𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐄

ᴇɪɢʜᴛ

Rayne grabbed her car keys as she passed the kitchen on the way to Rueben's office. On this side of the house, she did not need to be as quiet. Pulling open the drawer, she took his emergency gun out and checked its contents, making sure the bullets were accounted for and that the gun wasn't jammed.

Tucking it underneath her sweater, she palmed the desk in front of her.

She closed her eyes tightly and inhaled.

Exhaled.

Inhaled.

For a second, cold tears threatened to escape her eyes, but she wouldn't allow it. All her life, all she wanted to do was be with her family – that being Matteo. But in each and every memory she has of him, some other man has taken that from her. Whether it was her father, or her sorry excuse for an older brother, it didn't matter.

All she knew was that she was done letting men walk all over her – biological family or not.

God—

Woe is me.

She pulled herself from the room and walked down the hall, slipping out the front door the moment she reached it. Slapping her hoodie up and on the back of her head, she ran down the wet steps fast, wanting to get out of the vicinity of her boyfriend as quickly as possible. She knew that if he was to stop her right now, she would listen to him.

He had always been her voice of reason – for months now.

But for once in her life, she just wanted to choose the reckless option.

"Miss Miller?" a voice in front of her halted her.

Rayne looked up and through the rain spillage. Kaiser was standing in front of her with curiosity on his face; his brown hair was becoming matted to his forehead, as he was wearing his standard uniform – a suit and a wire; no hood added.

"Yes?" she replied.

"Where are you going?"

"To work," she shrugged, "I have things to take care of."

"Oh, okay," he straightened up, "I shall follow you then."

She felt the water drip off the sleeves of her jacket; each one chilled her core even more. If she was going to carry out this confrontation plan of hers, she needed to do it solo. After spending a few moments with her brother, she knew that he was like a chicken – scared easy, and although flightless, would do all he could to escape a dire situation.

"It's fine," she said sweetly, "I'm just going to grab some papers, and then I'll be coming back."

"Okay – I will still accompany you."

"I don't need you to."

Kaiser frowned again, "If it's not that serious, I can just ask Mr. Torres for permission to stay here—"

"No!" she yelled.

As he was talking, he was beginning to take steps toward the house; that stopped the moment he heard the anger in her voice. Now, he was walking toward her. She closed her eyes and breathed through her nose, albeit, a little too heavily for her own liking.

It was needed for a few seconds – if she was going to lie her way through this.

"Miss Miller, is something the matter?" Kaiser asked, grazing her shoulder with his hand.

She flinched away from his touch, taking a couple of steps toward the side. His overbearing sense of protection and his desire to show up to work an hour early was really pissing her off, but she knew in the back of her mind that all of her feelings were being displaced. She did not want to take it out on him, as he had nothing to do with this, but the longer he continued to pester her, the longer she knew that she would not be able to keep the lid on her emotions.