Secrets That Bind | Book I

34 pt.II // kill or be killed

𝘈𝘯𝘢𝘺𝘢

Pushing Ma further behind me, I watch as Toby slowly enters the room. The single lightbulb that serves to illuminate the small room creates more shadows than light, for which I'm thankful. Standing behind the ajar door, we're easily concealed in the shadows.

As Toby steps into the room to turn the light on, I take a step forward, my heart pounding in anticipation.

Now or never.

Stepping out from behind the door, I raise my left hand—the one holding the knife—before lunging forward to jump onto Toby's back.

"Don't," I order, pressing the blade against his neck in warning. His hand stops reaching for the gun in the band of his jeans, and despite the chaos taking place upstairs, the room we're in is engulfed in silence. "Ma, take his gun."

"Wh—"

"—Ma, please. I won't let him do anything to you. We need the gun to get out of here."

I can hear her footsteps approaching before I sense her in my peripheral. With one arm wrapped around his neck and the other centimeters away from piercing his skin open, I doubt he'll do anything. I watch Ma look up at us warily before gingerly taking the gun. She takes a huge step back, looking at me with her eyes wide.

"Stand outside the room," I say. Toby grunts and attempts to wiggle out of my grip, but I press the knife harder against his neck, feeling the blade pierce his skin. "I will kill you, so don't test me." I seethe, my voice low and dripping with venom.

Toby doesn't take well to the threat and various expletives tumble out of his mouth as he runs backward so that I collide against the exposed cement wall. Sparks of pain erupt throughout my back—my spine screaming for me to get out of this unfavorable position between a man twice my size and the wall. He rams me against the wall again, and despite my best effort, my grip around his neck falls and I'm sliding down the wall, my knife clattering against the floor before it finally slides and hits the marble statue that's standing in the corner of the room.

My gaze barely remains on my lost weapon before I push myself to stand up. The pain I felt is no longer a thing of the present, adrenaline coursing through my body and providing to be a barrier between my mind and pain receptors.

Toby comes barreling towards me with a deep scowl and baring his teeth. Sliding to the side, I step away from the wall and spin on my heels just as he twists his body to face me. I kick him behind his shin, causing him to lose his balance and fall.

I take a step back, my eyes never leaving Toby's as I figure out what to do next. I need to either go and get the knife that's lying on the floor a few feet behind me, or I need Ma to throw the gun in her hand. Neither are viable options, so I guess I'm left with using my hands as weapons for the time being.

Just as Toby pushes himself off the ground, I push him back down, the base of my boot colliding against his sternum. But he grabs my foot and pulls me down with him, a pained grunt leaving my mouth as my other knee smacks into the concrete floor. Holding my weight on my arms so that I can bring my foot from underneath me, I strike him in the jaw so that he lets go of my other foot and scramble to my feet.

I tear my gaze from him and look up at Ma, who's hiding on the other side of the concrete wall that's next to the doorway, her face being the only thing that's visible, before looking at Toby who's pissed than I've ever seen.

A guttural yell comes from him before he takes a swing, narrowly missing me as I bend down. He takes another step forward, thinking that he's going to try and punch me again, I get ready to dodge it, but he takes me by surprise and kicks me instead. Stumbling backward into the wall, my chest is heaving as I try and regain the air that was blown out of me by his kick. In seconds, he has my knife in his hand and has me cornered.