Craft II (The Craft Saga)

37 - Cliffhanger

Confusion is a peculiar sensation. It's a scratch to the head when you can't solve a math problem. It's a hot flush of your cheeks when everyone gets the joke but you. It's a vibrating thrum of terror when the man you love is pointing a gun at you.

'Why would you say that?' I questioned, my hands shaking violently. Was this just a big joke? Was he trying to lighten the situation with humour? Was this whole thing one big prank? If so, it wasn't funny. If that were true, it was cruel, but I forced myself to laugh anyway. 'Ollie...what the hell is this? Stop pointing your fucking gun at me.'

He smirked. 'You think I'm playing...'

'I fucking hope you're playing because if you're not then...then I have no fucking idea what is going on right now...' I could barely speak for the panicked pants coming out of me. He had a dark and sinister look in his eye, and it was at this point that I realised this was no joke. This man was going to kill me. 'Ollie...just answer m-'

'My name isn't Ollie,' he interrupted, rolling his eyes at me.

My own eyes widened at the revelation. 'Wh-what? Then what the fuck is your name?!'

'You don't need to know that,' he sniggered. 'Although, you're gonna' be dead soon so I suppose it doesn't matter anyway. My name is Thatcher. So lovely to meet you.'

'Thatcher,' I repeated in a whisper. 'And why the fuck have you spent all of this time with me Thatcher? Why have you pretended to be someone else Thatcher, huh?! Why the fuck did you rescue me and take care of me and fucking make me think you loved me, Thatcher?!'

My cheeks were soaked with tears; I couldn't speak another word for the sobs and gasps for air consuming me. I was borderline hyperventilating on the edge of a cliff with a gun pointed at me.

'Do you really want me to answer those questions?' he asked. 'Or is it not just better to die ignorant to the truth?'

'Answer me!' I screamed, lurching my head at him but the man didn't even flinch.

'Fine,' he stated, with a simple nod before quickly glancing over his shoulder. 'You asked so nicely and I think we have a little more time so, I'll enlighten you.'

A little more time until what?

'I rescued you from the factory because I had orders to do so, I didn't take care of you, I was biding my time with you and I never loved you...I just needed you to love me.' I had never seen a man so stone-cold and emotionless. This was not the man I had been living with all this time. This was a shell of him.

'So it was all an act?' I sobbed.

He nodded. 'Like I said, I had orders.'

'You're not making sense!' I yelled, taking a step towards him and causing him to raise his gun higher, but I'd reached a point of numbness. I no longer cared if he blew me straight off the damn cliff with that thing. I just wanted to know why he had done all of this before I met my ending. 'Make this make sense!'

'You know, I thought you might have figured it out at some point, but you're clearly not as smart as I thought...even now, you still haven't realised have you?' he mocked, laughing at me cruelly before his smile dropped and his eyes turned empty again. 'I'm a hitman, Celia, and I was hired to kill you. Well...to be more specific, I was hired to make you fall in love with me, break your heart with my betrayal and then kill you. Do you understand now?'

The nausea hit me like a tidal wave and every single little thing fell into place. I had betrayed Roman by lying about who I really was. I had let him love me only for him to find out it was all a huge betrayal. This was his payback. Ollie hadn't rescued me from the factory, Roman had let me go. He had ordered Thatcher to take me.