Tonight is the night we die

Chapter Fourty-Nine

Phone back in the pocket of my trousers, I leaned forward.

"If you find him, he'll know someone spoke, and trust me, the list is very short. People would die for Owen or would rather die than let him kill them himself. He will know. Cause he always knows that I was the one to lead you to him. I never wanted to do anything I did for him. I lost my job, and a friend hooked me up with this super great offer, so much money and fun, and I didn't think twice. I had to bring money back home, so I said yes and didn't look into the offer, and then I ended up filming people being tortured to death, and once I realized the mess, I was too stuck in it, too guilty to step back. And then Owen threatened to do to my family what he did to those people I filmed so I was stuck for good and... Yes, it was a lot of money. So I turned my brain off and just... Did what I had to do,"

I had never heard so many words coming out of one single mouth. Breathless, Ned ran the Explanation Marathon and won the gold!

Silence entered back the room, and sat on my lap. Ned stared at his tied feet, the sweat and tears drooling onto his thighs, darkening the brown of his trousers.

"I can relate to your situation,"

He looked up, mouth opened, a shy hope gleaming in his sad brown eyes.

"I also ended up stuck to the brim in a very tricky situation. I also had to do things I didn't want to do in order to survive or protect the few people I cared about in my life. So for that, I guess I cannot blame you,"

I stopped there, and Ned was curious, on the edge of what was next. Was I on his side now? Should he keep fearing me and the future? Was I a good guy after all?

"I can tell you a lot about Owen. More than just a location. I can give you access to accounts, his money, give you names of his whole crew,"

"And in exchange?"

"You can kill me, but you must protect my family from him. That's all I'm asking for, please! I'll give you everything! I'm telling you, it's more than you could have expected!"

The sad brown eyes on me, the challenging green ones on me, too. They stared at every microscopic twitch on my face and scrutinized every emotion that might have roamed on my lips or in my gaze. I looked at the green. I listened to their questions. What is Jake going to do? Am I going to regret being held in his arms? Will I hate myself for loving someone like him?

Yeah. What was Jake going to do?

I sniffed and sighed. No, as bloody as I imagined that night.

"Fine!" I raised my palms. "You'll help me, so you'll live for now, but keep in mind what will happen if you betray me. You think Owen is your worst nightmare? Well, I'll prove you wrong. Are we clear?"

"Very clear," Ned nodded.

I played with my knife, sad I didn't get to use it, sad I didn't get the opportunity to test Gloria like she tested me. Was I sad I did not manage to scare her away? The night wasn't over yet, though.

The feet scraped onto the floor and made Ned jump. Behind him, I freed his wrists and paced around the room as he undid the rope around his ankles.

"Talk!"

And he did. The map spread on the table where Gloria had previously sat. Ned pointed at all the key places and spilled the beans to feed me for years. The best collab ever! My new best friend. Until...

"We'll overtake their second house first and..."

"Jake, this isn't a two-man show. You will be dead before you even step through the front door," Gloria scolded me, and my new friend blanched.

"Jake?" he repeated my name, every letter shaking as if it was the name of a demon you would summon in front of your bathroom mirror.

"Is there something wrong with my name? I didn't choose it," I frowned.

"You're Jake?"

"Do I look like Queen B or something?"

Gloria clicked her tongue.

"I can't work with you, I can't help you, I... Have... I... You should have told me," he stumbled back as if afraid I could infect him.

"Oh. So Owen talked about me, didn't he?" I smiled and walked towards Ned.

"He did, yes. I can't help the guy he despised the most. I'm sorry," he whispered, his palms opened to prevent the attack he knew was bound to happen.

"We were doing so good. I almost believed in our friendship, Ned," I tilted my head and pouted, bringing my knife out. "But I'll keep your family safe,"

His lips opened to thank me, but before the first syllable could form, the knife made itself at home in his jugular. Red replaced the extreme paleness of the puny guy. His body joined the render, and blood gurgled from his mouth and neck. The crimson river ran through the cracked cement. The gurgle stopped, the distant machinery, and the sizzling lightbulbs, too. All I could hear was the buzz in my head, the swarm of bees whispering in my ear how twisted I was for now, being horrified by my actions, by the body at my feet and the life leaving it because of me, because of that knife in that hand. Hand that could be so gentle. Ask Gloria. I did that. I took lives. Ned's wasn't the first I took. I wasn't any better than Owen or Michael. I was bad to the bone and knew who my next victim would be. The man who created me. Owen Roche.

But in the meantime, I had to turn around and face the judge.

Gloria.

I had the guts to stab a man. Did I have the guts to face the horror of the woman I love?