CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE: SHOTS FIRED.
MILES:
“I swear to God, if you move, I will order them to shoot you,” Louis warned me, signaling the hefty guys who drew their guns and closed in on me. “Drop your phone!” She ordered.
There was no way in hell I was going to take an order from her. Not happening. Squinting and maintaining eye contact, I tried to punch my emergency trigger button on the lock screen, so Brandon could get the alert. But, Louis snatched a gun from one of her goons and shot it into the air, showing me that she meant business.
Instantly, I tossed the phone to the floor. “Good boy. You do not have nine lives, so don't test my patience.” She shot the phone numerous times until nothing was left of it. “I must say that I am excited. Here, I was, wondering how to get to you. But, you fell right into our hands. How did you know of this place?” Seconds passed without an answer. She shook her head and said, “It doesn't make sense. You only made things easier for us.”
The guys were now at my side; two to the left and the other two to the right. “Where is Meredith? What did you do to her?”
She tossed the gun back at her redheaded goon. “She is alive. For now.”
Angered, I dashed for her, but one of the goons threw a punch against my torso. Grunting, “don't even touch a strand of her beautiful hair, or I will murder you and everyone involved.”
“Please, spare me the drama. You suddenly care about her when you can't even trust her words or know what she's capable of. That girl would never hurt you."
“Louis, were you the one who leaked my heart transplant story to the press?”
Examining her nail polish, she blew on it. “What do you think?” Wiggling her body like a scared dog, “yes, it was me,” she squeaked. “How easy things turned out with you was surprising. You didn't even note that it wasn't her voice. When the idea of getting someone who looked like her to dress up and make that fake call came, I thought you knew her better and I was skeptical. However, you are blinded by your past pain that you let her slip away, jumping in and hurting her at the slightest opportunity you got. Alan and I came up with the brilliant idea of pinning that boy's death on her. Little did we know that things would play out for us.”
“How did you become this heartless? Wasn't it enough that you killed her brother? Now, you are making her take the fall?” Still holding my hand against my torso I asked, “What game are you two playing? I thought you called off the engagement. I thought you changed, Louis. You only became worse.”
“I will make a confession since you are going to save us from this mess, but that is after we've searched for that stupid backpack that took months for us to find. Somehow, you managed to find it for us.” She jerked her head toward another guy who was dressed in a leather jacket and black jeans.
He took the bag like a hungry tiger, ripping through everything. Furiously searching, he came to an end. “There is nothing here, ma'am.”
“Why would a dead boy still be hunting us?” Louis yelled in frustration. Exhaling, “get him,” she instructed.
Two of the tall guys grabbed each corner of my arm, dragging me with them. They threw me into the backseat of their vehicle, one sitting on my left and the other on my right. Louis sat in front, before the guy driving started the engine. Four other vehicles loaded with masked guys drove behind us.
“Where are you taking me to?”
“Somewhere nobody would find you,” she casually projected.
Squaring my shoulders, I threw an unsuspecting punch at the jawline of the guy on my right, slamming the one on my left into the seat. “Fuck!” one of them cursed, regaining composure to retaliate.
“Enough!” Louis pointed a gun at my forehead, causing me to surrender. “Sit still, or I might just blow your brains out before we get to our destination.”
“You are a bitch, Louis.”
Smacking me hard across the face with the handle of the gun, “I know,” she said.
Wincing at the pain, I worked my jawline, feeling the torn part of my lips bleeding.
“Let me start the story, Miles,” she began as the speeding car increased its velocity. “We plan to pin this on you and Meredith after your deaths. How do you think the headline, 'Billionaire, Miles Pierce, and Ex-girlfriend, commit suicide out of guilt,' will sound? You both deceived the world once. They will definitely buy the story that you both, out of greed, wanted that project for yourselves, and you convinced Meredith to kill her brother. However, since we got back together and Alan and I found out, we threatened to expose you both, but before we could, you decided to take your lives.”
Chuckling, “you are ridiculous. Do you think anyone would be foolish enough to buy that story?”
“Yes. People who are foolish enough like you who thought that a girl dressed as their girlfriend was actually their girlfriend. You didn't stop for a second to ask how logical everything was. I guess we will find supporters from those circles of people.”
Was she implying that the person whom I caught discussing with someone on the phone was an impostor? Oh, Miles, how was I able to make these billions if I was as dumb as my feelings when it came to being hurt by love?
“Long story short, I never wanted you back. We just wanted to manipulate our way back into the lives of you two, but it appeared that your bond was unbreakable, and it made things difficult. We had to go the hard way, which was stalking and playing the exposure game.”
“We are here, Ma'am,” the driver announced.
“Let's go,” Louis commanded.
Doors flung open, and we were out, heading to what looked like a boathouse. Pushing and dragging me, we came to a dock where a wrecked boat was.
“Let me play out the scenario. I am going to inject you with a poisonous substance under your tongue, put this note next to your dying body,” she reached for her pocket, producing a suicidal note that was written in my handwriting and signed by me, “and then toss you into that boat which you may or may not drown in. We will strip you of your clothes to leave clues. By the time the search party finds you, it would have given us enough time to clear our names.”
“And you think no one will find out about this?”
“No one will, as we won't have witnesses.” She spun around and shot three out of the four guys. “There. We have just one person left and a few more outside who I know won't reveal anything.” The last guy standing seemed confident that he wouldn't meet the same fate as his colleagues. How trustworthy.
Getting enough information on what I needed, I lunged toward the guy, using him as a shield since I knew that Louis wouldn't think twice about shooting. She had shown another side of her devious self, which was the fact that she would willingly eliminate any threat to her success, which at that moment was me.
She shot the guy so many times that the banging noise rang in my eyes. Seeing that she was out of bullets, I tossed the guy aside and grabbed her hair, flinging her to the ground. By now, the sound of roaring footfalls and the blaring siren filled the place. Even though I had no idea if they were coming for or against me and what or who led them here, I seized the opportunity.
Seeing the surprise on her face, I guess she didn't know about them either. “It can't be. How come?” She struggled underneath me.
As far as I registered correctly, the emergency message didn't get across to Brandon. Still, there was no time to waste. I had to find Meredith.
I let her go. “It is over, Louis. Your game backfired.” Standing firmly, “you have one chance to tell me where Meredith is. I will buy you a good case with the police, Louis. Where is my girl?”
“Do you think I will provide you with that information? I can tell you what happened to her. But not where she is. She should be dead by now.”
“No, you are lying,” I edged closer to her, darkness closing in on me.”
Her eyes caught hold of my dangerous closeness to her, and she shrieked, “no! This isn't over!” She dashed away from me, reaching for her ankle where she produced another gun.
"Just how many do you have?"
"Enough to kill you. I can't go down, Miles." Pulling the trigger, "goodbye, Miles Pierce," she said with a smirk on her face.
With an unwavering stare, a shot was fired. A loud, piercing bang went off. Blood splashed everywhere as the shots kept being fired until nothing else was heard but deafening silence.