Arrow to the Heart: A Cupid Romance

Chapter 51

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After lunch, I step back into my office ready to get back to work. Today's agenda is mostly finishing a bunch of promo materials for the museum's new Dinosaur-themed summer camp program.

I'm about to shrug off my purse when a woman steps inside without knocking and closes the door behind her. She has red wavy hair and pale skin, and her frame is gaunt and skeletal.

"Hi Brianna," the woman says.

I guess she knows me, but I have no idea who she is.

Something about the woman feels strangely off-putting, and not just the fact that she burst into my office without knocking.

"Hi, um... how can I help you?" I ask.

"I've actually been trying to reach out for a while."

"Oh? Sorry, I didn't get your name..."

"Maya. But you don't really need to know that."

That's a weird—slightly creepy—thing to say.

"Um... So you've been trying to get in touch? Are you working with the summer camp team?"

"No," she says, taking another step toward my desk. "You're a hard girl to find, you know that?"

"Oh uh, am I?"

"You haven't been home much lately, and you're rarely in the office either."

"Um... what? I... how do you know if I've been home or not?"

Alarm bells are going off in my head, but I'm not sure what to do. The woman is standing between me and the door. I could call Dec, but what could he do if he's not here?

"That boyfriend of yours picks you up and drops you off every time you go to work."

"Uhh... yeah, he'll be here any moment actually."

It's a lie. I have roughly three hours until I finish work and Dec usually shows up, but I feel like it's the right thing to say in this moment.

She looks up at me with an off-kilter smile that chills me to my bones. Her pupils stretch until they become vertical slits like a cat's. I try to take a step back, but it turns into a stumble as though gravity has shifted beneath my feet. I watch in a mixture of horror and awe as the woman's pupils begin to rotate, switching from vertical to horizontal and back again. Colors shift and pulse in her irises like the patterns in a kaleidoscope and I feel lightheaded. And tired.

Exhausted.

*****

My eyelids feel heavy. Everything is pitch-black and my head is pounding. I hear women's voices. I don't recognize them and my brain takes a moment to parse their words.

"... exactly why we're keeping this as quiet as possible. Staff tonight is limited only to those who we are certain are loyal. Moirai only. No Cupids—we can't trust their allegiances. No one is to leave the facility. No digital communication of any kind."

What are they talking about?

Cupids? Is Dec here?

Wait—no—they said no Cupids. Moirai only... Wait... I know that word. I'm sure I know that word.

Why does my brain feel so hazy?

"Once we have the ring in hand—not before. Do not engage while the ring is in his possession. The prophecies were clear in that regard."

Suddenly it clicks—Moirai. The Fates. It's what they called them in Greek mythology.

I'm surrounded by The Fates.

No. It's worse than that.

It all comes rushing back—the woman showing up in my office with her weird eyes and...

Nothing.

The rest is blank.

They did something to me.

Oh god, they kidnapped me.

Frack!

I'm desperate to open my eyes to see where I am, but I don't want them to know I'm awake yet.

"Chloe's going to do the exchange," another voice said. "We want her to reach a safe distance with the ring, so we're going to let him walk away with the girl."

The girl? They've got to mean me. Which means they're planning on trading me for the ring Dec stole.

"Everyone else will be positioned on the main floor to finish it. He won't make it out of the building."

My stomach drops.

They're talking about killing Dec. That's what's happening.

"I still think it's a waste," one says.

"It's time. We've let him exist because he's been useful, but he's become more of a liability than an asset. We can't afford his existence any longer."

They're talking about Dec like he's an expensive car or something, not a person.

The moment he gives them that ring, they're going to kill him. Heck, they're probably going to kill me too. And Dec may have no idea he's walking into a trap.

I can't let him give up that ring. It's the only thing that's keeping him alive right now.

I try to focus on what I can sense about my surroundings. I'm lying on my side on a hard cold surface, probably a tile floor or something similar. My arms are twisted behind my body at an odd angle and something is pinching my forearm.

They tied me up, didn't they?

Frack.

I know they're the Fates and are supposed to be plotting against me and all, but that's just rude.

I feel the strap of my purse resting on my shoulder and I wonder if it's possible they left my phone in its outer pocket.

But I guess that's not super useful if my hands are tied anyway.

"...confident Saint is the one who has it?" someone asks.

"You know Diego Alvarez, the Cupid who was supposed to pick up and deliver the ring in the first place? He gave us a lot of new information. He seemed certain that the ring is in Saint's possession."

"And if he doesn't have it?"

"Then we kill him before he can ever get ahold of it."

"We're taking a big risk here."

The second woman's voice wavers a bit. She clearly doesn't love this plan.

"...we know that Saint received our message?" a third asks.

"It's hard to say. That man is a bit of a loose cannon. If what Diego Alvarez says is true and he is in love with her, there's a fifty-fifty chance he shows up on schedule with the ring in hand. We're banking on him not being willing to risk her."

"And if he is?"

"Then it's possible we've started a war."

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