’s head, so that he could fully see. “You are just a disgusting man, with criminal desires. You have insulted me with your dirty mind and even kidnapped me.” Odette moved her finger to the trigger.

Bastian will come, she was sure about it. Now he should’ve arrived at the mansion and learned she was missing. If he saw injured Margrethe, he’d grasp the situation. He’d do anything for his child and come to their rescue. She only needed to stop the car to buy time.

   “You better think about what you’re doing, Odette, you only have me now and once I’m gone, there’s going to be no one to save you.” Even as he spoke, the car started to slow down. Even in the face of being blind drunk, Franz seemed to understand the futility of the situation and did not want to loose his life.

   “This is my final warning, stop the car and let me go, or I will shoot you.”

   It was then that a distant flash of light alerted Odette to a car coming along the coastal road behind them. A beam of light that was rapidly closing the distance.

   Franz noticed it too and started to speed up again. The glimpse of hesitation in Odette’s eyes quickly vanished and she had made up her mind and she knew she could not waste her last chance.

   Bastian’s instructional voice rang in her head.

   Look ahead, raise your head, correct your posture and don’t close your eyes.

Even a distant fear, she remained focused on her target, just as Bastian’s lasting advice echoed within her.

Recalling that day, Odette fired the gun.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

Just as Bastian caught up with the tail lights of the car ahead, there was a sudden flash of light and a very distinct note of thunder. A gunshot. The car ahead swerved off the road, bouncing off the guard rail and flinging to the other side of the road, where it came to a stop after crashing into a tree.

   Bastian breathed heavily as he pulled up next to the crashed car. His mind was blank but his emotions were all over the place.

Please.  God..please…

Bastian prayed as he got out of the car, not entirely sure what it was he was going to see, he could only hope that at least Odette remained safe.

   The damage was not severe, the car had not been going too fast, but he had heard the unmistakable sound of a gunshot. Bastian ran to the car and just as he crossed the road, the back door swung open and a woman stumbled out.

   A relived sigh escaped Bastian’s lips as he recognised the dark hair of the woman fluttering in the sea breeze. Before he could reach her, the drivers door opened and Franz struggled out, clutching at his bleeding arm.

   Odette reacted immediately. “Stand still, don’t come any closer,” she shouted, holding the gun out in front of her.

   Franz froze on the spot, holding up the hand of his injured arm, while the other hand groped at his injured arm. He let out a panicked cry when he saw Bastian as well.

She was safe. Bastian wiped his stiff face with trembling hands

   Before either of the men could do or say anything, there was a deafening bang as another gunshot rang out into the still night air. Odette had fired a warning shot into the air, then aimed at Franz again.

   Bastian cautiously approached Odette, like he was trying to get near a really pissed off mother bear. Odette was terrified and she had a gun, anything could happen so it was important to get control of the situation.

   “Odette?” Bastian said in a calm, soothing voice.

   She turned her head to look at him. Her face was drenched in tears, her eyes were blood shot and her cheeks were puffy, but she recognised  the man standing behind her in the blurry silhouette.

He came.

Seeing him, Odette went limp, and Bastian swiftly disarmed her, tossing the gun aside.   “Well done, its okay now,” Bastian whispered as he embraced Odette. 

She collapsed into his arms like a sand castle crumbling before the encroaching tide. They were illuminated in the headlights of another car that was approaching them. Odette swallowed her tears and took control of her breathing, entrusting herself into his embrace To her surprise, Dora got out.

“Oh my god! Madam!” Dora rushed to Odette’s side. The armed attendants followed in a line behind her.

  “Take my wife back to the mansion,” Bastian said.

Once Odette was safely away, Bastian turned to Franz, who was smirking like he had lost his mind. Blood and tears covered his contorted face.

The royal heir his father longed for had descended into an irreparable abyss. Bastian’s eyes mirrored the dark depths of a winter sea as he witnessed a scene unfold before him.

Using Odette to ruin Franz was part of his plan. That’s why all this time he stayed quiet about Franz’s crazy desires, turning them into a divorce ground by accusing her of an affair with her husband’s half-brother. It’s absurd for him to blame Sandrine and Franz now. He should credit them, because they helped him to reach his goal instead. 

   “Asshole,” Franz spat,  breaking the wall of silence that lay between them. “She betrayed you and yet you come riding in like some noble knight in shinning armour. Do you even love her?”

   Bastian stayed silent.

   “You think you’ve won, don’t you? That you’ve taken everything from her, but you’re welcome Bastian. You’re just like me in the end, no matter what you do, you will never have her. No. You’re an even bigger loser than I am because you made her your wife, fathered a child, but you couldn’t win her heart.”

   Bastian still said nothing and simply turned away from Franz. The attendants who had exited their cars were gathering around them.

It’s wrong calculation. He admitted his failings, as he strode calmly to Odette’s car. Franz continued to shout and rant, but Bastian tuned it out. He was focused on one thing and one thing only, the woman who had been the start of all this mess.

  If he couldn’t love, then he would hate and he would see its end there, but now he could see and was beginning to understand. Hate was just the shadow of love and in the end, 

….He loved her.

From once basking in brilliant light to now being under the shadow it casts.

   As he came to realise this hollow truth, Bastian felt pain in his shoulder. He turned to see Franz standing before him, a bloody knife in his hand…

…it’s his blood..

“BASTIAN!”

Just as Odette let out a scream, a more forceful blow’s sound  rang out.

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