TAINTED LOVE ▸ BILLY RUSSO

chapter seven - fragility

I run around the hotel, trying to find the exit we had planned and where Eve was waiting for me. Every time I ran somewhere she would tell me to go the other way. ANVIL's men were everywhere.

"Turn to the right." Eve says and I follow her lead. "Last room. Get in. It's open."

I open the door and close it behind me as fast as I can.

"Now what? I wait?!" I argue.

"Yes!" She argues back. "You can go. Turn back to the left and go where I told you."

I take a deep breath, grabbing the gun for dear life, taking my shoes, and running as fast as I could.

"Fuck! The big door. Get in!" Eve tells me and I push it open, closing it behind me.

Suddenly Eve became silent. The only thing I could hear was a pinching sound, making me take the device from my ear as fast as I could. I look down from the only window and notice how tall it was. I couldn't jump. And without Eve looking in the cameras, I was fucked.

Suddenly the door opens behind me. I froze as I hear him.

"Don't fucking move." Billy says, venom covering his voice. "Turn around."

I don't move, able to hear the pain in his words.

"I said turn around!" He screams at me and I recognize it. He was the leased of the group who shot at us. He shots at my side and I barely move. "The next one will be on your head if you don't turn around."

I finally do as he says. I look at his face and there a mix of disgust, betrayal and anger in his expression.

"You." He keeps his gun pointed at me. "Put that down!" He looks at the gun still in my hand.

"Walk away, Billy. I don't want to kill you." I say and he gets closer, his gun almost touching my forehead.

He grabs the gun from my hand and I let him take it.

"I trusted you!" He screams at me and I look down. "I cared about you! I lov-God!"

"You can still be on the right side Billy. Forget Rawlins and come with me-" he laughs in my face.

"You're insane!"

"Rawlins set my house on fire! He turned me to Homeland Security! You shot me! Twice!" I scream back in his face. "I can be a lot of things but I'm not insane. Rawlins took my life from me. I'm taking his." I walk towards Bill pushing his gun to my head. "If you want to stop me, you have to kill me."

"Why did you do this?" Billy asks, clearly hurting.

"I didn't mean to fall in love, Billy." I confess, scoffing to myself. "I was supposed to fuck you and kill you, but you know, shit happens."

"You don't get to say that!" He screams again. "You betrayed me. I thought you were different but you're not."

"I did my job! You should understand that!" I yell at him. "I know everything you did. I'm sure you're not proud of it but you did it anyway."

"It was different! That was war!"

"You brought the war with you! Look at your fucking boss! You're no better than me, Billy." I said through clenched teeth.

Suddenly, Billy falls to the ground and I see a woman behind him.

"Sorry interrupt. Rescue services arrived." Juliet winks and I can't help but smile at her.

"Took you long enough."

I look at Billy, who's knocked out on the floor, and swallow hard before walking away.

"Shouldn't you kill him?"

"I can't."

​​We run to Eve and as soon we find her car, we jump inside. She starts driving as fast as she can. "Is he dead?" Eve asks and Juliet looks at me.

"Yes." I lie and she nods. Juliet looks down and then at the road in front of us. "Where are we going? Rawlins knows our faces now."

"We're splitting up. Letting things calm down."

"And then what? We just move on with our lives as if there wasn't half New York looking for us?" I scoff.

"We can't be seen, for now, Stacy." Juliet speaks up. "Especially you. If they get you, you're dead."

"You can't be serious! After everything I did? I'm not stopping. I'm killing them all. This can't have been for nothing." I argue. "I can do it on my own. You two can fuck off if you want."

"Hey!" Juliet turn to me and I keep looking at the floor. "Hey, Stace, look at me. Look at me."

I force my gaze to her and she nods at me, grabbing my hand.

"We'll get our revenge." She assures me.

"They took everything from me."

"You see this?!" Eve snaps at me showing me her arm, filled with burned marks. "They took everything from me too and I'm not throwing a tantrum! Put yourself together and think!" She hits the steering heel. "We need to get out of here."

"I'm not going anywhere, Eve. Drop me at the theater." I order and scoffs.

"You're on your own, I hope you know that."