Kiss me if you dare [ENGLISH]

Chapter 15

No one opened the door despite several minutes of silence. Therefore, without further thought, Fleur acted and pushed down the handle. The door slid open silently, and she peeked cautiously into the living room. "Hello?"

The question hung in the air, and the deeper she ventured into the apartment, the louder the muffled sound of a vinyl record playing became. The band was unknown, although her father had introduced her to one or two old artists when she was a child. Memories took her back to a time she had tried to forget.

The song ended just as she found Mella absorbed in sorting clothes in the bedroom.

"Mella?" she tried, and this time, Mella reacted to her voice.

Fleur stayed where she was, and the expression on Mella's face lacked any human features when she turned to face her. She might as well have been staring into the walnut-shaped eyes of a porcelain doll. But before Fleur knew it, Mella changed, and the moment was over.

"What are you doing here? Are you okay?" Mella seemed to switch between confusion and sympathy as she put down what she was doing and approached. "I'm sorry; I meant to contact you after everything, but it's just been... quite tough."

Fleur ignored her attempt at an apology and tilted her head slightly to catch a glimpse of the suitcases on the bed. "Are you packing?"

Mella sighed wearily. "Yes. I think I need to get away for a while."

"You haven't..." Fleur began but then let the words die on her tongue.

"It's just you and me who knows what happened to Urban. You can trust me. I won't ruin your life."

Fleur observed her for a while in silence and wondered about the forced calm.

Mella straightened her shirt and then placed a hand on Fleur's shoulder. "I've completely forgotten to thank you. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along."

The weight of her fingers for some reason no longer gave her the same reassurance as her touch used to, and she shook it off.

It happened quickly, but not fast enough for her to register the glimmering light reflected in the lamp's glow. In normal circumstances, it wouldn't have interested her much, but she recognized the small piece of jewelry everywhere. It was custom-made—expensive and exclusive. There wasn't a single ring like it.

She reached for Mella's hand faster than lightning to make sure it wasn't just her imagination. "How did you get this?"

Fleur felt her breath catch, and she involuntarily took a step back. The brown eyes darted between the sight of the ring, which was slightly too big for her ring finger, and the ice-blue eyes.

A semblance of a smile finally appeared on Mella's face, and she waved off the question. "How do you think I got it?"

A thousand thoughts raced through her mind, causing such a tremendous headache that she had to physically shake it off. A shiver ran up her spine, settling in every cell, and instilling fear in her body.

She glanced desperately around, searching for any objects that might buy her more time.

The hand-painted vase on the table was tempting to reach for, but her thoughts didn't progress beyond that before Mella was in front of her, pushing her against the table, and leaning over her with a satisfied grin.

She tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "Surprised?" Her voice was velvety, almost sensual.

Fleur refused to meet her gaze. She was aware that she exuded fear. Mella was so close now that she could feel her breath against her skin. The body heat generated through the fabric had once excited her, but it now had the opposite effect and gave her goosebumps. She tasted nothing but disgust in her mouth and closed her eyes, waiting for the moment to be over as quickly as possible.

Mella let out a short laugh that reminded Fleur of their first meeting and how naive she had been. Had she murdered him before or after their conversation? Fleur wanted to vomit. How could she have been so stupid? She should have listened to Gabriel from the beginning.

"Fleur..." The words formed in a frustrated exhalation, and it got worse when cold fingertips brushed against her jaw. "I don't want to hurt you," she purred as her thumb moved in circles around her carotid artery—softly but threatening enough that Fleur could feel death creeping closer with each passing second. If she wanted to, Mella could strangle her here and now and take her life within a minute. The wait was unbearable.

Everything Fleur thought she knew about Mella - if that was even her real name, was a massive lie. Had Urban hired her? It seemed reasonable, given their absurd conversation a few weeks ago.

Fleur had kept her eyes closed up to now, but when she glanced to the side, she had gathered enough courage to utter a few words. "Why?" she managed between uneven breaths.

The stranger's response to the question was a casual shrug, despite Fleur not knowing what she had expected. Assassins probably carried out their deeds without empathy. Who knows what had attracted her; money, information?

But the worst part was not that she had played with her all this time but also manipulated her into killing a person - for whatever purpose was entirely irrelevant. Just the thought that she had saved the life of her father's murderer made her want to be obliterated.

The stranger wasted no more time getting control and backed off after a while. The immediate space brought Fleur back to the present, and she regarded her suspiciously.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm quite busy."

She turned her back on her as if nothing had happened and went back into the bedroom to continue sorting. Fleur found it difficult to keep up with her rapid movements, and a part of her considered grabbing the flower vase and attacking her again, but all she could manage was to leave now that she had the chance.

Without wasting a second longer in the kitchen, she went straight to the hallway and out into the stairwell. Only then did she start running breathlessly.

The minutes merged into a jumble of different time spans as she made her way through the winding streets between the high-rise buildings. Right as it stood, Gabriel's house appeared in front of her. It didn't matter even though she had tried to avoid him for the past few weeks. Now his simple home happened to be her only safe point.

A pile of leaves displaying all sorts of beautiful autumn colors was piled up by the stairs, and a solitary bird peered down at the lawn as she finally decided to knock on the door. For safety's sake, she looked around in case her father's murderer had been shadowing her and breathed a sigh of relief when there was no sign of anyone nearby.

Gabriel was quicker to open the door than she had expected, and the moment their eyes met, they shared the unspoken fear that hung fragilely in the air.

Her trembling fingers automatically reached for his.

"Help me..."