Suicide Mission (Guarded Secrets #1)

33: "I'm saving lives."

"You could have worked with me," he said again, as he took hold of my chin so I was forced to look at him. It was as if he was just wasting away the minutes, in hopes that I would change my mind and he wouldn't have to dirty his office. Although, something told me there was a darker meaning to his taunting, something I hadn't seen yet. "But you chose not to. That's your fault, not mine."

It started to sound like he was trying to convince himself that it was my fault that he was going to kill me. Even though we both knew that he would have killed me eventually. He had followed me after my parents died, had plans to get rid of me, and was threatening to kill my adoptive family. He just didn't want to make a mess of his office or he thought he needed help and didn't want to admit it. If I had agreed to work with him, his men would have taken care of me when I tried to escape. It had been a worse idea to go with him and face more people than just Ash. One-on-one was a fifty-fifty shot, one-on-thirty would have been almost impossible for me to beat.

I pulled back from his hold as he took in the features of my face. There was something about the way his eyes scanned me that caused my skin to chill with goosebumps. I took it as a welcoming sign, I had always been told that fear was going to keep me alive and now, I just hoped it was right. My father use to say that fear heightened the senses, and you were forced into high alert. It made everything you needed to do in order to stay alive a second nature, an instinct. As he continued to talk, I fought to keep the smirk from curling onto my lips. Demon's skill training, from over the years, and Rum's intensive training was going to give me the edge I needed, and in this moment I couldn't be more thankful for it. I had waited, been patient, and spent my time wisely soon he'd realize I wasn't the helpless girl he made me out to be. I was trained, and skilled in aspects that he hadn't paid attention to while watching me. He hadn't seen me practicing, and now I could show him that it was a mistake to be alone with me.

One of the last things Rum had taught me seemed useless at the time, but now it was going to save my life and countless others. She and Spit Fire had spent the extra time to teach me how to get out of bounds when I didn't have a knife. They had given me a lesson that meant working with what I could or with just my hands. We had gone through multiple different ways I could be restrained from rope to zip ties, and while some were difficult I had gotten lucky that his men had chosen a rope for restraining me. I only had to worry about my hands because they had decided to not waste their time restraining my ankles, but they underestimated me, and that would be their mistake. I just had to keep him talking. The longer I kept him talking, the more I was able to work on the knots that kept me tied to the chair.

"How does it feel?" he asked me as he placed the gun to my temple.

I glanced at the knife he had taken from me and placed on his dark wooden desk after he pulled the gun out. I guess he didn't see the use in a close combat weapon when he could shoot me from two feet away with ease. I slightly wished that I still had it so I could escape quicker, but I just had to wait it out; the knots were almost loose enough for me to slip my wrists through. When I didn't answer he jammed the metal gun into the side of my head. The pain swelled in my head as my vision blurred slightly due to the blow of the weapon. I had to have a concussion, there was just no way I didn't after this. A groan escaped my lips, one I had been holding back so he wouldn't know I was in pain.

"How does it feel?" he repeated.

"How does what feel?" I asked as the groan subdued and his smile slowly curled back onto his lips. I was playing with fire, stalling, looking for a way out. He would shoot me without a second thought, I just had to buy more time; just a few more seconds.

"Being so close to death," he taunted as he pushed the gun into my temple again so the pain would erupt from my head again.

I didn't answer, I couldn't. The pain was taking up too much of my attention, so much that I could barely comprehend what he was saying. When I didn't respond to his remark, his hands latched onto my chin so that he forced me to look at him. His eyes bore into mine and I felt fear race through me again. The darkness in his eyes seemed to take over everything. The anger, the joy of his work and the excitement to take me out of the picture. Although, when I felt the ropes loosen, I couldn't prevent my own smile from rushing across my face.