I grit my teeth. Couldn't Andrew stop her? Obviously not.
For fuck's sake.
I can't leave now. If somehow, both of the missions have a link, I need to know more. What if this USB key is useless? What if this isn't what I should be searching for? Or maybe what's in this key is more important than we thought.
The man is still watching me curiously and I blink, looking up at him.
"I think your wife is coming here," I state calmly.
He furrows his eyebrows, taking a step back from me. The doubt is back in his eyes and before he can say something, I continue.
"You thought I haven't noticed the ring on your finger?"
Slowly, he looks down at his hand and curses under his breath. At the same time, Andrew talks to me.
"I'm coming with Nova to help you."
My eyes widen the slightest and I clench my jaw, gritting my teeth. No! I want to scream at him. Is he stupid? Of course, he is, but I didn't think he would be so stupid to do something like that, with Nova in the equation.
Nothing is going as planned and I feel myself losing my patience. I feel disoriented, lost on what to do and I don't like it. I don't like it at all.
Ah, fuck it. I have nothing to lose, after all.
But they do. You can't risk anything that would make your partners lose something.
They already did risk everything!
I suddenly remember exactly why I always wanted to be alone.
In a quick move, I push the man on the bed behind him, watching his eyes widening in surprise. He falls on the bed and I straddle him, gripping his wrists tightly above his head.
"Listen, I already lost a lot of time," I say lowly, my voice threatening, gone the sweet act. "So I want something. And you're gonna tell me everything I need to kn—"
The door bursts open.
The wife appears, and she looks up, and her eyes widen, and she suddenly loses her smile, and she suddenly takes out a gun—
I jump, taking with me the man's hidden pistol and shoot towards the pissed-off woman. She dodges and I roll over until I reach the desk, hiding behind it. She keeps shooting like crazy and the sound of a window exploding before thousands of small pieces of glass fall on me makes me react. Seeing her reflection in one of the windows still intact, I take one last breath before I look at her and aim for her leg.
When I hear a high scream, I know she's hurt. I get out of my hidden place only to have the barrel of another gun against my temple.
I freeze, my pistol aimed towards the wife laying on the ground with a painful expression. Her weapon is out of her reach, but she still tries to get it, and when she will, two guns will be pointed in my direction.
I can't let that happen.
"I'll kill her if you don't let me go," I threaten, aiming for the woman's head.
"Not before I do," the man growls in my back. "Who are you? Who are you working for?"
From the corner of my eyes, I see my purse laying on the ground. My eyes go towards the woman again who's about to reach her gun.
"You're doing a huge mistake. I can easily disarm you," I say to the man with a roll of my eyes, and I'm about to do it when the woman suddenly raises the gun in her hand.
"Let me kill her now, baby," the woman mutters, glaring coldly at me.
I smirk, not controlling it.
"Do you know your husband is a cheating whore? I mean, he definitely prefers younger women—"
She pulls the trigger.
Unfortunately for her, she forgot how to properly aim.
I raise an eyebrow. "Too bad, I guess."
Gripping the gun against my temple, I twist my body and throw my elbow towards the man's face, hearing a satisfying crack and a muffled scream. I kick him in the stomach and he goes laying against the wall.
I suddenly hear more than a couple of shots being fired and I whirl around, to see that Nova and Andrew joined the party.
It was missing only that. Great.
I try to hold my anger when I see Nova. She'll hear me talk, you can trust me on it.
But losing focus for a damn second result of me being strangled with an arm around my neck, the blood dripping from the man's nose sticky against my hair. I wince and try to get away from his hold.
"I don't know who you are, or who your friends are, but I'll figure out," he murmurs angrily, tightening when he sees me gasp for air. "Or not."
"Not if I... kill you first," I retort, taking out my hidden knife after a few tries and plunging it in his arm.
Screaming, he releases me and I turn around, punching his already bloody face. I see from the corner of my eyes than a few men joined in, probably all working for... whoever they work for.
Great, join the party everyone! Blood and wounds guaranteed!
"Sophia!"
That voice was probably Nova's one and that annoys the shit out of me. Turning to face her with a clenched jaw, I don't see the man ready to kill me.
But he only smashes his gun against my cheek, hard enough to make me go to the floor. Well, that will leave a bruise.
Blinking, I see my purse not too far away from me. If I reach it, then we can leave the hell out of this place.
I start moving towards it, but the man definitely wasn't done with his gun. Gripping my hair, he twists my body towards him to make the final shot.
At least, I gave everything I could.
However, he suddenly lets out a scream, holding his side as he falls next to me. I look to my left to see that Brandon decided to join the party, too, entering the room.
"Sorry, I'm late," he shrugs a shoulder, containing his anger with a calm expression, but I can see just by the way he stands there, his whole body tensed, that he's definitely not calm.
Turning to face a man, he smiles. "Hello."
And he shoots him before anyone can even blink.
The war continues.
Sighing, I look around for my pistol. When I see it, I grab it and verify if it's good to use.
It's not long until Brandon reaches the middle of the room, ready to make the final shot to the last man who's still standing on his two feet. He pulls the trigger of his gun, but not bullets come out.
Glancing quickly at me, he raises his eyebrows. "May I?"
Realizing he's talking about my pistol, I roll my eyes and slides it towards him. "You may."
With a wink, he turns to face the man and shoots him, not to kill but to definitely hurt him, like most of the men in this room.
End of the party.
Or so I think.
A bunch of men bursts into the room a few seconds later, and I only begin to realize that damn, this room is very huge. The last thing I do before the following thing happens is to grab my purse with the USB key in it.
