Dead or Alive

5.

ch.5

A lot can happen when a person is alone. Time for your thoughts to take on a new form, at the forefront of your mind. Time with no distractions, no outside voices or influences. It's just you.

And that can be a terrifying thing.

You'd think I would feel something. A girl, almost assaulted. A girl who killed someone. You think my thoughts would be rampaging  around, knocking on every crevice of my skull, begging to get out. But they aren't.

I feel nothing.

Numb.

I don't know how long I wait. Hours, maybe minutes. My legs have no feeling. Strange, how much heavier a body gets when it's dead. My arm is cramping, hanging above my head. My five dollar dress is up around my hips, one strap limply  hanging off my shoulder. I can feel the blood dripping off my legs, warm, seeping into the mattress.

They bust in all at once, 5 men, guns drawn pointing around the room until they see me. Green eyes is at the front clinically assessing the situation, Lenny close behind him.

"Oh, Adeline..." he says, softer than I've ever heard him speak before. I must be a sight to see, a 140 pound girl and the man she killed laying face down on top of her.

"Move." Green eyes says, his voice as smooth as ever, and they do. All the men take on unspoken tasks, two of them leaving the room all together.

Lenny takes to the man laying down, trying to figure out the best way to get him off me without getting soaked with blood.

Green eyes is at my side, magically pulling a paper clip out of his pocket and working at the cuff. This close, so can smell his cologne. God, he smells good. Relief floods through my muscles as the cuff is released, my arm falling to my side.

"Are you okay?" He says, and I nod slightly, not sure if I am anything any more. "There's usually a complimentary robe in the bathroom at this hotel. Put it on." He says, his eyes dragging along my bloodstained dress. The linger for a moment, but just as if I imagined it, he turns away.

The mans weight is rolled off my legs and i break out a sigh of relief, moving my bloody feet to the ground.

Slowly standing, my knees shake a bit. Get a grip, Adeline. You're fine, everything is going to be okay.

"Theo. You better look at this." Lenny says, and I start to make my way to the bathroom. Theo? So green eyes has a name. Before I even make it to the doorway, I am shoved over, into the wall, a hand closing around my neck. Green, furious eyes bore into mine.

"Do you have a death wish, ragazza?" He spits, squeezing a little harder, in just the right places to make it hurt while still allowing me to speak. My feet are off the ground, his strength holding me up. (Girl.)

"Theo what ar-" Theo turns, glaring at Lenny, effectively shutting him up. Back to me, his eyes meet mine, glaring at one another.

"Well? Do you? Or are you just stupid?" I cough a bit, and i'm sure that in the moments I could've died this week, this one might actually kill me.

He lets me go, my body crumpling to the ground as I cough and suck in breath, my eyes watering. He's mad that I killed him? What the fuck...it was self defense!

"Would you have rather I let him rape me then?" I choke out, spitting on the ground before pushing myself to my feet.

He turns slowly to face me. "You're going to wish he did. By killing this man, you signed away your life. Did anyone see you leave with him? Anyone in the hotel lobby or elevator perhaps?" He is so close to me, I can feel his hot breath on my face.

"Yes." I whisper, "His name was M-Mateo, I think. He was going to watch him," my voices breaks, cracking over the words I can't get out as reality hits me. I killed someone, someone very bad apparently. Are you still terrible if you kill someone terrible? I am broken away from my pounding thoughts to his fist, colliding through the wall, right next to my face.

I flinch, and our eyes battle with glares. I will not back down from this man, not now. The tension between us explosive, like if someone lit a match we would both ignite.

"Sir, if it was Mateo, we need to move. Now." Theo continues to glare at me, like he truly hates me and I mirror his emotion right back.

I hate him.

So far, he has pointed a gun at me, mocked my parents death, choked me and almost punched me. I've known of him less than a week, and I hate him.

He breaks our staring contest first, yanking his fist out of the dry wall, pieces crumbling to the floor. I let out a breath I didn't know i was holding, as he turns around.

"Parker and Balsamo, do a full wipe of the room, I want no prints. No proof that Desroses or Miss Ross were ever here." The two men in the corner move, leaving the room to follow their order. Theo continues, "Marcus, I want any movements on Mateo or The Ombra reported immediately. No doubt that this goes unavenged." He glances at me, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"They can't know The Marachelli Family cleaned this up, so make sure you are covering your tracks. Lenny, take Adeline back to the grounds. We will figure out what to do with her from there." Do with me? I'm not some stray.

"I want to go home," I say, yanking my arm away from Lenny's grip, and that's all it takes to make Theo snap again.

Roughly grabbing my chin, he speaks low and clear, mind voice eerily calm. "You're lucky I don't kill you right here and save my family a whole lot of trouble. If Leonardo wasn't fucking your friend, I would be feeding you to my dogs tonight. Now be a good girl, and do what you're told." He growls out, and instinctively I bite my lip, holding my tongue.

Shoving my chin away, he walks to the door, looking around at all the men going to work, rolling out plastic to, I assume, dispose of the body with.

With that, he pulls out his phone and strides out, taking all my energy with him. Suddenly, with him gone, I can let go of my pride and it all but collapses me. Exhaustion and fatigue wave over my body, making my legs shake.

"Addy? Are you okay?" Lenny says, "You look pale." I nod, taking a few steps, before the world goes black.