Page 139 of Beneath Her Skin

The anticipation sent a wave of adrenaline throughout my body and I stood tall from my leaning on the wall. Using the stairwell on the opposite side of the building, I descended to the basement floor, following Dom. I could hear him barreling through the door on the other side of the building, and I slipped silently through mine. As I closed the door without a sound, I looked directly into a security camera that I knew Aaron was watching from Amara’s office.

Giving him a wink and blowing him a kiss, I waved at him with my fingertips as I stood in the shadows at a corner, peeking out just enough to see him trying to open any and every door he came across. With every door he couldn’t open, I could practically smell his fear. With his panic increasing, heapproached an emergency exit that led up a flight of stairs to a back entrance to the hospital.

When the door wouldn’t budge, he slammed the bottoms of both of his fists on the door three times in frustration. Taking a moment to rest his head on the cool metal of the door, I took advantage of his pause, and slipped silently across the hallway towards a supply closet.

I stepped inside, purposefully leaving the door slightly ajar, and slipped myself onto the bottom shelf that still had boxes of supplies for the morgue staff. After a few silent minutes, Dom gently pushed the door open, holding the scalpel out defensively as he carefully scanned the room.

He tried turning the light switch on, grunting in annoyance when it didn’t work. Taking a slow, wary step inside, he scanned the supply shelf, easing boxes and supplies out of the way. With another grunt, he turned away to exit the closet, and I took advantage, silently pulling Aaron’s knife out of its sheath.

Before he could exit the room, I slid myself through a gap of two boxes and swiped the knife up towards the ceiling. The blade sliced through Dom’s jeans and calf like butter, forcing him to fall to his knees, drop the scalpel, and scurry out of the closet on his hands and knees like the insect he was.

Chuckling out loud to myself, I climbed out of the shelf and dusted myself off.

I was growing bored with this shitty hunt, eager for the coup de grâce… ending Aaron’s pathetic life.

Humming a random, made up tune, I followed the trail of blood from Dom’s leg out of the closet and into the stairwell. I was past the point of caring if he heard me or not, placing Aaron’s knife back in its sheath, and swapping it for Dom’s gun.

Following the blood trail to the second floor, I pushed open the door to the stairwell to find Dom sitting and leaning againstthe wall. He was getting slightly pale, a small pool of blood forming under his leg.

“I’m bored, Dom. This wasn’t the hunt I was expecting from you,” I said, shaking my head in disappointment.

Wincing in pain, Dom looked at me, as if he were just surrendering, and rested his sweaty head back against the wall.

“Take a look up here,” I said, pointing his gun towards a security camera, tapping on the outside of the lens.

Dom’s eyes found it and looked at me, confused.

“Say hello to Aaron; he’s watching,” I said, a wicked grin forming on my face.

“Did you know, Dom, the femoral artery is located at the top of your thigh, right here…” I said casually, walking up to him and stepping on his upper thigh with my foot. “When you get shot through the femur, the bone fragments can sever the artery and you can bleed out in two minutes or less.” Removing my foot, I aimed his gun at his thigh. “I’m a pretty good shot, you know.”

Dom’s eyes closed as he leaned into the wall. He was giving up, and that wouldn’t do at all.

“Open your fucking eyes when I’m talking to you,” I hissed, shooting him in the shoulder.

He cried out in pain, his dull eyes finding mine.

“Good boy,” I purred, turning my back to him and stretching dramatically with an exaggerated yawn. “I recommend you keep moving if you want to see your brother again.”

Pulling my phone out of my back pocket, I tapped a few options and locked every door except the stairwell leading up to the sixth floor offices where Aaron was being held. I turned back to Dom, pleasantly surprised to find he’d silently slipped away. The distant sound of the stairwell door closing echoed from the other side of the room.

That’s it, Dom. Run for me.

Giving the camera on the ceiling near to me another dainty finger wave, I pulled open the door to the second stairwell, ascending to the office floor.

With silent movements, I gently opened the door to the sixth floor just enough to peek out. Dom wasn’t even trying to be quiet anymore as he turned and tried to force every doorknob open he encountered, leaving a thin trail of dripping blood behind him. But only one door would open for him; the door to Amara’s office.

The moment his hand closed around the doorknob of Amara’s office, I could see the fear in his eyes, feel his anxiety, his pain, his uncertainty if Aaron was still alive or not…

Dom carefully opened the door to Amara’s office as I moved behind him with silent steps. The moment his eyes fell upon his brother, they went wide in fear and concern.

“Dom…Get the fuck…out of here…” Aaron groaned.

As I approached Dom from behind, Aaron’s eyes widened, as if silently urging Dom to turn around. But before he could open his mouth to speak, I kicked him roughly behind his knees, forcing him to kneel in front of his brother, bracing himself with his hands on the floor.

“Oh, come now. It hasn’t beenthat longsince you’ve seen each other,” I taunted, standing next to Dom, aiming his gun at the top of his right hand on the floor. “These hands hurt my fiancée,” I said flatly, shooting him through the tops of both of his hands in rapid succession.

“D-Dom!” Aaron grunted, tossing his body around, trying to free himself from his restraints as Dom pulled his hands to his chest to protect them, groaning in pain. Tears of pain streaked down his sweaty, disgusting face.

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