"Do you normally make-out with the people you're hired to kill? It doesn't strike me as very professional."
"Put the gun down," Gabriel panted, not answering her.
"Why on earth would I do that?"
"Because you're not going to shoot me," Gabriel rep...
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Ash felt an overwhelming sense of giddiness and nausea as she ran out of the cabin. Her mind could barely process what had just happened, and she felt like if she stopped to think, she would turn into a puddle of jell-o on the ground. Her fingers trembled uncontrollably from the adrenaline coursing through her. She made her way to Gabriel's rented BMW and slid in.
The car purred immediately as she started it up. She couldn't believe she was stealing a car. And not just any car. A shiny, new BMW.
Ash, this is probably one of the least illegal things you've done in the past week.
Before her mind could start to spiral, she played a game she used to play with her family.
BMW. Founded in Bavaria, Germany.
Bavaria was home to the first Nobel Laureate in physics, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen.
Röntgen discovered x-rays.
X-ray stands for unknown ray.
Unknown was what her future was right now.
She felt a slight panic rise up in her chest.
Damn it.
Stay focused, Ash, she told herself. She had to get back to Vegas quickly, before they realized where she was going. She would have run straight from the cabin, but she wanted to get out of the country, and she couldn't do that without a passport. Fortunately, she had the good sense to hide her belongings before Gabriel had gotten to her hotel room.
If she had just noticed a few minutes earlier...if she had been paying attention...she would have figured out that they were on to her, and she could have avoided this whole mess. She had made a mistake.
She couldn't afford mistakes.
But somehow, she had scraped by yet again. And now she was headed to Mexico, where she would lay low until she had a foolproof plan.
Once Ash got on the highway, she let out a long sigh. She made it out. Despite overwhelming odds stacked against her, she was somehow still alive.
Because of Gabriel.
She immediately scolded herself at the thought.
No, not because of Gabriel. You can't save someone when you're the reason they're in danger in the first place.
Gabriel didn't get to be a good guy just because he decided not to kill her. Especially when the only reason he spared her that she could tell was because of her looks.
She thought back to how frustrated he looked when she had teased him with the knife.
Serves him right for the unabashedly sexual way he had been looking at her ever since they met.
She smiled, thinking about what the old Ashlyn would have thought about her behavior. Ashlyn was boring. Ashlyn was obedient. Ashlyn preferred to be around books more than people. Ashlyn would have laughed at the idea of becoming some badass who could manipulate men like they were silly putty. Ashlyn certainly wasn't a sadist who enjoyed watching people panic because they thought they had been poisoned.
