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“Ah, you’re awake. It’s time for lesson one, doll. You don’t get to do this again, the running and hiding. If you do, the consequences will get worse.” He lifts the gun and takes aim at a frozen Raven who is standing above the big man with her blade held at his throat.
“No—” I scream, but it is cut off short by a shot ringing out. My eyes clench shut, but I quickly force them back open and look.
Raven stands, the blade now dangling in her hand at her side. There is blood down the front of her shirt. Her face is pale, and when she looks at me, her eyes are filled with pain. She drops to her knees and falls over the blade, sliding across the room.
I scream and cry as I yank the gun out and stand, moving backwards towards the wall. Aiming the gun at Ben. I can’t bring myself to look back at Raven. A large, gaping hole in my heart forms as the ringing of the shot seems to echo in my mind. My vision threatens to go blurry as panic bubbles to the surface and tears stream down my face, but I force myself to focus. Focus on the gun in my shaking hand that is trained on Ben.
Don’t let him win.Raven’s voice is strong inside me.
He chuckles. “Did those fuckers teach you to shoot? That might actually be useful. After all the shit you have gotten me into, we are going to be running for a while before we settle down in another country. Put the gun down, Presley. Time to come home.”
“No. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
My strong façade is breaking, piece by piece. With each step he takes towards me, it feels like a force shoving me down, telling me it would be easier to get on my knees and beg.
But then I can smell the copper in the air. Blood. And I know without a doubt Raven wouldn’t want this. She would probably threaten to kick my ass for giving in.
“No.” I glare and hover my finger over the trigger.
Ben steps up so his chest is touching the barrel of the gun. Raising a brow, he says. “Go ahead, doll. Shoot me. You won’t.”
Before I can even blink, he has the gun and has shoved me face-first into the wall.
He taunts, “Would you like another consequence? It appears harming you teaches you nothing, so I must continue harming others. What about that fake lover of yours? Jackson is what you call him, right?”
My body is frozen. Even as my mind screams to move, to fight, I can’t. I’m frozen.What were you thinking?
Weak. So weak. The second he knows I am carrying a child that isn’t his, he will kill it. Or me. I shake my head. No. That can’t happen. I can’t let it happen.
“Why are you shaking your head, doll? Ready to give in?”
I feel his breath as he leans in close, his body pressed against my backside, keeping me pinned to the wall.
My head is turned so I can see the room and when I look down and see a puddle of blood that is slowly growing, more tears fall.What have I done?
I slowly drag my eyes to look at Raven’s face as Ben babbles on in my ear about how my game is over. When my eyes lock on Raven’s… oh my God. It feels like I can suck in a full breath as our eyes connect. She stares straight back at me. Her eyes move towards the door, where the other man who was in here before is in the hall, talking on a phone. Then her eyes drift to Ben, who is still pushed up against me. Completely oblivious to Raven being awake or even alive because he thinks he has won.
Her eyes come back to mine. I can see her pain. But her determination is there. It gives me the strength I need to unfreeze. To try to fight. But before I can, she is shaking her head. She mouths,I love you.She forces her body up off the ground and I start frantically shaking my head.
Ben chuckles in my ear. “You can’t deny me anymore, doll. You created this monster. Now you have to live with it.”
Raven stumbles but quickly gains her footing. Her face is scrunched in pain, but she charges straight towards Ben anyway. Ben hears the movement and pivots with the gun, but he isn’t quick enough, and she tackles him to the ground. A shot goes off and I scream. The man in the hall turns and storms back into the room.
I panic and grab the chair I was tied down to, swinging it as hard as I can at his head with a scream. He drops, and I swing again.
The legs of the chair hit him in the head. After two more swings, he finally passes out. My entire body shakes as I drop the chair and spin around to find Raven now under Ben. He punches her in the face, but she is still fighting to reach the gun that slid towards the wall when they first went down.
I dive for it and stand, aiming it at Ben’s head. “Stop!” I scream. My face is soaked with tears.
Ben grins up at me as he wraps his hands around Raven’s neck and squeezes. She thrashes, but she isn’t strong enough to stop him.
He thinks I can’t do it. He thinks I won’t.
He’s right.
But he still doesn’t get to win. He doesn’t get to take anyone else from me. I take a shuddering breath and focus the gun on his shoulder before pulling the trigger. It’s much more forceful than I thought it would be, and it sends me stumbling back against the wall, but Ben drops to the side of Raven.
I quickly drop the gun and rush to Raven. “Raven,” I whisper, my hands ghosting over her face.
