Page 87 of In Every Lifetime
I shook my head. “You won’t shoot me.”
I could have been wrong, but I doubted a man who had spent as much time and energy as he had would simply shoot me. No, he had to have other plans, and they were plans I didn’t want to participate in.
Levi studied me for a moment, trying to decipher if I truly believed that he wouldn’t kill me. Finally, his gaze went dark, and his smile dropped. “You’re right; I won’t kill you.” He turned the gun to his own temple. “But you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself if I killed myself.”
My eyes went wide, wanting to argue, but he was right. He needed help, real help… not death and I couldn’t be the one to sign his death warrant. I swallowed deeply, knowing he had won this. “Fai won’t stop looking for me. The real Fai.”
Levi practically growled and stood, yanking the phone off the receiver and tossing it onto the couch next to me, “I know. If I had known he was going to be such a problem I would have found a different way to you, or had gotten rid of him earlier. Call him… it’s time we take care of this now.”
I shook my head, “You can’t hurt him.” I argued.
Levi leaned down, his voice quiet but menacing, “Sarah, I will kill anyone and everyone who gets in my way of you. That blonde fucker in the hall? He’ll be first, and then every person who tries to keep me from you. Now call Fai and you will tell him exactly what I instruct or your friend out there will be made into an example of just how far I will go to get what’s mine… you. “
Fai
I checked the clock again and groaned when I saw I had another thirty minutes before I could pick up Sarah. She had made me promise to stay at work until she was ready—desperate for some sense of normalcy. I hated being away from her, every part of me longing to be in her presence.
I looked around the office. I loved my company, but I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe it was time to step away. I wouldn’t leave Fibonacci Files fully; I would simply step down as manager. I sighed, pulling the documents I had put together months ago out of my desk.
They were promotion papers for Goldie. She had already become the company’s true leader, it was time to make it official. I wasn’t ready to walk away completely, but it was time my priorities changed. My sobriety—and Sarah—had to come first.
“Fai!” Goldie yelled from her office. “Sarah is on line two for you!”
“Thanks!” I yelled back, picking up the receiver. “Hey, honey. You done early?”
“Fai?” she asked, her voice shaking. “Are you alone?”
“Yes… what’s going on? Are you okay?” I asked.
“No,” she answered immediately. “You need to meet me on the bridge. You know the one between our house and Will’s?”
“Yes, what’s happening? Where’s Nate?” I asked, trying to make sense of her call.
“Goddamn it,” I heard in the distance, and there was a brief struggle over the phone; thenhespoke. “You will be on the bridge in twenty minutes or I start killing people. Do you understand?”
Ice flooded my veins—sharp, sudden, and paralyzing—at the thought of Gabriel being with her. It wasn’t just fear; it was something colder, something that crept in and settled deep, refusing to let go. My mind twisted around the possibilities, each one darker than the last, each one more suffocating.
“Don’t you fucking touch her,” I growled into the receiver.
“Twenty minutes,” he barked. “If anyone else comes, Sarah will suffer. Do you understand?”
“What do you want with us?” I demanded, my body vibrating.
“Twenty minutes!” he yelled.
Everything in me wanted to refuse, and I nearly did… until…
“No, Fai, don’t!” was yelled in the background, and I heard the sound of a hit, then her grunt. Sarah’s whimper, while quiet, was evident through the phone call. A haze went over my vision, nothing mattering anymore but getting to Sarah.
The phone abruptly hung up, the sound of the dead line ringing through the office. My hand shook as I tried to hang it up, my stomach churning at the sound of Sarah hurting… hearing her cry out in pain. I had to stop him. I had to save her.
