Page 18 of Serendipity
“I told you to keep quiet, bitch.”
“Do not touch her,” Nico growled from the other side of the room, his voice soothing something deep inside of me. “You won’t like me much if anything happens to her.”
“I already hate you, and now I know what your weakness is. Now I know how to hurt you. Now I’m going to make you feel the same way I felt when you killed my family.”
“I feel like a parrot, repeating myself. I did not kill your family. I have no idea who you are, or who your family was. I promise you, today’s the first day that I’m seeing you.”
“Ten years ago, at the crossing of Fifth Street and Carnegie in Ventus City. A boy and his mother were shot dead, on the spot, and the culprits were never found. It wasn’t until I managed to get camera footage from the supermarket across the street that I saw you there, leaning over the door. Then you ran away.”
“Fuck.” Nico dragged a hand over his face, emotions finally showing again on his face. “I did not kill them.”
“Don’t lie to me!” he thundered. “I saw you with my own eyes.”
“You saw me rushing to their car after I noticed blood on the windshield. You saw me leaning over the open window, because I was checking for a pulse on your wife’s neck. You saw me do the same on the other side, because your son was there as well. But I didn’t shoot them. I might be a monster, but shooting innocent women and children is not what I do.”
“Lies. They’re all lies.” The barrel pressed further, and within mere moments, it slipped through my lips. The cold metal tasted like poison on my tongue, and I whimpered when his hand squeezed my neck tighter. My eyes widened, unable to breathe through my mouth. For the first time in the last two days, I felt fear.
Crippling, all-consuming fear. One wrong step, one wrong move, and he could pull the trigger that would send me away from this world for good.
“Just let her go, and then we can discuss this between the two of us. She didn’t do anything to you, and I can prove to you that it wasn’t me who killed them. I can prove it.”
“You can’t. No one can. I know men like you. You would sell your own mother to gain what you wanted, but I won’t fall for this bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit when I’m telling you the truth.”
I could see the anguish on Nico’s face, fear as palpable as wind wrapped around him, but he didn’t take another step.
A lone tear ran down my cheek, the horror of what was going to happen shaking me to my core.
“Maybe I should just take her with me.” He leaned down and bit my ear, finally removing the gun from my mouth. “Maybe she will be your payment for what you did to me.”
“No, please,” Nico pleaded. “She has nothing to do with this. Nothing at all.”
“Even better. Fresh meat, fresh blood. I’m sure I could have some fun with her. Would you like that, sweetheart?”
His breath smelled of alcohol, and my gag reflex woke up when I thought about the things he would or could do to me if this went sideways.
“I’ll do anything,” Nico yelled. “Anything you want, just let her go. Take me instead. Do whatever you want to do to me, but don’t take her.”
“Ah, Nico.” He tsked. “It would’ve been so easy, simply killing you, but then you would be free, and I would still be stuck in this hell. No, taking away what you love the most would hurt you more than any wound ever could.”
“Please,” I whimpered, as he removed the gun from my mouth. I wasn’t above pleading for my life. It might not be the best one, but it was the only one I had. I wasn’t ready to die.
I wasn’t ready to be thrown into the darkness.
“Shhh.” He pressed his nose against my throat, but the gun wasn’t pointed at me anymore. “I’m gonna take care of you, don’t worry.”
Filthy words, filthy touches, and poisonous deeds. I wasn’t about to end up being a victim of rape or something worse. I could fight. I’d survived worse things, and he wasn’t going to be the end of me.
Looking at Nico, trying to communicate with my eyes, I gathered all my strength, coiling it in my gut, letting it spread through my body. When he straightened up only enough for his face to be lined up with the back of my head, I bent down an inch, and then threw my head back with all the force I could muster.
A yelp echoed through the room, but his hands fell away from my body.
I ran.
I ran toward Nico.
I ran toward the man who would be my future.
