After seeing the true identities of Fatimah and Fener, Pamela had told herself that her heart couldn't withstand any more shocks, she had told herself that anything that happened again wasn't going to shake her because she had gone beyond the limit and had passed breaking point. She had told herself that her neurons had died and that they wouldn't be excited enough to reach threshold frequency to make her adrenaline pump and her heart broken.
How wrong she'd been.
Tears of disappointment and shock ran unabashedly down her face. She looked up at him and told herself that she was dreaming, that she was imagining things; that she was in a trance, or perhaps - and this was the most accurate - that she had died from starvation and had gone to hell because hell was the only place something as terrible as the situation before her could happen.
"How? W-why?" speaking was with great effort.
He shrugged noncommittally. "I owe you no explanation, my love."
His nonchalant reply got on Pamela's nerves. How could he be like this? Was this a joke? Were they in a movie scene? She scanned the room. Perhaps there were hidden cameras and she was on a movie site that she had no idea about. That was about the best explanation she had, and if it was, she had to give it to the man standing before her; he was a pretty good actor.
"I don't understand all of this. How can you be Bull? Of all things, of all people, you had to be Bull? Is this some kind of a prank?"
"No, Pamela, and you don't have to understand anything. I have no business with you, well, not exactly. Fener does."
"Yes sir." Said Fener. "If she died without a child, then the money can go back to its source. Me."
Bull smiled at her and it made her feel sick. "Happy now?"
"You lied to me," Pamela said, anger burning hot in her and her heartbreaking simultaneously. "You told me you loved me, that you would be there for me."
"And it turned out that I don't and I wouldn't." He sighed dramatically when he saw she was still crying. "Don't cry..." he bent to wipe her tears but she ducked his hands and he straightened. "This is not the time for tears honey. You'll have enough reasons to shed them."
"Told ya." Fatimah chipped in.
"How is this even possible?" She was still trying so hard to come to terms with it. Her heart was not broken, no, it was shattered beyond repair, shattered into a tiny million crystal pieces that could never be put together.
He grinned at her. "You'll understand soon enough, I promise." He looked at Fatimah and her father. "My sworn enemy has also offended you both, one way or the other, so tell me; how do you want your Devlin? Well cooked or fried?"
"What? Devlin?" Pamela was confused. Bull was not seriously contemplating killing her husband, was he? The person standing before her couldn't be capable of such!
"Shredded." Fatimah replied Bull, her charcoal black eyes gleaming with hate.
"I second that," Fener said, an equal amount of hate radiating off of him as it had his daughter.
"I'll tell the chef." Bull said with a wide grin, which faltered when his wristwatch beeped. He smirked. "Soundproof guns, smart. Fener, come with me. The idiots are out there thinking they're winning, I have this divine need to show them who's the boss."
"Devlin's here? I want to see him! Please don't kill him, please!" she grabbed his leg and wept bitterly. "Please... I beg of you... If you still have the tiniest piece of humanity left in you, please don't kill my husband I beg of you... You can take anything you want! Is it money? Is it the company? Is it your freedom? I'll give it to you. I will say nothing to the cops... Please, let him go."
Bull squeezed his face and placed both hands on his ears but not before shrugging her hands off his leg. "You're fast becoming a pain in the groin. And here I was thinking I would have mercy on your poor soul and let you watch while I shred your husband like a hot dog." He looked at Fatimah. "Would you do me the honors of killing her after you've gotten rid of Marcel? She's useless and I for one would be overjoyed to see the back of her."
Pamela's heart sank to the floor of her stomach. She was finally going to die. And her husband was going to also. She laughed mirthlessly. She'd been dreading death for so long and now that it was here, she wasn't going to give up. She was going to fight till her dying breath. She was not going to die a coward.
All her life, she'd been protected by her family, being kept away from danger, but today was the day she was going to finally face danger without them around to defend her, and she wasn't going to waste their efforts, she was going to fight till her dying breath.
"If you're going to kill me you should at least set me loose." She nodded at her chained feet. "I ask as a dying wish."
"Ana." Bull said and Fatimah - Ana? - bent to free her legs from the iron chains. "Do a job that will be as clean as a hound's tooth. No mistakes. Am I clear?"
"As clear as the water is under." She smiled coyly as if she was enjoying what she was doing and was about to do.
Bull and Fener - if that's his real name, Bull isn't their boss's real name - walked out the cell door while Fatimah/Ana pointed her gun straight at Pamela. Pamela stood slowly and wobbled on her feet and Marcel who had been quiet through the whole Bull fiasco got up to steady her. She pushed him away.
