Love Or Death?

Twelve

“Get your f*****g hands off me!” I dragged at the top of my voice as the man carried me, strapping me, with the obvious help of another man, to the chair with what felt nothing like ropes, “Unhand me this second!” I demanded, my heart aching as it was beating ten times faster than regular, the fear eating me up from the inside.

“Shh, relax.”

Wait– I knew that voice, I knew it and I sure as hell wasn't delusional now.

The man slowly removed my now wet blindfold, leaving his mask and the man beside him’s on but I could pick out that stance, that physique out of a crowd, “Devin?” as the name escaped my lips, I wished I was wrong.

No response, he simply removed his mask, dropping it on the floor. My heart dropped to my stomach, still in denial, hoping it wasn't real or this was some sort of stunt, “Zipporah–”

“Why?” my voice came out hoarse and cracked, tears trickling down my face, “Why…am I here…Devin?”

“I can explain. We are meant to be, Zipporah. I've made plans for us, Jack would never know. We can leave the country, even the continent, and be happy by ourselves, Zipporah,” he paused, kneeling in front of me, I could see the deranged look in his eyes as I watched him in disgust, “Please.”

“Let…me…go!” I said through gritted teeth. His eyes lowered, a small smirk appearing on his face as he got up, not uttering a word, “What–where are you going!? Where even the f**k am I? What do you want from me!?”

“Enough!” His voice echoed through the dark, spacious room, “Can't you see I'm in love with you Zipporah? I've been in love with you and the only thing keeping us away from each other is Jack, stupid Jack. You see, but I refuse, I can't just let you go pumpkin,” his voice lowered into a more psychotic tone.

I scoffed, “This is f*****g crazy! We barely even know each other, how long have you even known me!?” I felt my throat start to ache with all this shouting.

“Oh darling, from the moment I laid my eyes on you, even before you were introduced, even before Landry I've had my eyes on you, darling,” he stood in front of me, his finger beneath my chin to raise my head.

He looked repulsed, gathering up all the spit behind my throat, splattered on his shirt.

His eyes grew darker, landing a sharp slap across my face.

I whimpered in pain, crying from the pain, “You see darling, we don't do that around here. The best thing you could do for yourself is sit your pretty ass down, shut the f**k up, and keep your leftover food in your–”

The blood splattered on me, and I screamed. The bold man that was talking my ears off now had a hole in his head and I was covered in his blood, screaming even louder as his lifeless body lay there, a puddle of blood forming around him already.

In the darkness, I saw Jack, coming to stand over Devin’s dead body, no form of emotion behind his eyes as he stared at his former friend with his murder weapon in hand.

“Please stop crying, the bad man's gone now, pumpkin,” he smirked, snapping his fingers, commanding an unknown man to come and untie me. To say I was flabbergasted was an understatement, barely having the vocabulary to fit the situation, “I understand, let's go get you cleaned up, pumpkin.”

He wrapped his arm around me, comforting me as I stayed numb, barely able to feel the feet I was using to walk. It all happened so fast, too fast. What if Jack hadn't come? What was he going to do with me? Ship me off somewhere with him and abuse me for the rest of my life?

Fuck, I don't think I want the danger anymore.

I sat by him in the back seat, still dumbfounded by what just happened as he wiped my face carefully, staring into nothingness as the motion of the car gradually made me sick.

“I thought I told you to stop crying, peach?” Jack said in a low tone, I could sense the concern in his voice. He sighed, “And that, peach, is why you don't relate this business with pleasure. There are some really deranged people out there. Sorry to break it to you but you have to be a little deranged yourself if you want to keep your sanity, especially Devin's area of expertise.”

I simply dragged my nose, having nothing in mind to possibly make a good response. I turned over to the side, the back of my thigh cold against the cool leather. I didn't realize how far wherever I was from my home, from civilization in general.

I did hate to admit but Jack was right. What was I expecting when I started sleeping with someone in this line of work? I didn't want that for myself and I knew it deep down.

This wasn't worth it, especially not after the crappy performance in bed.

~

“Zipporah,” Jack called my name out of the trance. I rubbed my heavy eyes, reality still a bit fuzzy, figuring I had slept off in the car, “you're home, come on.”

He helped me up, leading me gently till we got to my front door, sunglasses, and a mask on but I didn't question.

“Thank you…for today,” I said sheepishly.

“You're welcome, I'm sorry about that fucker. It's mostly my fault, keeping that kind of rule off your ears. This kind of s**t has happened way too many times and there always has to be a hero, and this particular situation happens…quite a lot.”

“I can already tell y'all are fuckaholics anyway,” I mocked, wrapping my arms around myself.

He chuckled lightly, giving me a pat on the back, “I'll send in your next mission tomorrow, just use today to rest…you're going to need it.”

I frowned my brows, my veins filling with anger as I was rather surprised, “Tomorrow?”

“Yep, but don't worry, this particular mission is going to be kind of long and probably to your liking,” he pulled down the mask to show me the smug look on his face.

He was already running down the stairs before I knew it, “Wait!” I called out, stopping him in his tracks, “Give me a name at least.”

“I'll text it to you!”

And with that, he vanished down the stairs. I didn't think much of it. Locking my room door behind me, I plopped off my clothing to get in the shower when I received a text. I figured it must've been Jack with the name I reluctantly asked for.

Kilian Palgrasia, get ready. That's all the text read.