Ruthless

5

 Gray's low, gravelly voice came, "Drop the gun if you want to walk away from this in one piece. If you do it now, no one will touch you."

I shifted my gaze to Gary, his eyes locked onto mine, filled with a silent warning. I almost scoffed at his tactics. Did he truly believe I was that gullible? Did he expect me to just surrender and trust him and his gang to keep their word? Too bad for him; he had underestimated me. I wasn't going to fall for that.

I clutched the gun tightly, my heart pounding in my chest, and adjusted my aim to the woman still seated on the sofa with her eyes fixed on me. My action seemed to trigger all three of her dogs as they menacingly advanced toward me. Allison raised her hand, instantly, which halted her dogs in their tracks. I couldn't help but feel grateful for that. My heart had nearly stopped when they had come charging at me with obvious intent to harm.

Also, I wonder how Allison remained so composed seeing a gun pointed at her.

Now, doubts crept in, and I began second-guessing my decision to reveal myself. Maybe if I had stayed hidden until they left, it would have been a better choice. But there were no guarantees of that either. What if there were more people waiting outside?

My mind raced with all the what-ifs.

I tried to reassure myself that my decision had been the right one; after all, it was done. There was no going back now. Allison continued to gaze at me with curiosity, as if I had grown a second head or something. It made me intensely uncomfortable. Why was she looking at me like that?

"Colten," I finally said without unwavering my gaze from Allison.

Understanding my cue, Colten revealed his now-unbound hand and began working on freeing Frank. Within a matter of two minutes, all of them were free from their restraints.

Me and Allison were in a staring contest when Nicole suddenly erupted into wild laughter, breaking my concentration from Allison. Allison continued to laugh and clapped her hands together as if she'd stumbled upon the world's funniest scenario.

My face contorted in confusion, a furrowed brow etching my perplexity. I couldn't fathom what had triggered Nicole's monstrous laugh, and I exchanged puzzled glances with the others in the room. They looked equally confused.

"You see, this bitch?" Nicole managed to gasp between her laughter, her words directed at Allison. "We are free!"

Ignoring Nicole's bizarre behavior, Allison's calculating eyes remained fixed on mine and she remarked, "You're quite beautiful."

I blinked, caught off guard, and then, like a complete fool, I instinctively pointed my index finger at myself, wordlessly asking if she was addressing me. Her smile widened, and she responded with an affirming nod that, indeed, she was referring to me.

"Thank you?" I said, which sounded more like a question.

Allison's line of questioning took an unexpected turn as she asked, "Are you married?"

I was about to respond by saying it was none of her business when Nicole, fueled by anger, stormed over to Allison, seized her jaw, and spat in her face.

Allison, her expression still eerily calm, made no move to retaliate. However, the collective gasp that swept through the room told me that the slim chance we had of leaving this place in one piece had just evaporated into thin air because of Nicole's one stupid action. The situation had spiraled out of control.

I so badly wanted to bang her head against the wall. What was she thinking?

"Don't ignore me, you bitch!" Nicole screamed.