“You’re staying in the car,” Aaron announced as we pulled over on a dark road in the middle of nowhere. A little house with well-lit windows was not far from us, and I supposed that was where Raymond and Carl were. Marco pulled out a pair of cuffs from a big duffle bag and I raised my hands up.
“Whoa, you can’t just tie me up in here and leave,” I said.
“We can’t take you with us and we don’t want you to get any ideas of escaping,” Aaron said as he tucked yet another gun inside his jacket. That jacket had to have at least six pockets, unless he was a magician.
“Where am I going to go?” I scowled. “We’re in deep, dark woods. If I walk out of here, I have more chance of running into a bear than finding help.”
“I don’t know what you really wrote in that message you sent to your family. I don’t trust you,” Aaron said.
“Really? I told you I couldn’t just send a clear message because my family would think it wasn’t me who wrote it, and I told you what it means, but if you don’t believe me... there’s nothing I can do about that.” I crossed my arms. “I could’ve escaped already if I’d wanted to.”
“Sure.” Marco snorted, the cuffs still in his hands.
“It’s fine.” Aaron waved his hand. “She’s right. There’s nowhere for her to go. And we’ll find her before she can contact anyone.”
“Are you kidding me?” Marco gaped at him.
“What? We could use some fun. We haven’t had a nice chase for months.” He shrugged.
“Ha ha,” I said through my teeth. “Very funny.”
“Alright.” Marco sighed and put the cuffs back. After they made sure all the weapons were on them and out of my reach, along with any devices I could use to contact someone, they used body heat detectors to confirm only two figures were inside the house and headed down the road toward it. I leaned against the window and stared into the darkness.
Aaron had turned off the car lights before we got here, but I wasn’t sure if Raymond and Carl had known somehow that Aaron and Marco were coming. There hadn’t been a single car on this road, which was kind of strange. I contemplated getting out of the car and just trying my luck. Maybe a nice old lady was living somewhere around here, oblivious to all the criminal activity going on in her vicinity, but somehow I doubted I’d be that lucky.
Besides, Aaron wouldn’t want me dead until he got what he wanted, and I supposed there was still something he needed from me. Maybe to use me as a bargaining chip once he had taken over his father’s business and then had to find a way to get my family out of the picture. That would be a good plan, actually. All he had to do was make me think he was a decent person and that he would let me go so I would be more likely to stay by his side.
But I had my own plans too. It was unlikely my family would find Roberto’s delivery guys in time, since I couldn’t exactly send them the names right under Aaron’s nose, although I had used the opportunity to give them something better. I intended to stay with Aaron until I figured out where the drug would be. Aaron would drop his guard around me eventually because he’d think his plan was working and that I trusted him, and because I hadn’t tried to escape during this trip. But right before he took over, I intended to find a way to slip away and get to my family and tell them everything.
The first part of my message told them that I was fine, that I had a plan, and I asked them again not to do anything, but in the second part I let them know that I’d be going on a trip, so they should be able to get to me easier. I also asked them to say they’d found their girl, because in a way, they had. I just hoped they’d listen to me and let me do this, and not try to heroically sweep in and save me. They used to track Aaron before, but since we were using weird routes, they couldn’t really prepare an ambush or appear where they couldn’t be seen. Besides, if they got me back, we’d lose the opportunity to stop that drug from getting into the Viteris’ hands and being distributed.
A soft rumble roused me from my thoughts, and I instinctively ducked down. It was another car. Was someone else supposed to come? I didn’t think so, because Aaron had insisted on meeting only Raymond and Carl without their men to prevent them from doing anything stupid. Lifting my head when I thought it was safe, I peered through the window. A big SUV was visible under the moonlight that had finally broken through the clouds, and it was parked in the bushes.
Four armed men came out, their faces masked. They definitely weren’t my brothers coming to rescue me. One of them pointed at the car, and I hid behind the seat, hoping they hadn’t spotted me or knew that I was here. If they came to check... I risked another peek and saw the three men discussing something, and then they dashed straight toward the house. The fourth man came my way. Shit! The chance that the guy was friendly and would come to help me was below zero. These had to be Raymond and Carl’s men who had come to deal with Aaron.
They had known he’d be coming. This was a trap. The guy was coming closer, the gravel crunching under his feet. I huddled behind the seat and placed my hand on the door. Just as the guy wanted to take a look through my window, I shoved the door open, knocking him aside. I jumped out onto him and laid a punch on his face. He yelped, blood coming out from the corner of his lips. I grabbed the gun from where it had fallen, but the guy got a hold of me.
Rolling away from him, I kicked out with my leg, catching him in the stomach. He huffed in pain, doubling over, but he recovered before I could get to my feet, and gripped the back of the gun, trying to rip it out of my grasp. I ended up on my back and the guy advanced on me. I brought my knee up, kicking him in the groin. He swore, but he was distracted enough to let go of the gun. I sat up and slammed it into his face. Blood spurted from his nose, and he brought his hand to his face, a howl of rage escaping his throat. I quickly aimed the gun at him and fired, the sound muffled by a silencer. The bullet got him in the side of the neck, and I hopped to my feet, not willing to look back at him.
