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The guilt feels like a heavy stone resting on my chest, making it impossible to take a deep breath. It creeps up my spine and clings to me. No matter how hard I try to escape its clutches, it won’t let go.
I close my eyes, desperate not to see Roman’s face, but every time I do, I see Gideon. I never allowed him to explain, and now I’m here, about to die, without telling him that I’m sorry.
Death will come for me, and I’ll never make this right with him.
My temper and need to protect myself have cost me everything.
It cost me Roman. I refused to let him in and look what it got me. I lost him, and now my stubbornness cost me Gideon.
Voices drift across the space.
“He’s coming for her,” the person says, and excitement blooms inside me. Despite my leaving him, Gideon is coming to save me, but it’s quickly extinguished when I hear the next words.
“Good. Let him come. I will kill him. Kill them all, and maybe once I take over his territory, I’ll be able to reclaim the money I lost because of Roman.”
My hands shake as a chill runs down my spine. I can hear them plotting an ambush for Gideon, like a pack of predators planning their next attack. Their voices are slick and full of malice. They remind me of a swarm of wasps buzzing through the air, ready to strike out.
Gideon could die. Tears bloom in my eyes. He can die because of me.
I’ve made so many mistakes. The weight of them threatens to kill me.
Another voice grunts in agreement. “He won’t know what hit him,” he says calmly. His tone is almost too calm—as if he’s relishing this moment too much and taking pleasure in Gideon’s inevitable demise.
My stomach twists and turns at their words.
Tears blur my vision.
“Once Gideon is dead, we will go after everyone. One by one, we will take over the whole East Coast. Turns out Roman’s betrayal might have been exactly what we needed to control New York.”
“It will start a war,” another voice says.
“Yep, couldn’t have planned it better myself.”
My heart is pounding in my chest as I frantically try to loosen the knots binding my hands together.
I need to get out of here. I have to warn Gideon.Even if I die in the crossfire, I have to at least try.By the sounds of things, he isn’t very far.My thoughts of escape are cut off when two men stroll into the room I’m being held in.
“Come on.”The taller figure grabs my arm roughly and drags me across the room toward the doorway shrouded in darkness.
I’m not sure where he’s taking me.
Fear coils in my stomach.
I can feel a trickle of perspiration streaming down my back, and my breath comes in short, shallow gasps.
I stumble forward blindly into one unknown room after another.
The hallway feels like an endless tunnel with no source of light; everything is black and still. We move forward wordlessly through this abyss until we finally reach a door at the end.
It creaks open slowly, revealing a large room bathed in faint moonlight coming through one of its narrow windows.
This is where it will happen.
I can feel the air around me shift as the men ready for battle.
Although I’m in the room, I’m thrust into the corner. Apparently, they don’t want me killed in the crossfire, but that doesn’t stop them from cutting my rope and securing me with handcuffs to a metal pipe.
I already told them I don’t know where the money is, but I guess they want to make good on their threat to torture me to see if I’m telling the truth.
