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Then everything went black.
When I came to, I was on an old mattress in a room that smelled like dust and paper. A body lay next to mine, and as I rolled over slowly, I could feel my heart racing. Nothing had happened, at least not yet. My body felt okay, my cheek hurt like a bitch and my wrists ached, but aside from that, I was okay.
As I took in the body, I noticed it was Devon. His bright green eyes shone back at me. His face held no emotion, and I wondered if I was really even safe with him.
“I told you to keep your mouth shut. I told you to stay quiet, Bree. You didn’t.” He was frustrated with me, and I couldn’t blame him. I was dumb to think this situation was similar to the one I had gone through with Zerro. My defiance would win me nothing.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”
“Mean to what? Almost blow my cover? Are you crazy right now? I could’ve killed the bastard simply for hitting you. Instead, I had to stand there and do nothing,” he said grinding his teeth with sheer force. He was pissed.
“I won’t do it again,” I said sounding completely defeated. What had happened to the strong woman I once was? Was I finally considering I might die? I wasn’t weak, but merely staring down the barrel of a loaded gun. I didn’t want to die.
“You’re right, you won’t. There won’t be a second chance, Bree,” Devon said blowing a breath. The room was cold, and a shudder ran through me as the air settled deep into my bones.
“What do we do next?” I was hesitant to ask if Zerro was going to come. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on. I just knew he should’ve been here by now.
“Nothing. You sit here and pretend like I’m hurting you. It’s expected of me. If he thinks I’m lying in the slightest, he’ll kill both of us,” Devon exclaimed examining me.
“How do we do that?” I wasn’t going to let him actually touch me.
“Like this…” he simply said reaching over to tear the top of my shirt. Cold air hit my chest with only a piece of fabric draped over the right side of my boob. My shoulder and upper arm were completely exposed. Then he pulled out a knife, and I backed up, wondering what would come next. Instead of him turning the blade on me, he simply ran the blade against his own skin. Small, thin, pink scratches showed on his face and throat.
He looked as if I had actually attempted to attack him.
“Does it look believable?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, wanting to cover up. I felt too exposed. I was no longer safe here, and more than anything else, it terrified me.
“He’ll come, Bree. He always does.” The way he said it made me feel as if he knew Zerro more than I gave him credit for.
“How do you know? What’s your past with him anyway? And whose side are you on?” I peppered him with questions, anything to get my mind off the present.
He stared at me blankly for a moment before smiling at me. He was so young, couldn’t be much older than I was. How he had managed to get in the FBI, I didn’t know. Nor did I have the intention of asking. He was a looker, and someday, he would make a woman proud.
“There is no side, sweetheart. Just the winning and losing. I go with whoever has the best fighting chance.” As his words entered my mind, and I repeated them to myself, I understood what he was saying.
“You traitor. You fucking, lying traitor,” I yelled, my voice full of fire and rage. He wasn’t choosing a side he was playing both. The fucker was playing both teams until he knew who was going to win.
“Shhh…” he whisper-yelled, placing a hand over my mouth to shield any further yelling on my behalf. Instead of responding, I looked at him with the need to slice him open.
“I’m not a fucking traitor. I work for the good guys. If I didn’t think I could protect you, I wouldn’t have made the deal. Now shut your mouth before he comes in here,” he said giving me a cold stare. Slowly, he removed his hand from my mouth, and the need to throw obscenities in his direction was large. Instead, I kept my mouth shut not wanting to cause further delays.
Minutes passed, maybe even hours, and slowly but surely, my eyelids grew heavier with every passing second. We didn’t look at one another or even utter a word, and as I closed my eyes, and then opened them back up fighting sleep, I saw the genuine concern in his eyes. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me. At least not yet.
“Go to sleep. If he comes in, I’ll make up some lie,” he mumbled, placing his head against the wall.
I nodded, leaning my head against the hard mattress. In a moment’s time, my mind was headed to a place where death couldn’t touch me.
Alzerro King’s arms.
Zerro
“They have her, Zerro.” Jared rushed into the house. His voice was full of panic, and as I stood there staring and doing nothing, I felt the guilt eating at me. I should’ve fucking told her. I should’ve warned her.
“I know,” I simply murmured. I hated myself more than anything in this one moment. Jared and James’s eyes both turned to me, fire deeply buried in both of them.
“What do you mean you know? You knew this whole fucking time and you never told one of us? You never thought it was a good idea she knew there was a change?” Jared was angry, and he had every right to be. I had put Bree in danger on purpose. And for what? The element of surprise.
“It needed to happen this way. If I had let you know, you would’ve acted strangely.” There was nothing more or less I could say for them to understand. I had to do it this way, and it killed me. It would kill me even more to go in there and see all she had to endure because of me.
