Page 53 of The Merciless

“Mine.” Came Akash’s response, “And get Angel as well. Him and the others.”

Ray hummed in response and hung up. Silence descended upon them, filled with nervousness andpanicas they brushed as quickly as they could. Angel made sure to keep an eye on her, even when she finished, and moved to step out of the room.

“Hey,” he said before she could move farther away and grabbed a hold of her upper arm, placing his brush back on the counter after he was finished. Ray paused, turning over her shoulder to look at him with that same placid expression of hers. He sighed at its sight and took a step forward, brushing a hand through her hair before grabbing onto her shoulders and shaking her out of her masked reverie.

“It’s going to be alright.” He said quietly and saw her blink, finally a wave of emotion crashing over her features. Angel nodded at her, and without wasting another second, grabbed hold of her and stalked out of the washroom. He let go of her hand only to grab a T-shirt from his closet,

“You ran here, right?” he asked, his voice slightly muffled as he tugged the t-shirt on.

“I did.” She answered softly and Angel gazed back at her tense set of shoulders and wary eyes.

“I’ll send Luke down to the place right below by the window, where you climbed up from and we’ll leave together alright?” he asked and grabbed his phone to relay the orders to the other boy,

“Martin can’t see you here even bychance.There are CCTVs, but none around my area and certainly none from where you climbed up from.”

“How do you know that?” she asked, and he turned a small smirk in her direction, wanting to draw a smile from her tense lips,

“Because you wouldn’t have taken that path otherwise.”

Ray blinked at the praise and huffed after a second’s pause. Angel grinned at her grit, at the way she crossed her arms and turned away from him,

“I’m fine, you don’t need to–”

He didn’t let her complete her words. Just leaned forward and slid his lips right above hers at a sweet angle. Ray froze, but only for a second. Her crossed arms dropped to their sides as he willed all his conviction, all hisadorationfor the girl before him in that short kiss. It was over before any one of them wanted it to be.

But when they broke apart, their gazes weren’t hazy. For the first time in a while, they were crystal clear andalert.

“Go,”Angel said, smiling that same razor-sharp smile that he’d shown her the first time he’d seen her, “I’m right behind you.”

Her grin was nothing short of cold and malicious.

“I know.” She said and turned on her heels to jump right out the window. Angel watched her, a wave of pride washing over him, unable to believe that this was really happening.One last hurdle,he told himself and tugged the hem of his t-shirt upright.

One last hurdle and they’d be clear for a lifetime.

And a morbid part of him couldn’t help but think,

Famous last words.

**

She had her face in her hands, another groan building up her throat as the rest of them remained silent around her. Waiting for her to accept their situation. Because honestly, she couldn’t tell if this was a bad thing or not. In fact, nor could Angel judging by the way he stood beside her, leaning against the wall with a confused expression on his face.

“So we’re unhappy with this?” he finally asked, breaking through the atmosphere. Ray looked up at that, and shot him a glare before turning to hear Sorin’s sigh ricochet off the walls,

“Yes,”he said and Ray leaned back in her chair, leaning onto Ira who was sitting upright beside her, “Kyle’sheartbroken.”

“Of course,” Jack said from the other end of the room, the crunching of the packet of chips in his hand attracting everyone’s attention, “I’d be worried if he wasn’t.”

“But isn’t this what you were all aiming for?” Mia inquired, she too leaning forward to grab a chip from the bag Jack was holding, “Getting rid of the Larsens.”

Ray exchanged a heavy glance with Akash while Angel responded for her, “They were looking for a bit more insight before killing him.” He said in a calm voice and ran a frustrated hand through his hair, “But what does this mean forus?”

“Alessandro Larsen’s dead.” Neera accounted and Ray’s knee bounced at her words, nerves wrecking through her, “And the entire world knows. Which means making Maya–”

“Who is very unconscious,” Myra added from the floor, her shoulder touching Cameron’s as he watched their conversation. Apart from Angel’s group, everyone was signing as they spoke. Angel signed as well, Ray noted with a hint of pleasantness.

“Who indeed, is very unconscious. Making her invisible is going to be far more difficult now,” Neera continued, tucking a lock of her pin-straight hair behind her ear, “And to make things worse,ifshe does wake up or when she recovers, she’s not only going to wake to a world where their businesses have officially failed,”

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