Marry or Kill

13

S O L

I hear a voice, seething in anger, raw and unhinged through the radio. Ragged breathing sounds through the mic, and I arch an eyebrow. "Elias?" my voice hangs through the radio.

"Put the gates on gunfire. And shoot to kill," he commands, the words carrying a chilling resolve.

Ice lurches through my spine, and I open my mouth to ask, before I begin running to the station on the other side of the damned building, to the cameras that no one occupies currently. I know what Elias's plan is—to kill Cade.

The urgency in his voice sends a shiver down my spine, and I sprint through the dimly lit corridors, my footsteps echoing in the hollow silence.

I swallow down the panic as I round a corner, trying to outpace Cade and Mina's departure. I nearly slip when I land on the camera desk and watch the scene unfold. Cade has a gun to Mina's head, for God's sake, and she's panicking, evident in every frantic movement. The urgency to act surges within me and I press the button.

It seems like Mina notices the guns turning, a flicker of realisation in her eyes, but Cade is too foolish to notice. She blankly blinks, a fleeting moment of uncertainty crossing her features, before she turns her head back ahead of her. Her chestnut brown hair dances in the wind, with Cade's arm wrapped around her, wrapped around her waist.

Silence ticks when the gates open, a heavy pause pregnant with anticipation.

As soon as Cade steps through, the guns are aimed at him.

And they fire.

The air is rent with the rhythm of gunfire, each echoing shot a thunderous proclamation of Elias's unleashed fury and brutality. I hear it in the distance, the bullets cutting through the air with deathly sharpness.

I turn away from the camera, grimacing at the sight of how many bullets mercilessly wedge into him. The impact is brutal, each bullet finding its mark with unrelenting precision. The once defiant figure crumples under bullets, knees dropping on the ground.

Mina shakes at the blood pooling near her hands, the grim expectation of one of those bullets finding her.

She doesn't lift her head, keeping it bowed as if bracing for an impending strike.

My breath wedges in my throat at the haunting reminder of what happened on the rooftop, every instinct in her body harders with her expectation of agony.

I quickly rise, lifting myself off the chair, and run out of the building, the guards swarming around her like a suffocating cloud. I push myself through, shoving my way past the uniformed bodies.

I had tried to give her space, and I wish I could provide her with that sanctuary now.

I touch her cold skin, lying on the ground, and she lands a ruthless kick in my leg. I grit my teeth against the searing pain, resolute in my determination, and grab her arm, hauling her upward. My hands, now stained with Cade's viscous blood, feel clammy and cold.

The weight of guilt etches deep lines on my features when she finally lands her green eyes on me.

I feel my ears roaring, and in her deep green eyes, pools an understanding that I can't quite grasp. Relief washes over her when she lands her eyes on me, and I wonder whether she's looking at someone else or truly me.

"I'm sorry," I say through my raw panting. Each word feels heavy, burdened with the weight of the past. "I'm sorry for it all—I promise, I will explain everything."

Mina shakes her head, her eyes downcast as she looks at the blood on her hands.

She then touches the bruise on her forehead for a moment. "Noah told me," she confesses.