C H A P T E R T H I R T Y S E V E N
There are a million ways Ace could kill me.
He could wait until I'm sleeping and then suffocate me with the fluffiest pillow.
He could overdose me on tranquillisers and let me slip away peacefully.
He could shoot me in the head, gruesome and painful but fast.
But that wasn't Ace. He enjoyed the chase. The fight before the death. The threats and fear that roll in before he takes the lives of victims. And so did I.
"Just give up Red, I'm not letting you walk out that door alive." He was breathless, clearly in pain and completely physically destroyed.
"I could go for a few more hours." I shrugged.
But I couldn't. I was exhausted, mentally and physically. Fighting against Aces strength was tiring me out and sooner or later, this was a battle that I was going to loose. The end of Gabriella, Willa, Red, whoever the fuck I was.
His house was completely trashed, shot up, punched through. The once perfect holiday card scene would now cause trauma to Santa and all of his elves.
Ace landed a blow to my abdomen with his foot, I flew backwards and banged myself against his fridge but it put me in the perfect position because my rifle was at my feet. I picked it up, pulled back the barrel and counted to three before standing up and coming face to face with Ace, who also had a rifle pointed at me.
Silence followed, nothing but the sound of his heavy breathing colliding with mine.
His eyes were glossy and pained, they didn't leave mine. They didn't even look at the gun, we just looked at one another.
Shoot him before he shoots you Gabriella.
My finger pressed the trigger, applying pressure. Willing myself to push it down completely and let my bullet do the work.
Shoot him! Shoot him before he shoots you!
"You know too much." He spoke and although he spoke out loud I think he was talking to himself, reminding himself of why he needed to shoot me. "Fuck!" He shouted, making me jump. "Why did you have to come here Red?"
"To kill you, you killed my whole family." I answered honestly.
He sighed and with regret he lowered his gun. "Then kill me, but first promise me you'll leave her out of this. You won't tell anyone she exists, you won't tell what is left of your family. Just leave her alone to live her life. She's not part of this world, our world."
"You love her." I pointed out. His weakness was right here at my finger tips, the perfect leverage for Nikolai too.
"With my entire fucking heart." He sighed out, regretfully. I felt the emotion in his voice, I could see it on his face.
"Ace-" I lowered my gun and stepped closer to him, gently I cupped his cheek and he leaned into my touch. Only lightly because any added pressure would have hurt like a bitch.
He grabbed me and wrapped his arms around me tightly, taking what he needed in that moment. Simple comfort.
"Everything is falling apart Red, I'm scared." He whispered into my hair, his voice broken and vulnerable. "She's the most important person in my life and all of these people are after her."
Was I one of them?
Yes.
No.
Maybe.
I was a leader now, I had a job to do.
"I can help protect her." I offered, without fully thinking my offer through.
What was I saying? My loyalty lay with my family. Ace was the enemy, why would I protect his daughter when I could I kidnap her and use her as leverage. She was his weakness.
"You're a Valentino and I killed your whole family." He answered, already knowing for himself what that meant. "I can't trust you." He walked away from me and sat himself down on a kitchen chair, bowing his head and rubbing his temples.
"But I also just had a major opportunity to kill you and I didn't take it. I see her importance to you, I will kill you but spare her life. You saved me, let me protect her."
Thoughts plagued his mind and he was torn. "I'm so fucking stressed." He blurted out, feeling completely irritated.
"You want a dance?" I half-joked, knowing lap-dances de-stress him.
He looked at me slowly.
"I want -" he paused. "I want to know she's safe for today. Just give me one day Red, one day to sort everything out."
"One day to figure out how you're going to kill me?" I smiled.
"Just one day, no weapons, no fighting and your word that she's safe."
"You want me to just hand over all of my weapons?" I gripped my gun tighter in case he tried to grab it. "No, I'm not doing that. I don't trust you."
"Well, I don't trust you to keep them." I rolled my eyes. "Not around my daughter." I sighed.
"Fine." One at a time I disarmed myself, placing everything I had on the table in front of him. He took them all into his hands and then stood up.
