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But I would gladly sacrifice it if it meant she would walk away from here.
Then the idea hit me. “Take me as your hostage.”
“No,” Layla said.
The scumbag tightened his grip on her throat, cutting her off.
Just one clean, clear shot,I thought,and I could end this.
Except… I wasn’t sure I could.
I had failed to hit my target in the past, with my ex-wife, and it had cost her life.
And that was when I was much sharper than now, much younger.
What chance did I have of making the same shot this time?
“Why would I want to take you instead of her?” he asked.
“I’m worth a lot more in ransom,” I said.
Layla, unable to speak with him holding her throat so tight, did manage to shake her head slightly.
“You’ll be in a lot more trouble too,” he said. “And the Orb will get me more than the both of you combined.”
“Then take meandthe Orb,” I said. “My only condition is that you let her go.”
The scumbag thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “And have the entire Chi Empire chasing after me for the rest of my life? I don’t think so. Just hand me the Orb and I’ll release her.”
The moment he had it, he was going to down the two of us.
There was no doubt in my mind of that.
He wouldn’t let us survive, even if we never saw him again.
He wasn’t the type to let something like me killing his comrades pass by.
It wasn’t out of loyalty to them.
I doubted he evencaredabout them.
It would eat at him that I had gotten the better of him — at least for a moment when his guard was down.
No, I thought.
He was too dangerous to let live.
Ihadto end him.
Even if Layla did get out of this, he would end up coming after her again one day.
Maybe it would be years from now, but he wouldn’t stop until he redressed — to his mind, at least — the balance.
Criminals did not like to be slighted and lose respect.
In a galaxy where they were the lowest of the low, all they had was their self-respect, and they could not be bargained with to drop it.
I had to shut him down.
