Chapter 26

-James-

**2007**

"Please. James. End it here." she pleaded.

What the fuck? What the fuck do I even say to that?

"*Rosso*." I started.

"Please don't fucking call me that!" I can see the tears starting to stream down her eyes. "Don't you fucking call me that! That's the last word everyone utters as they plead for me not to kill them," she screamed at me.

"You were sent to kill me right? Now finish the job James." she cried.

She looked at me with eyes that were begging me to end her suffering. My mind was racing as I tried to make sense of what was happening. This wasn't part of the plan. I wasn't prepared for this. I had never seen someone so broken before.

I took a step closer to her and reached out to touch her, but she flinched away from my touch. It was then that I noticed the bruises on her arms and the dried blood on her lip. What had they done to her? How can someone be this broken? I've been in this world for little over three years and I've seen the worst of the worst, but not as bad as this. She looked like a little girl who was forced to grow up by the world. I can tell that the world didn't do her any favors either. She's been hardened by the blood that flowed through her hands.

I was sent here to kill her, but I couldn't do it. Not after seeing her like this.

"I can't." I finally spoke after a long silence. "I can't kill you."

"Why the fuck not?" she looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

If she didn't have a gun staring me in the face, I would've consoled her. Just the way I wanted to console her in Spain when I saw her with her hands on her face.

"I don't know," I admitted. "Maybe it's because I can see the pain in your eyes. Maybe it's because I feel like there's still some good left in you, despite what you've done."

"Good? Good? I have not done any good worth a damn in my life." she answered. "I have nothing but death in my life. I don't want this life anymore and the only way I can do that is if I'm dead. No one is going to miss me, James. I have no one."

"You have me," I responded without thinking. You cliché loving fucker I said to myself.

She looked at me and let out a bitter laugh. "You? You and I are the same, James. You just made more friends along the way than I did but we both kill people for a living. What kind of life is that?" she cried.

"A life that can change," I said, looking into her eyes. "I don't know what kind of life you've had in the past, but it's never too late to change it. You don't have to die for a way out."

What the fuck am I doing? Why do I want this for her? For me? I'm on the **LAM** now. If we run, we're going to be looking over our shoulders forever. We can't kill our way out of this one.

She stared at me for a long moment and then shook her head. "You don't understand," she said softly. "I've done things...terrible things. Things that I can never come back from."

She was lowering her gun but shook her head and raised it back up.

"NO! James. Just kill me. Please. Please. Please." she begged.

She collapsed on the floor, tears streaming down her face as she clutched the gun tightly. I could see the fear in her eyes, the pain in her heart. She was broken beyond repair.

I knelt beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She flinched at my touch but didn't pull away.

She started sobbing uncontrollably. I didn't know what to do. I had never been in a situation like this before. My mind was telling me to take her out, to finish the job, but my heart was telling me something different. I couldn't just leave her there, broken and alone.

"Listen to me," I said, my voice soft and gentle. "I'm not going to kill you. You don't have to do this. You don't have to die. You can start over. You can change your life"

She looked up at me, her eyes filled with confusion and disbelief.

"What...what do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean, we're going to get out of here. Away from this life. Start anew." I said, looking into her eyes.

"But how? We can't just run away," she said, her voice laced with desperation. She looked down and then looked at me with heartbreak in her eyes.

"You don't understand," she said between sobs. "I'm too far gone. There's no coming back from what I've done."

"Maybe not," I said softly. I'm trying to comfort her more but I also don't want to get shot so I wanted to make sure to show her both my hands and where they're going.

"But that doesn't mean you can't try. You owe it to yourself to try. You owe it to yourself to see if there's another way."

She looked up at me, her eyes red and puffy. "What do I do?" she whispered.

I looked at her, unsure of what to say. This was new territory for me, I had never been in a position to offer someone a way out before. But I knew that I had to try, for her sake and mine. I took a deep breath and spoke.

"First, we need to get out of here. We need to go somewhere safe where we can talk and come up with a plan." I tried to sound confident so she would take my lead and feel calmer.

She looked at me with a mix of fear and hope in her eyes.

"And then what?" she asked looking at me like I had all the answers. We're basically in the same boat now. I'm AWOL and she's...well she's just done with the life. So am I.

She looked like a lost puppy just wanting to be saved. My heart started beating so fast that I could hear it so visibly in my ears. I don't know if I'm making the right decision, but I knew I couldn't leave her like this.

"You come with me," I said firmly. "We leave this life behind and start anew. We can figure it out together."

She looked at me with a mix of hope and doubt. "Can we really do that? Just leave everything behind?"

"We have to try," I said, standing up and offering her my hand.

She hesitated for a moment before finally taking my hand and standing up beside me.

Together, we walked out of that dark and dingy alleyway, avoiding detection, and leaving our old lives behind. We didn't know what the future held, but we knew that as long as we had each other, we could face whatever challenges came our way. And maybe, just maybe, we could find redemption for the sins of our past.