Chapter 20 Camilla’s Pov
I glanced up to find a man with a black face covering along his mouth and nose. He's also wearing a dark cap and a hoodie to mask his identity. His hands tried their hardest to pin down my wringing limbs but I wouldn't give in to him. This is exactly what I've been training for.
Gun.
I should've brought my gun.
I cursed myself as I raised my knee to belt him in the ribs. He released his grip for a split second and I used the opportunity to move out from underneath him. My eyes darted to the kitchen counter.
I remembered Santiago stashing a gun there.
Please still be there, still be there.
As I ran towards the drawer, the intruder grabbed my leg and yanked me backwards. I fell at an awkward angle and smashed my face on the floor. I could taste the metallic tang of the blood that poured into my mouth.
I was in survival mode and I didn't even stop to think that this may be one of Àlvaro's men. None of his men would even dare talk to me, much less touch me for fear of Àlvaro.
“Get off me.” I growled as I kicked at his hand. He took my shoulder and forced me backwards. I watched his hands as they leaned down to grab my neck and I screamed in his face, thrashing and fighting in his hold. Instead of grabbing my neck, he gripped my night dress and forced a tear down the middle.
I exhaled a low grunt as he reached for my neck again. I clamped down on his flesh with my teeth and I drew blood. His blood now fusing in my mouth with my own.
A yelp escaped him as he moved back and I managed to land a kick in his balls. I quickly stood up from the floor with shaky legs. I have to get the gun now. He looked seriously pissed off and there's no telling what he'd do to me if he catches me again.
I could hear his harsh breathing behind me and in a flash, he lunged forward again and wrapped his fingers in my hair, tugging me backwards. I screeched and seriously began to panic.
This is officially the day I die.
“Stupid bitch!” He grumbled as he landed a hot slap on my cheek. “You're going to pay for that.”
Oh God. Oh God. Oh God!
Before I knew it, he slammed my ribs into the counter. I winced at the pain and gritted my teeth. He did it again and again and I could've sworn I heard one of my ribs crack. I wasn't prepared to defend myself in a situation like this. He's too strong. His grip was like an iron fist.
My eyes landed on a glass that laid on the counter and my fiingers quickly splayed across the marble top. I grabbed it and without a second thought, swung it behind me, smashing it across his face.
If I didn't die at the hands of Àlvaro, then I wouldn't be dying today.
Blood coated my arms as pieces of the glass pierced my skin. He dropped me and I sprinted forward, despite the fact that it felt like someone had run over my ribs with a bulldozer. I groaned as my eyes flicked across the drawers.
The intruder groaned from behind me, his footsteps getting closer. I lurched forward and pulled open the first drawer in front of me. I released a sigh of relief as I stared down at the gun laying at the bottom.
I quickly retrieved the gun, took it off safety just like Santiago showed me and turned around with the gun in my arms.
This time, he's running at me, with pieces of glass poking out from the side of his face. His eyeball is bleeding and blood is smeared over his face.
He shook when he noticed the gun and one thing Santiago taught me recalled in my head.
Never wait. Always shoot.
So I did.
I pulled the trigger. Once and then twice. The bullets flew through the air and pierced him in the chest, the other in the neck. He clutched a hand to the leaking wound in his neck.
Soon, dark crimson blood began to seep out of his mouth. His knees buckled and he hit the floor with a thud.
I stared down at him in shock. The gun still between my shaky hands. I couldn't move.
My eyes roamed the body in front of me. His face covering was now beside his neck. I felt my eyebrows begin to wrinkle and my ankles swayed.
I trembled because the face in front of me couldn't be older than seventeen. He's just a child.
He was a child because he's dead. He's dead because I killed him.
I'm a murderer. I'm officially one of them now.
There was blood everywhere. The smell threatened to suffocate me and I want to scream my eyes out but I was too frustrated to cry. I started hearing shouts everywhere and I suspected it was Àlvaro's men but they're a bit late.
“Cami.” Àlvaro's voice sounded muffled in my ears.
Everything started moving in slow motion. I don't even know if I've managed to breathe since I pulled that trigger.
“Cami, hey look at me.” He tried again.
I can't! I screamed in my head.
I know they were teaching me how to defend myself and wield a gun but never in a million years did I think that I would actually have to shoot someone. I couldn't even recognize myself anymore.
This young boy's face will forever haunt me. I did that to him. I took away his life. How did he manage to sneak into a mansion crawling with Àlvaro's men?
Àlvaro placed his hand over the gun in my hands but I gripped onto it tightly. It was the only connection I had with the young man in front of me. “You have to let go, Cami.” He said carefully. “Let go of the gun.”
My fingers slowly plucked away from the trigger and the gun slipped from my hands. Àlvaro took it and placed it on the safety latch, removed the ammunition before placing it on the counter well away from me.
My stomach began to churn. The blood. It was too much. I could feel myself getting sick.
Àlvaro took my face between his hands. When he spoke this time, I couldn't hear a thing. I could only watch as his lips moved and I stared back almost lifelessly. He frowned when I said nothing.
Soon, Santiago was beside him and I stared back at both of them with unseeing, watery eyes.
I'm like them now.
But I don't want to be like them.
Suddenly, I desperately wanted to sleep. I desperately wanted to be away from the dark blood that has now marked me as a murderer.