"And your phone." He raised his eyebrows at me. Reluctantly, I handed it over. "I'm locking them in the vault, it's where mine are kept. I don't have any hidden around the house." He held his hand out for me to take and I looked at it strangely. "It's late, let's sleep for a few hours and then figure things out."
My heart started beating rapidly inside my chest and fear flashed through my eyes. I couldn't be that vulnerable around him. Sleeping defencelessly, open to nightmares. Slowly, he assessed my reaction.
"I'm not going to slit your throat with my daughter sleeping in the next room." But the nightmares. "I already know." He said matter of factually. "I know my dad gave you ptsd, I've seen your nightmares."
I reached forward to grab my gun out of his hand so I could shoot him right between his eyes. But he pulled it back.
"Ah, ah!" He pulled it out of my reach. "God Red, you know about my daughter. I think you've got the head start on the weakness battles here. Let's go to bed." He pulled me up from the seat and guided me upstairs.
We entered a master bedroom, it wasn't huge but still big enough for a king-sized bed. His decor was neutral and warm, not at all showy. It suited the whole theme of this whimsical house. I watched him study the bookcase and then he pulled back a book and released a hidden doorway.
"Open the door Gracie" he said softly into a speaker. He glanced at me with worry before turning back and adding the words "it's safe."
It took a few seconds but two big metal doors opened, one opening vertically - the other horizontally. A little girl stepped out.
A beautiful little girl in pink ballerina pyjamas and a tatty bunny rabbit teddy clutched tightly in her hands. Her blue eyes floated to me before landing back on Ace.
"Gracie, this is my friend ... uh" he looked at me with no clue who to introduce me as.
"Gabriella." I decided upon.
Her finger trailed the length of his face, brushing over all the cuts and bruises I caused.
"She hurt you daddy." Her small voice pointed out.
"Yeah." He answered softly, then looked back at me with regret. "And I hurt her." He looked back at the child. "We shouldn't have done that. You don't hurt the people you care about."
"Gabriella." She commented thoughtfully, looking at me. "Like from high school musical?" Ace smiled at me.
"I don't know, maybe, is she a bad ass bitch?" His smile fell and Gracie giggled into her bunny.
"We don't cuss." Ace said sternly.
"Oh shit!" I replied on impulse. "Fuck! Shit! Sorry." Right now I was pretty sure he was rethinking his whole 'one day of no fighting, no weapons rule.'
"C'mon Gracie, let me put you to bed. It's really late. You stay here." He pointed at me and then walked out with his daughter.
I investigated his panic room. Made completely from thick iron, bullet proof, sound proof, impenetrable.
Inside was made up with home comforts a little girl would want. Toys, clothes, food, a bed. There was an intercom system which is what Ace used to talk to her and a single button, I pressed it and the doors started closing. I pressed it again and the doors started opening.
There were two metal inner doors that appeared like they could only be opened from the inside. Then the outer doors, which looked like a bookshelf, could be opened from inside or outside.
So, it begged the question, how did Gracie get in?
I pressed the button, counting how long it took before the doors sealed closed completely. Ten seconds. Huh, not bad. I knocked on the metal around the room trying to find an escape latch or a hidden weapon cupboard but nothing sounded hollow. It was completely enclosed.
I pressed the button again, ten seconds to reopen. Ace was on the other side of the door with his arms folded across his chest and a serious expression on his face.
"Are you done playing?" He asked with irritation.
"I wasn't playing, I was assessing." I answered straightly.
"Why are you assessing the mechanics of this room?"
"So I can get in and kill you if you've trapped yourself inside, equally I can get out if you trap me inside. Knowing it and understanding it gives me a huge power over you."
"That doesn't make me feel good Red." He pulled his clothes off and climbed into bed. I followed suit.
He lay looking at me for a while, searching the depths of my eyes. Then he reached out and skimmed his fingers over the big cut to my head, looking guilty.
"I can't believe you have a daughter." I whispered.
"I can't believe I haven't killed you yet." He whispered back.