A malicious grin graces my lips as I allow my final opponent the brief satisfaction of catching me off guard, using his arrogance against him by turning around to grab his wrist in that small brief window of time, I twist his wrist in the opposite direction of how his wrist should bend causing him to drop his weapon from the pain.
With his eyes following the drop of his gun and his knees slightly bent, I use my foot to kick him down placing him at my mercy, taking the gun for my use. My finger slowly pulls back the trigger, my heart speeds up in excitement as I watch his eyes widen in fear, realising that he is going to die.
And I pull the trigger.
A loud click to my right has me turning my head just in time to look at the once-locked double doors swing open. Dropping the gun in my hand, I hesitantly try to wipe off the blood smears on my arms on the back of my dress as everyone in the reception room stares at the scene before them.
Shit.
"Oh god," Eugene exclaims rushing into the ballroom, eyeing the bodies littering the floor in passing before grasping me by my upper arms."发生什么事啊?(What happened?)"
My mouth opens and closes as though I'm speaking but no words come out. I don't know what to say. What can I say? Unseeingly scanning the faces of the crowd over Eugene's shoulder, my heart skips a beat when a pair of stormy grey eyes meet mine and I hold his gaze as I try to make sense of what just happened.
Tearing my eyes away from him, I turn my gaze to the space between Eugene and me as he continues to soundlessly question me. From the slight widening of his eyes and his partially opened mouth, I can tell despite his emotionless mask that he's shocked.
"我们要现在走(We must leave now)," Eugene states firmly breaking me out of my guilt, releasing one of my arms to tug me out of the ballroom by a side exit that happens to be a fire escape route.
All at once when we disappear the horrified screaming and panicked shouts for order start. I grimace at the horrendous sound that echoes through the fire escape stairwell along with the quick clicks and clacks of our shoes against the concrete floor.
"Get the car ready," Eugene orders sternly into his cell phone which is pressed against his ear. "Tell my father to come to my residence. Both Alastora Ootori and I arrive there in fifteen minutes. Get Ah Buo to give me green lights all the way. We have trouble."
Moving out of the fire escape after a few floors, Eugene pulls me over to a bank of elevators where we enter the first empty one that opens its doors. Taking off his jacket, he drapes it over my shoulders, and while he's at it he pulls the clip holding my hair to the side out and shaggy dogs my hair out to give me a messed up look.
Draping his arm over my shoulder to pull me close to him, I am too shocked to protest so I end up following his lead by leaning my head against his shoulder as if I'm sleepy, and the elevator doors slide open. We walk smoothly past running paramedics and policemen who pay us no mind as we make our way to the waiting car.
Seating me in the back seat first, Eugene rounds the boot of the car to get into the other side of the car. Immediately the driver takes off, driving smoothly on the street without stopping, The silence between Eugene and me is tense but I do nothing to lighten the atmosphere.
Logans proved my theory right that he was the one who gave Alexander the pictures and having Eugene here to be my getaway option knowing that I wouldn't go to Alexander since Logans must have known I haven't told him my past...it easily makes it look like I've been cheating on Alexander all this time...the price on me was just a necessary distraction to get me jumpy and nervous... the kidnapping attempt on me in Seattle just made Alexander curious about me...and by having him see me covered in blood and surrounded by dead bodies...I can't even begin to think what's going through Alexander's mind right now.
The tyres of the car screech to a stop in front of a large three-storey mansion that is lit up by the lights inside. Grabbing my hand, Eugene tugs me out of the vehicle and into his home. Neither of us bothers to take off our shoes when we enter and it takes less than three minutes for us to scale the large grand staircase to get to the second floor where we stride into a study room at the end of a hallway lined with doors.
It was all one big trap...
"小蝴蝶! (Little Butterfly!)" Mr Lee exclaims worriedly as he stands from his seat behind the desk that lies before a large stained glass window. "发生什么事啊! 谁弄你流血? (What happened? Who made you bleed?)"
