Click.
Click.
Click.
Fear was such a volatile thing. Versatile. Feeling different every time. Sometimes it haunt you, but sometime it… eat you alive, settle in your bones and make you believe every lie.
Behind my close lids, I expected it. Judas, motionless on the floor. Blood pooling like ink and threading through his hair. His pale face and his lifeless eyes staring back, void of the cruelty and fire that had once made him a demon incarnate. I thought I wanted this, wanted to see him brought down to nothing, but the hollowness that settled in my chest was like a blade twisting.
But as I slowly opened my teary eyes, daring to hope this nightmare was over, there he was, standing like a devil resurrected, as if clawing his way back from the abyss. His eyes swept over me, cold as the grave, yet there was something... something alive and visceral hiding in that icy stare.
My eyes widened as I let out a shaky breath.
His fingers clenched around the gun and he lifted it again to his face, and pressed the trigger again. Then came the sickening, hollow clicks-one after the other. And the haunting realisation hit me. The gun was empty.
Relief and disbelief tangled within me as I struggled to breathe, too overwhelmed to move.
Lucius's laughter rang in my ears and my lips wobbled as I struggled to keep my tears at bay. He was alive. He was alive. My nightmare was alive. And I didn't know if I should be happy or terrified. Cause if he was alive, that only meant one thing… my destruction.
I couldn't take my eyes off Judas, not even when Lucius let go of me and my knees hit the cemented floor. He stepped around me clearly enjoying the situation. "You really thought I'd hand you a loaded gun?" His words were laced with twisted satisfaction, and he gave Judas a look of derision. "Didn't know you were desperate enough to actually try it, Romanovski. Maybe she means more to you than I thought."
he remained silent but his gaze unwavering as it burned into me. There was no fear, no hint of regret in his expression-just a smoldering, dangerous calm that made the air feel brittle. His stare could cut steel, and his hand slowly lowered the empty gun as he exhaled, his breath steady, controlled.
I felt a weight lift off my shoulders, but dread still clawed its way through me. He had wanted me to see that, to watch him pull the trigger without flinching. Every part of him screamed vengeance.
But Lucius was far from intimidated. He crouched down, grabbing a handful of my hair, tilting my head back so I had no choice but to look up at Judas. "And here I thought you'd be the one to finish her," Lucius sneered, digging his fingers into my scalp, making me wince. "Doesn't she deserve it, after what she did to you? She practically sold you to me. For what? For her fucking freedom."
I tried to shake my head but Judas's gaze darkened further, and I felt the temperature in the room drop. Kyle took a step forward, his fists clenched, but Judas held up a hand, stopping him in his tracks. Without a word, he shifted his focus to me, his icy stare peeling away every shield I'd built around myself. Despite the agony in my scalp and the terror swirling within me, I couldn't look away. His eyes held me captive, trapping me in the tempest within him.
Slowly, deliberately, Judas tossed the empty gun to the floor, the echo of its landing slicing through the silence like a knife. He took a slow step forward, his entire presence exuding lethal calm, and something deep within me stirred, part fear, part awe.
"I've always preferred handling things up close," Voice of sin and smoke wrapped around me. "I just happen to like her cunt."
"You killed my men for her cunt?" Lucius sneered "For a woman? You're stooping that low?"
My heart dropped, feeling my body trembling at the way he talked about me. Cunt? That's what I was to him? A mere cunt? Was that all I was to him? Just another notch on his belt?
He averted his eyes from me and sighed running his hand through his hair. "If I wanted just any woman, I wouldn't need to leave a trail of bodies behind." He shifted slightly and that's when I saw it. A glint in the air. A small red dot. I didn't know what it was, but I had an idea. Sniper. And that red dot stopped just on my chest. I was still kneeling and I know Judas happen to see that too. But he seemed unbothered.
Was it his sniper? Or Lucius's? Panic gripped my throat and I lifted my head to stare at him in disbelief. He was targeting me?
Another pull on my scalp. "Crawling in dirt for a woman?"
I was a trembling mess as I stared at him. What did he want me to do? What was I to do? This sniper was definitely aiming at me. Judas shrugged. "She knows when to crawl. Three warnings are all it takes to get her on her knees."
My breath hitched and my heart raced as I caught the meaning hidden beneath his words. Crawl? He wanted me to crawl… Three warnings… my head snapped at him and my eyes widened. Three seconds?
Realization hit like ice in my veins. Three seconds-three heartbeats-before the shot would fire.
Without another thought, I swallowed hard and ripped my head from Lucius's hold not caring if I lost some of my hair and head butted him into his nuts. It all happened so suddenly as I crawled to side, my heart pounding as my hands sank into the dirt. A shot cracked through the air rushing past my ear and Lucius jerked back. A strangled shout ripped from his lips as the bullet tore into his leg. His gun slipped from his grasp, clattering to the ground as chaos erupted around us.
"Shoot the bastards!" Lucius growled falling on his knee.
Before I could take a breath, rough hands grabbed me, and I was yanked up against a hard chest. I gasped as another set of arms wrapped tightly around me, hauling me up before I was flipped over someone's shoulder, the world spinning out of control.
Someone's familiar strong grip pinned me down as he darted through the gun fire, his steps pounding beneath me as gunfire echoed in the background. My world twisted, the ground a dizzy blur beneath me, and I clutched the fabric of his shirt, trying to catch my breath as we escaped into the night.