Villain, D. Malfoy

40. Us Or Nothing

Draco:

Emerald's voice was never stern for me to recognize. "Why the fuck did you leave me there!" She spat as she sprinted towards Pansy's face through the clear hotel door.

Her left cheek had two scrapes that were full of dried-up blood. Her waves were messier than before, and her eyes held some sort of exhaustion behind them. What the fuck happened to her? And what was she talking about?

This was the first time we had seen each other since the argument, and all I wanted to do was fasten my arms around her abdomen and tell her the truth. Tell her what had actually happened and that all of this was just one big misunderstanding.

Tell her that whatever mental image she had of me as a monster should now be entirely gone. And that whatever intention someone painted me to have as to hurt her never existed.

Was she hurt? Who hurt her? If it was damn Pansy, if that slut touched my Emerald, she will never see the light of day again. I hate Emerald. I loathe the way she intoxicates me. I despise everything about her with my whole heart. But I swear to fucking God if anyone lays even one finger on her, they will be begging for their life at the mercy of my blade. She is my enemy and mine only.

My thoughts operated all over the place. She still managed to look effortlessly stunning even when she looked like she had been harmed. No one else can do anything like her.

"What the hell is going on here?" I growled, getting in front of Emerald and pushing her back so Pansy wouldn't try anything stupid or foolish on her part.

"Tell your fucking boyfriend the truth." She was still furious at what had happened a few nights before. I don't blame her; she actually believed Ambrose's lie and not my share of the tale.

All of our eyes now turned to face Pansy. Her jaw shivered as she thought about what to say next. "Go on. Say it." Emerald ushered. Her stare was concentrated, her lips dry and cracked.

She took a deep breath and looked to the side. "Fine." She muttered. "Ambrose had faked the recording of Draco talking about Emerald. He wasn't talking about you; he was talking about me a few years ago." She admitted, and I felt my chest decompress a bit.

Almost every single strand of tension had now left my body; knowing Emerald knew the reality; and that even if she still hated me for saying that about a girl in the past, she still knew the whole story. Not some half twisted made-up bullshit.

Emerald lifted her eyebrows, and her mouth was now slightly parted, "You mean-" She pointed at all of us. "The whole thing- wasn't just real?" Her eyebrows fell once again. Aside from her face looked bewildered, while the other, at least I hoped, looked relaxed.

Calm. Knowing my lips would never allow me to speak in such unlawful choice of words whenever talking about her.

I wanted to kiss her already.

"Why? Why would Ambrose do something like that, then? What motive?" She kept begging. One thing I relished of hers was her inquisitive curiosity. One thing I always wanted to have was an answer to all of her questions. But not all queries can ever be settled.

"One common denominator. Lucius." Blaise responded without hesitation. My glance bounced back and forth between his blank gaze and Emerald.

"Speaking about the devil; don't you dare leave out the part where you left me in his basement to fucking die, you psychopath. You're lucky I have some level and dignity of self-control, or else I-" Emerald was this close to slapping Pansy until I walked in front of her to face Pansy.

"You what?" I turned to Pansy now. "You left Emerald where? What the hell is she talking about?"

Pansy ran her hands through her hair, something she did when white lies couldn't automatically pop into her head. Her eyes were wide and shallow, and she kept looking at all of us with some search of empathy towards her.

But Pansy's following words made my stomach churn with acid.

"Lucius kept her hidden in the basement of the hotel. He said that if Draco wouldn't do it, then he would. I found her this morning tied up. But I ran away before Lucius took me as well."

I was going to kill my father.

The closer I got to Emerald, the more dangerous her life became. I knew that, someday, this would come back and haunt and destroy and mercilessly taunt me.

"I'll deal with you later. Get out." My words toward Pansy were stern, I spat in her face, and her superficial eyes seemed like they couldn't take it. But I'm too busy not giving a damn fuck about her or her emotions.

Blaise got the hint as well. Although my words were not directed to him, he still understood what I wanted. More significantly, what I needed; a talk with Emerald.

The hotel door slams itself on the way out of the two Slytherins.

I didn't try to say anything. I didn't ask if she was okay or what had exactly happened. My arms responded before my thoughts, and before I knew it, this girl was enclosed around my waist as my lips pressed her forehead. Our bodies fit perfectly against each other, like a puzzle God created just for us. Only to find out the puzzle was never tailored-made because now we both knew we couldn't have each other. No matter how hard we tried.

"You know what happens next, right?" My voice was hoarse but so delicate. I felt her face nod against my chest. A tear almost slid my left eye, but I quickly caught it before it hit her hair.

"I don't want to let you go." Her voice was muffled as she still covered up her face in my neck, and I snaked my arms around hers.

"Don't. But if you stay, you need to comprehend that now it's life or death. It's not a game anymore." I clarified. If we stayed together, our lives were at stake. It wasn't just a foolish, ridiculous teenage romance. It was accepting that, just to trade our souls, we would be exposed to the danger of our parents. We would be exposed to the threat of my father counting down the days until he can eliminate her. But not if I was around.

She pulled away, her rusted-copper-colored eyes now staring onto mine, and with a grin that would be enough to make me stay, she whispers, "I'm all in."

"It's us against the world now, is it?"