He did all of this just to play with me.
"That's the thing, Dad," Eugene states, gently seating me in one of the two plushy leather seats opposite the desk. "She's not bleeding. She's not even sweating."
"你杀了人? (You killed someone?)" Mr Lee asks me gravely, circling the desk to sit on the chair beside me. "小蝴蝶...快说吖...(Little Butterfly...hurry and say.)"
The low conversation between father and son that follows his words is thick with anticipation as Mr Lee half listens to his son while searching my face for a reaction to what his son is saying. My mind produces this blackout noise that blocks out the noise before me, allowing me to escape from the horrible reality of what's just happened in the last forty minutes.
"Hey, come on," Eugene's voice coaxes gently breaking me out of my space as his hand rests gently on my bare blood spotted shoulder. "Let's get you washed up. We can talk about what happened tomorrow. Dad and I will sort out the things with the police."
Giving him a small grateful smile, I allow him to take me out of the study room and into one of the rooms on the other side of the building. We pass by some of his men who stop in their tracks when they see us walk past them, some doing double takes when they see their boss with a woman on his arm.
The yellow light-lit bedroom that he settles me into is large and spacious with a capacious grand bathroom that is joined to the room by a door. The bed is a large mahogany-framed bedroom with sheer pink drapes held to the bedposts by thin silk strings.
"This was my room..." I whisper, looking around. "The bed was smaller back then...aren't we in your mansion?"
"Yeah...about that...Dad made me add a room similar to yours at his mansion though he was the one who kept upgrading it according to your age in case you ever came back," Eugene replies, taking out a stack of fluffy towels, a purple set of underwear and a large grey shirt from a closet to the side of the bed. "I think you'd rather wear my old shirt instead of the sheer nightgown in here."
"Thanks," I mumble, taking the items from him. "I-"
"No," Eugene shakes his head gently, holding his palm up in front of my face to stop me from speaking. "Tomorrow. We speak tomorrow. I want you to wash up and relax a little. You're in shock."
With a kiss on my forehead, Eugene tells me that his room is at the end of the hall in case I need him. Leaving me in the room, I immediately head towards the bathroom where I place the clothes and towels on the closed toilet seat so that I can fill the bowl-shaped tub that is dug in the ground in the middle of the bathroom with the jasmine soap and warm water.
Settling into the warm water, sinking into the water up to my neck. The steam from the water distracts me from the dissipating particles of dried blood in the slightly bubbly water. As the water turns slightly stained, I grab the body brush sitting next to the soap dispenser and with a hefty amount of soap lathered on, I scrub every inch of my skin raw.
Once I am satisfied the remnants of the night have been washed off my body, I step out of the water to dry and dress, leaving out the bra since I intend to fall asleep once I lie down. I struggle with the contact lenses for a bit but eventually, I get them out. Laying on the bed with my wet hair soaking into the pillow beneath my head, the lights are switched off and the moonlight casting shadows of the trees outside the high windows mirroring how I feel on the inside, I lay on the soft bed with a soft flop.
Hours pass and I begin to feel restless as I begin to see the more in-depth picture of the build-up of Cater Logans' trap from two nights before till tonight, I note the obvious signs that I should have noticed if I wasn't so distracted by the affirmation of my feelings for Alexander.
"How much more stupid could you get?" I whisper to myself, my voice cracking at the end, as I press the heels of my hands into my eyes, seeing stars. "It was so obvious yet you let him play with you."
With another hour passed by, I got off of my bed and made my way down the dark hall to Eugene's room. The door creaks softly as I push my way in, the large breathing mound under the covers tells me that it is late and that Eugene has long since gone to sleep.
"Eugene...I can't sleep," I whisper to him as I shake his shoulder gently. "My mind is too full."
Leaning up from his pillow, Eugene sighs softly before patting the space in front of him, indicating that I should get in. Under the covers, he slips his arm under my neck, cuddling me to him as he hums a soft tune which slowly lulls me into a light sleep.