"Don't touch me! Why are you acting like a gentleman now of all times? This is all your fault!"
"I'm so sorry."
"Are you? I'm going to die! The whole King's family will be wiped out!" She took deep breaths. "Did you kill my mom?"
"Oh, no. Marcel couldn't hurt a fly." Fatimah interjected lowering the gun. "that was me."
"What?"
"Fatimah, don't."
"Who gave you the permission to speak?" she barked at Marcel.
"Don't say anything to hurt her more than you already have. You're going to kill us both, aren't you satisfied enough?"
"How dare you question me? Is it because I haven't killed you yet?" She aimed the gun at him.
"Stop!" Pamela said. "Fatimah be rational, please. You cannot possibly - "
Pamela jumped at the sound of a gunshot that went off, interrupting her speech. She watched, wide-eyed with horror as Marcel slumped to the ground, a gunshot wound very visible on his chest, his shirt stained with blood. She turned her head slowly to look at Fatimah who brought the nozzle of the gun to her mouth and blew with a gentle puff at the imaginary smoke that was gently rising from it.
"What?" Fatimah asked innocently. "I cannot possibly what?"
Pamela shook her head at her in disbelief, too stunned to speak.
"Now that the annoying buzz of the fly in everyone's ointment has been silenced, I can continue my story can't I?"
Pamela turned away from her to face Marcel. She didn't know what to feel about what happened with Marcel other than grief. Yes, he'd done a lot of wrong to her and then some, but like any human that had feelings, his death was not something she would exactly throw a party over. She looked at his face and made a silent prayer for him, that the angels of God would guide him on his journey to the world beyond. She was halfway done with her prayers when she saw his eyes blink. He was alive!
Fatimah had shot him near his shoulder so the bullet might not have penetrated vital organs which meant that he could still survive! But he was losing blood and if she didn't get Fatimah out of the way, she wouldn't be able to tie the wound with something to lessen the bleeding.
"Why are you quiet?" Fatimah placed her hands on Pamela's shoulders from behind and spun her around to face her. She held her breath as Fatimah creased her brows and studied her. "I was expecting you to act like a chicken with its head cut off just like you did when Bull said he was going to kill your husband. You're full of surprises, Mrs. Gusev. "
She hoped with all of her being that Fatimah doesn't find out that Marcel wasn't completely dead because if she did, she would finish him off; that was as certain as a crooked tree will have a crooked shadow.
She told herself for the gazillionth time that she shouldn't give a hoot about what befell Marcel and she replied to herself a gazillion times more that she wasn't going to repay evil with evil. She had to do all she could to get Fatimah out of the way. And besides helping Marcel, she needed to go warn Devlin that he was falling into a trap.
"What's with the long face? You can't tell me you aren't happy that I killed him. In truth, Marcel was an albatross around my neck, always yapping on and on about how beautiful and perfect Pamela King is." She heaved a dramatic sigh. "I'm so glad he's gone; you should be too. I mean, yes he didn't kill your mother but he still lied to you and lead you on. That's unacceptable."
Pamela shrugged Fatimah's hands off her shoulders, irritated that her filthy, murderous hands had been on her skin for that long. "You're worse. You killed my mother without any remorse."
"On the contrary, it was hard for me - emotionally. When Bull told us that he'd been compromised because your mom had seen his face - and on an important night that we planned on bombing the safe house, he sent me to the hospital to finish her off. It wasn't so easy. I had to kidnap a nurse to change into her uniform. It was hard finding a nurse with my curves and all, while yet racing against the clock so as not to be caught." She smiled at Pamela's furious face. "Putting a pillow to her face and watching her struggle...oh... that was - epic. My adrenaline surged and I felt this - electric jolt of pleasure at that beautiful, beautiful moment. It was like having an orgasm. Her facial expression in death was so - out of this world."
"You bitch!!!!!!!" Pamela shrieked and lunged at Fatimah.
Fatimah was momentarily startled so her gun fell away from her hands. Pamela grabbed her hair and punched her in the face, all the while screaming hysterically. Fatimah hit the floor with a loud thud and then hollered, gathering Pamela's hair and pulling it tight. The stinging pain ran deep into Pamela's hair roots which made her let go of Fatimah's. Fatimah used the opportunity to push Pamela down flat, raining a series of blows on her face.
The blows flattened Pamela and made her ears buzz, the metallic taste of blood on her busted lip making her nauseous. Fatimah stood and kicked Pamela in the stomach which had the impact of bricks that Pamela started to feel unconscious.