Then, I'm suddenly lifted up by Brandon who, with a strong hold around my waist, runs towards the window, grips the handle of the curtains and makes us jump through the window. I let out a surprised scream, the air whipping in my face as we fall, and fall... and suddenly we break another window, flying right through another bedroom.
My body hits the floor and I let out a muffled sound. The bruises will be numerous.
I feel a body shifting close to me and I slowly raise my head to see the empty bedroom. Then, I look at Brandon at my side. We're both laying on tons of pieces of glass and I carefully sit up.
"You're good?" Brandon asks, watching me worriedly as he sits up too.
I stand up next and he follows. Then, I explode.
"You left Nova up there? What the hell—"
I'm cut off when he simply cups my face in his hands, his eyes watching me with an intense emotion. I'm so shocked that I don't move. He finally just shakes his head and drops his hands, before turning around to leave the room.
"Stay here!"
I drop on my knees and lean against the wall, closing my eyes and taking deep breaths. I wipe off the sweat and blood of my forehead and sigh.
What the hell just happened?
*
I decided to stay in my dorm room at the agency.
Right now, I'm just sitting on the floor, my back against the wall, looking at my bruises and cuts on my arms. I took a shower to wash away the blood in my hair but even a hot shower and clean clothes don't make me feel better.
I feel like shit.
Since Brandon's return, with Nova as a great bonus, everything is different. In a bad way. I've never failed missions like that or felt that way in such a long time. I don't even know exactly what I feel, I can't describe it. I'm feeling nothing, I would like to say, but that nothing is something, somehow.
Groaning, I take my head in my hands, tired. I'm so confusing, Jesus.
Someone knocks at my door and I freeze.
Turning my head towards the door, I don't move from where I am and stare at it as if I could see who is behind. Rolling my eyes, I finally sigh.
"Come in," I say, thinking it's probably Mr. Neil.
What I don't expect though, is to see Brandon walking in my room.
He closes the door behind him and glances down at me. Taking a deep breath, I look away and shake my head.
"I'm not in the mood to talk, Brandon," I mutter, leaning my head against the wall.
After taking a look around him, which makes me remember that it's been four years since he's been here, he nods and walks towards me. I wonder if this room reminds him of the same things it reminds me. Probably not, after all. I shouldn't even remember myself. But just seeing him in my room right now makes the memories coming back.
Push them away, Sophia. You don't need them.
"I know," Brandon says, surprising me by sitting next to me on the floor, his back against the wall as well.
Giving him a quick look, I shake my head and decide to just ignore him. I don't know what he wants right now, but I'm really not in the mood. Now that I think about it, I haven't said anything to Nova after tonight. I held my anger back because I don't know what would have happened if I let it go all towards her. I haven't told the incident to Mr. Neil either.
The silence invades us, and somehow, I find peace in it. It's calm, it's not awkward, and it surprises me. Brandon's broad shoulders rise and fall with each slow breaths he takes, and I try not to notice how close he is of me at this moment. I don't dare to move away and just ignore him.
But I know Brandon didn't simply come into my room to stay quiet all the time. So I'm not surprised when he starts to speak again.
"I know what you're thinking," he says, not looking at me.
Blinking, I slowly glance towards him, tilting my head.
"Hmm. That's very interesting. Considering the fact that I don't even know myself what I'm thinking, so please, enlighten me."
I see a small smile appearing on his lips before it's gone, replaced by a blank expression.
"Somehow, you feel like what happened tonight is your fault," Brandon states in a calm voice.
I scoff, watching him in disbelief. "Oh, believe me when I say that it's not what I think at all."
"But?"
I open my mouth to talk, realizing that a but was indeed about to come out after my statement and I frown, wondering how he knew.
"But..." I sigh, closing my eyes. "It's just..."
When I open my eyes again, glancing in his direction, he's already looking at me, waiting patiently for me to keep going. Should I really say it? Opening up to him? Just like that?
I run a hand through my hair, letting out a breath.
"I'm the one who's supposed to make sure nothing wrong happens. And I failed. I always fail since you are back."
I muttered the last part, but I know Brandon heard it. He keeps his head towards me, leaning his cheek against the wall. I glance down at my hands.
"I don't want partners. I want to be alone. You know why?" I ask, not thinking that I already said enough. Somehow, it feels easy to say everything I want to say to Brandon. And that freaking annoys me, but I don't back off.
He shakes his head, waiting for me to continue, his blue eyes alive.
"Because I don't want to be responsible for someone else's death. I know, you're not dead after all but... me, I saw you died that night. I can just close my eyes and all I'll see is your dead body."
I pause, biting my lip. I'm angry with myself. I shouldn't say all these things. Dammit.
"Being alone is safer. The only thing I have to take care of is myself. I have nothing to give to anyone else, and nothing to receive either."
Brandon seems to be in deep thoughts, his eyes wandering around him, his jaw slightly clenched. I don't want him to find something to say about my big declaration, so I talk before he can.
However, what comes out of my mouth does not just surprise me, but Brandon, too.
"What you did tonight... you saved me first and not her. Why?"
Brandon gazes back at me, the same emotion I saw earlier tonight back in his eyes. It's quickly gone, though.
"Old habits, I guess," he simply murmurs, smiling softly.
Taking a shaky breath, I turn my head so he doesn't see how his words affect me in a way it shouldn't.
"You should stay away from me," I conclude in a whisper.
And I mean it.
*
Another update! WHO'S HAPPY?
*nobody* Ah, okay. Um, I'll just, you know... yeah.
If you're a fan of SAMB (my other book), you'll probably be happy for what is coming... *wink wink* yep, a sequel is almost there, my friends. ♥️
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