Page 26 of Empowered

Men rushed each other on the field. I was no longer able to see Shyam in the chaos. I wriggled against the guard to free myself so I could move in closer to find him, but he squeezed me tighter.

I could barely make out Jai and Zayn in the sea of men and bullets. Jai was facing off with a guard, back handing him with his gun across the face. The guard fell to the ground, but before he could get up, Jai fired two shots into the center of his forehead, then turned to tackle another of Tarun’s guards running toward him head-on.

Zayn was a warrior, fending off two men at the same time with a swift combination of kicks and punches that seemed to flow from him like a rehearsed martial arts routine. Although Tarun’s men were capable opponents, they weren’t a match for Zayn’s skilled combat.

I heard commotion coming from the direction of the stage. Shyam had a gun in his hand, ready to fire, when Tarun barreled into him. They tumbled to the floor, sending the gun skittering out of arm’s reach. Tarun sunk his teeth into the side of Shyam’s neck like a rabid dog, causing Shyam to cry out from the pain. I screamed as Tarun released his hold on Shyam’s flesh and smiled through the blood smeared on his lips. My stomach turned at the sight before me. Tarun’s eyes were crazed, like the blood only fueled his need for more. He stretched over Shyam and grabbed the fallen gun, then turned swiftly and aimed it between Shyam’s eyes.

“No!” I cried. I pulled against the guard’s hold, frantically trying to get away.

“Stay still, whore,” he shouted, struggling to hold me with how violently I resisted. When I only fought harder, he knocked me on the back of my head with something hard, stunning me.

I fell to the ground, spots dancing in front of my eyes. In a daze, I rolled around, trying to get my eyes to focus. Gunshots mixed with the sounds of hand-to-hand combat filled my ears as I regained my vision. A shadow towering over me came into focus. As my eyesight sharpened, I could see the guard aiming his weapon at me.

“You’ve been nothing but trouble since the day you came here,” he seethed. “I’m going to enjoy watching the blood drain from that pretty face.”

I clenched my hands, readying myself for impact and my fingers caught on the tail of the chain wrapped around my neck. I wound it around my hand, leaving some of the tail loose. The guard cocked his gun, and I swallowed down the bile that rose into my throat. Before he pulled the trigger, I whipped the tail of the chain hard and fast at his hand, lashing his skin and causing the gun to fly out of his grip. He cried out as he stumbled back, clutching his wounded hand.

Suddenly, Zayn hurdled into him, knocking him to the ground. Before the guard could plead for his life, Zayn shot two bullets into his head, leaving him wide-eyed and dead, with the look of fear frozen on his face.

A bomb went off on the far end of the courtyard, incinerating everything in proximity.

“Amelia!”

I looked over to Shyam, who was only a few feet away. He had managed to overtake Tarun, his powerful legs straddling the enemy, holding him in place. The gun had been knocked to the side, lying nearby.

“Run!” he shouted at me.

Tarun’s cackling interrupted me before I could respond. “Shyam Sethi. Always the cocky one. You always think you have the upper hand. Always in control of the situation.”

“Shut up, asshole. You don’t get to have fun anymore with your stupid riddles.” Shyam spat at his nemesis.

He looked up at me again, his eyes crazed with rage. “Amelia, dammit. Get. The. Fuck. Out.”

Tarun’s voice carried over the sounds of battle. “Even your girlfriend will not listen to you anymore. Because you’re null. Unimportant. Irrelevant. You’re just the snake who’ll eventually get his head slit off. You’ll never learn.”

Shyam stared at him, bewildered by his words.

I saw Tarun’s wrist shift under the weight of Shyam’s body. A glint of silver shone between their bodies. It was too thin to be from a gun.

“Goodbye, old friend.” Tarun pulled his wrist back, exposing what he was holding—a silver dagger. Shiny and sharp.

“Shyam! He has a dagger!” I screamed.

Shyam looked down to see the blade pointed to his abdomen. He rolled quickly to get off Tarun, but not quickly enough. The dagger pierced the side of his torso as he moved away.

As Shyam rolled to a stop, grabbing his side, Tarun dashed for the gun and aimed it at him. Shyam froze, staring down the barrel.

Thinking quickly, I ran over to Salena’s body, struggling from the weight of the thick chain around my neck, and snatched up the gun that she had used. With a clear view of Tarun’s back, I did my best to steady my shaking hand, aiming it at the monster who had terrorized us for far too long. I cocked the gun, gaining Tarun’s attention as he turned his head in the direction of the sound. I could see the look of surprise mixed with anxiety on Shyam’s face as he lay on his back, his eyes trained on me.

Tarun’s eyes flashed with amusement when he realized it was me who held him at gunpoint. He started toward me; the dagger coated in Shyam’s blood still in his hand. If I had learned anything from the beautiful woman lying dead in her own cold blood, it was to never hesitate.Don’t miss.I pulled the trigger, releasing the final bullet of the war.

Tarun fell backward, blood spilling from his forehead. Shyam crouched over him, one hand on his wounded torso and the other holding Tarun’s own dagger. “Goodbye.Friend.” In one swift move, he slit Tarun’s throat to finish him off.

He discarded the weapon and stood up shakily, visibly uncomfortable from the wound in his side. Leaving Tarun to bleed out on the ground, he set his sight on me.

A look of relief and happiness washed over his face, erasing all the tension that had scarred him for years. He closed the distance between us slowly.

I dropped my hand with the still warm gun, then activated the safety and tossed it aside. I was ready to feel his embrace and absorb his kisses. I was ready to be surrounded by the safety of his arms, and I never wanted to leave it again.

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