Somewhere from outside, sounds that sounded suspiciously like gunshots went off and that gave Pamela purpose and strength. I need to warn my husband!
As Fatimah retreated her booted feet to gather momentum to kick her again, Pamela rolled away with all the strength she had in her and stood as quickly as she could. Fatimah lunged for her but she ducked to the side, sending her to the ground. Fatimah did not see the blow coming. With anger and frustration she'd felt for the past months, Pamela rained a series of blows, one as bone-breaking as the other at Fatimah's back.
Fatimah, who was still on the floor, took Pamela by the legs and pulled, making her stumble backward and hit her head on the wall. Pamela's head swam and she shut and opened her eyes in time to see Fatimah lunging for her with a tiny metallic object glittering in the sunlight. Fatimah ran it into Pamela and the pocket knife caught her arm, somewhere between her scapula and clavicle. Pamela screamed in pain.
Fatimah yanked the knife out forcefully and raised it again at Pamela but she ducked, sending the knife clattering to the cemented ground. Fatimah tired again, but this time with her fists and succeeded, knocking Pamela off her feet with a hard blow that sent her bowling over.
She slowly stood with lots of effort and turned around to see the knife forcefully descending on her. She was weak and had no strength to move so she shut her eyes tight to brace herself against the pain but it never came. Instead, she heard Fatimah shout. She opened her eyes and saw Marcel standing, sweating profusely, his breathing very hard and ragged.
He had used all his strength to prevent Fatima from stabbing her.
"Run. Go." His eyes were red and his wound was bleeding. "You need to warn Devlin. He needs to know who Bull is."
"But Fatimah -"
"I'll distract her. Go!"
Without wasting time, Pamela nodded and started for the cell door but stopped when Fatimah stood and with a scream, drove the knife into marcel's face, stabbing him multiple times. Pamela's screams were no match for Marcel's.
Except that he was screaming for her to go.
"Warn Devlin!" Even as his eyes were filled with blood and wounds, Marcel blindly held Fatimah back from going after Pamela.
Pamela ran out the door as fast as she could and came upon an open space in between large walls, making her feel like she was in prison. She didn't know what way to take but she kept running further. She came upon a gate and when she pushed it open, sighed in relief.
She met many men dressed for war, all standing with their guns poised for attack. Devlin's men. Or not?
She walked slowly and weakly towards the army of men, her arms raised in surrender in case they thought she was the enemy.
"Someone approaching!" She heard a voice call. Cody. She had never been happier to hear a person's voice. If Cody was nearby, that meant her husband was too.
"Eliminate!" Another voice said. Devlin.
Eliminate? No! It's me, your wife!
"I'm unharmed!" Pamela yelled but it came out like a squeal.
"It's a female, she's wounded and bleeding!" Cody hollered coming closer to her, his gun aimed.
Pamela looked up at him but couldn't see the expression on his face because of the facial mask he was wearing, but with the kind of energy he was exuding, and the way his poised aim went limp, she could only guess the horror he was feeling.
"It's lady Pamela! Stand down! I repeat, stand down!" He yelled and ran off. The next instant, Devlin was running forward, his mask in his hands, tears, and shock in his eyes.
"Pamela!" He cried out when he saw the state she was in.
She smiled weakly at him as he wrapped her in a tight embrace. He buried his face in her bloodied neck and wept like a newborn child. "I told you to stay back! How did you find me? What are you doing here?"
"Devlin," She was losing the struggle to unconsciousness. A wave of dizziness washed over her but she fought it. She will not faint now, not when she needed to warn Devlin. "You need to listen to me -"
"No, you listen to me! You should have obeyed my orders!" His eyes were smoldering like hot coals with anger but his tears made him look as fragile as a house of cards.
"Listen to me!" She insisted. "I know who Bull is. I saw him, as you can see."
"He did this to you? Who is the bastard? Tell me! I will kill him with my bare hands!"
"Bull is -"
"Me!"
All Devlin's men lifted their guns at the same time at Bull who was standing just beyond Pamela. The simultaneous lifting and corking of guns sounded like she was in the barracks, witnessing soldiers preparing for a battle.
Pamela turned around to look at Bull, unsurprised, but still in denial while Devlin took a little more time to raise his head. And when he did, he went visibly limp in shock and turned pale at the person aiming a pistol at him.
"Peter," he whispered.
"Hello, friend slash brother slash cousin. How are you today?"
~
The identity of Bull is finally revealed! How do you feel about that?
Thank you so much for reading, please vote, comment your thoughts, add to your library and reading lists and share with others. thank you :)