I raced toward the house, hoping I wasn’t about to end up face to face with the rest of the crooks. There was just no way I could take them all out. Crouching low, I climbed onto the porch and crawled over to a huge window. This was some kind of a shop, or at least the front of the house looked like a regular shop, but the shelves inside were mostly empty. Maybe an old one, then. My pulse was ringing in my ears as I spotted Aaron and Marco with their hands raised and surrounded by five men.
One of the men was talking, his face unmasked and lit up with joy. This was either Raymond or Carl, and he thought their plan was working perfectly. I was glad they hadn’t come out to check what was taking the fourth masked guy so long to join them. Aaron was looking around the room, as if calculating how to get out of that mess, and then his gaze met mine.
Luckily for us, all the other guys had their backs turned to me because they were too busy pointing their guns at Aaron and Marco. Our best option seemed to be for me to open fire and distract everyone. The window glass didn’t seem bulletproof. But what if I missed? And what if the guys started shooting too? One of the men was glancing at Aaron, and if I remained there at the window for a moment longer, he’d spot me. That would be even worse.
I signaled to Aaron to get down, and when he nodded, I raised the gun and opened fire. The glass burst into thousands of pieces, but I didn’t stop firing until there were no more bullets. I dove to the ground as more shots rang out, my knee colliding painfully with a stone block that I hadn’t seen. Crawling across the porch, I made my way to the nearest bushes, just in case the person who’d emerge from the house wasn’t Aaron or Marco.
Aaron had said something to Marco before I started firing, and I hoped they’d both gotten to the ground and had time to get their guns. I believed I’d hit at least two guys, and the one who’d had his back turned directly to me was probably dead. All the noise died down, and I held my breath, afraid to even consider the possibility that Aaron was dead. A laugh bubbled up somewhere deep inside me, but I choked it down. Not too long ago, I wished him dead, and now... Now that idea terrified me a little. I grimaced as I pressed my fingers against a painful spot on my knee, which would probably become a nice bruise.
“Fucking hell!”
I nearly doubled over from relief at hearing Aaron’s voice.
“Octavia!” he yelled, and I wasn’t sure if I was imagining the desperation in his voice or if it was real.
“I’m here.” I got out from my hiding spot and waved.
“Oh thank God,” he said. Marco was with him, clutching his hand to his shoulder, his fingers soaked with blood. Aaron ran over to me and pulled me into a hug so strong that I thought he was going to crush me.
“Thank you,” he said, and placed a soft kiss on my cheek. “You could’ve left us to die, but you...” He looked me up and down. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “You?”
“Yeah.” He had a few scrapes and rips in his jacket but otherwise seemed fine.
Marco coughed. “What about me? I got shot and you two don’t care!” He made an indignant face, but a smile was playing on his lips.
“Don’t be such a crybaby,” I said. “Let me see that.”
He moved his bloody hand, and I inspected the wound. “Doesn’t look too deep. Is the bullet out?”
“It just grazed me.” Marco grimaced. “But it hurts like hell.”
“Do you have bandages or something?” I turned toward Aaron.
“I’ll go get them,” he said.
I held my hand over the wound that was still bleeding and noticed Marco was staring at me. “What?”
“Nothing,” he said, but he couldn’t stay silent for long. “Why didn’t you run?”
“Why do you care? Be glad I didn’t.”
“He likes you, you know. I like you, too,” Marco said softly.
“Oh, come on now. Did you get hit on the head or did you just forget who I am? We’re enemies.” I kind of liked Marco too, and I didn’t even want to contemplate how I felt about Aaron.
“Keep telling yourself that.” He grinned, and I increased the pressure on the wound, making him groan. Aaron was back with bandages and water, and I immediately started to clean up Marco’s injured arm.
“Do you think my father arranged this?” Aaron asked.
Marco shook his head. “He wouldn’t have sent you into a trap like that.”
“But what if it was some kind of a test?” Aaron paced up and down, kicking at the gravel.
“Relax,” Marco said. “He just wanted you away from there so he could focus on his plan. That’s all. If he knew what you were planning, he wouldn’t have sent some silly guys after you.”
“I’ll call him.” Aaron pulled his phone out and groaned in frustration when he saw the phone’s screen was black and cracked. “Give me your phone,” he said to Marco, who fished his phone out of his pocket.
“I get grazed by a bullet and the phone stays flawless. Just my luck,” Marco mumbled. Aaron walked away from us, although we could still hear him yelling at his father. When he came back, he tossed the phone to Marco who barely caught it.
“Hey, man. Watch it!” Marco said but didn’t sound too angry about it.
“He said he was proud of me for taking care of it.” Aaron shook his head and grimaced as if he had tasted something sour. “Told me to take a few days off. Swears he didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“So much for his men being loyal,” I said.
“That’s what I said, too.” Aaron ground his teeth together. “But he replied that they were just some lowly dealers, not really his men.”
“Who cares what he said? Now we can go wherever we want, right?” I offered him a small smile. In fact, I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. It was a good thing no one was here to call the cops, but I was doing my best to ignore the fact that I had killed someone again, so I didn’t want to look back at the house or the car. I was sure my feelings would all catch up with me eventually, but right now, I just wanted to go somewhere safe.
“Yeah. We can pay a visit to one of those delivery guys. But we’ll have to wait a bit or my father will be suspicious,” Aaron said.
“Great.” I made sure Marco’s bandage was tight enough. “Then let’s go.”