chapter sixteen.
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WANG'S DEADLY GRIN seemed to glow in the dark.
Nix reacted and threw his knife with lightning speed, but somehow, Wang was faster. He stepped aside, allowing the deadly weapon to fly past him into the dark hallway. He raised his gun at them in response.
Wang grinned, "Nix. Is that how you greet an old colleague?"
"Usually I don't miss," Nix replied curtly.
Wang laughed and let out a sigh of satisfaction, "I forgot how funny you were." His gaze darted to the shadow of a girl hiding behind Nix and those manic eyes glowed with glee, "Is that what you came for? Oh, I have much better options for you, boy."
Nix clenched his jaw and stared at Wang with a glare sharper than any knife he had ever wielded. He gripped Adelaide's wrist even though she flinched, and began backing them down the hallway.
"If you wanted an invitation to the event, you could have just asked. You didn't have to kill all these men. Or Duncan, when you sunk that first shipment," Wang shrugged. "No matter. I didn't really like him anyway."
His eyes smiled like Death.
"You know Dino wants your head right? I ought to deliver."
Nix stiffened as he gripped Adelaide's hand tighter. Selene noted the girl's discomfort.
"I think he wants to torture you or something," he waved his free hand as he paced back and forth.
Wang laughed again, the sound echoed against the marble walls. "Fortunately, I am not Dino and I certainly don't have to answer to a blockhead like him. You are of no value to me, so how about this?" He pursed his lips and stopped pacing. "I'll let you and that pretty little thing go, but she stays." He cut his gaze to Selene, acknowledging her for the first time.
Selene's hair stood on end. She had forgotten how deeply unsettling his stare was. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was hide.
"You pick, boy," Wang said, dancing the aim of his gun between Adelaide and Selene.
Nix clenched his teeth, his eyes darting to Selene's frozen form. She hated how he looked at her then, as if he owed her some kind of mercy.
She reached for her gun, but Wang shook his head and tsked, "Ah-ah, no sudden movements. Don't make me shoot. Pretty boy hasn't made up his mind yet."
"Why are you doing this, Wang?" Selene let out. "What the fuck do you want with me?"
He smiled with all his crooked teeth, "So many things, darling. Don't worry yourself about it." He nodded at Nix, "Well? Which is it? Quick before I get impatient."
"Why not me?" Nix finally spoke. "Let them go and you can have me. I'm sure Dino will reward you for it."
No, Selene wanted to scream. Adelaide lifted her head up to stare at her brother.
Wang made a face of disgust. "I couldn't give less of a shit what Dino wants. That idiot is on a swift decline thanks to both of your betrayals. I wouldn't be surprised if his own bodyguard kills him in his sleep tonight." He laughed. "So no, I don't want you. I want her."
Selene had long predicted Dino's diminishing grasp on power, but at that moment, she felt no joy for his approaching demise. All she could think about was how Wang's desperate possession for her terrified her in a way she had never felt before.
Nix stared at the cruel man, silent and vindictive.
Selene couldn't stand the blankness in Nix's face. It was a blankness of frozen indecisiveness, hiding the painful choice they both knew was to be made. She weighed her options only to realize there wasn't really an option.
"Nicholas," she said, her voice wavering slightly. "Take her and go."
"No," he ground out. "Don't be fucking stupid."
"Everything about this is stupid," she snapped. "Being stupid is what got me here in the first place, so just leave the stupid with me and shut the fuck up and go."
He didn't reply. His eyes continued to dart between her and Wang, overtaken by his desperate calculations for escape. There was nothing left to calculate.
"Go."
He shook his head.
"Go, Nicholas," she repeated, angry this time. "Just fucking go."
He kept shaking his head, and it made her want to shoot something.
Wasn't this why they had brought her here in the first place? To be used as a sacrifice? A threat? A trade? She had no real connection to these people, to this girl she had just met. He didn't owe her anything, so why was he being so fucking stupid?
So she raised her gun and pointed it at Adelaide. "Just listen to me and get the fuck out of here!" she practically screamed.
She watched Nix flinch. She watched him step protectively in front of his sister and back away, Adelaide's hand tucked in his.
Wang began to laugh, and the sheer insanity of it almost knocked Selene to her knees. She felt the bile rise in her throat as she watched Nix retreat. He caught her eye, some kind of sorrowful apology hidden in that darkness.
And then he disappeared from her field of vision.
He left.
What a crushing feeling it was, to be left behind. It tore everything inside her down, but every remaining breath and beat reminded her that she deserved this. It was finally her turn for ruin.
Wang grinned maliciously at her.
"Oh Selene, how I have missed you."