Crimes of Passion (#Wattys2017)

Chapter 8

Ariana's POV: I eventually just laid on the ground as Wolfgang continued torturing Ray. I showed little emotion at this point. "I guess I'll have to go with plan B." Wolfgang said. He walked towards me and grabbed my hair. "Ow ow ow I'm saying ow." I calmly said as he pulled me up, making me nearly trip over the shackles. That's when he pointed a gun at my head. "Tell me where the fulcrum is Ray, or I shoot your wife." He said. Ray's eyes widened. "No! Let her go! She's of no use to you!" Ray yelled, once again trying to break free. "He's right you know. You shouldn't kill me." I said. Wolfgang looked at me. "And why the hell not?"

"If you truly think I know about this fulcrum thingy, don't you think killing me would just lead to you never getting your answer?" I asked. I knew Wolfgang was stumped. He just smirked, rolled his eyes, and shook his head. Then he punched me in the stomach. I doubled over, pain coursing through my stomach. I held my breath for a couple seconds before it went away. Not for long though, since Wolfgang punched my chin, making my body jolt back upright. Wolfgang then hit me in the head with the but of his pistol, making my head lean backward. I slowly brought my head back and smiled at him. I could feel the blood trickling down my face. "That all you got?" I asked, eyebrow raised.

He was getting angry. Suddenly, he slammed me down onto the floor, my face hitting the hard concrete. I felt my nose break as a result. Wolfgang walked back over to Raymond, who was furious. He just looked at me, worried about my safety. I slowly sat up and reset my nose, the crack from doing so making the man closest to me cringe.

"I can't do this right now. I need a break. C'mon guys." Wolfgang said. "Wait, shouldn't one of us stay here to guard them?" One of the men asked. "Nah. They can't do anything." Wolfgang said before they all left.

"Ariana." Raymond called. "Yeah?" I answered. "About the Katarina thing—" "Well talk about that later." I cut him off. "I'm sorry I got you pulled into this." He said. "It wasn't your fault. I came looking for you. I got myself involved. It's just the price I have to pay for being your wife." I said, smiling. Raymond chuckled. I noticed him moving his arms an awful lot behind the chair.

Then he broke free and slid me a lock pick as he worked on getting his legs untied from the chair. "Sneaky." I said as I picked the handcuffs. When Ray and myself got our legs free we ran and embraced each other. He stroked my hair as I tightly held onto him. "Thank god you're ok." He whispered into my ear. "Well my nose is broken but other than that I'm fine." I chuckled.

We heard voices coming from one side of the room. The one mistake Wolfgang's goons made was leaving my gun in the room. I quickly grabbed it and tossed it to Ray before pulling the one out of my bra. "What even." Ray chuckled. "What? People don't check there." I said, taking aim.

Wolfgang's goons came in and started shooting. Luckily, we picked them off pretty easily. I let out a sigh of relief. But I still had one goal: kill Wolfgang. "C'mon, let's go." Ray said, going to grab my arm. "Hold on." I said, "Wolfgang can't be far behind."

That's when a gunshot went off and I heard a thud. "You were right honey." I heard from behind. I quickly spun around and saw Wolfgang. Raymond laid at my feet, a bullet in his chest, and blood pouring out. "Raymond!" I yelled, quickly crouching down next to him. "Ari—" he choked out. I grabbed his hand. Wolfgang approached, gun pointed at me.

"I must say I'm impressed you managed to escape," he started, "but that doesn't mean I can let you off easy. You see, I wanted one thing from Reddington here. And I promised him if I didn't get it I'd kill you, then him. And I don't break my promises."

Rage overtook me. I let out a scream of anger and lunged at Wolfgang, knocking him down. I repeatedly punched his face, blood flying everywhere, teeth being knocked out, eyes quickly bruising. I wanted him to suffer, so I strangled him. Didn't kill him that way though, but strangled him just enough so that he couldn't fully breathe. Then I stood up and grabbed my gun. "Fuck off." I said before shooting him in the skull.

Dembe came running in, gun pointed in case anyone else came out. "Dembe! We have to get Raymond out of here!" I yelled. He picked up the now unconscious Ray and loaded him into the car before driving to the warehouse...