Page 21 of Queen of The Reapers
Hannah lunges for my gun and, in the shock of our tousle, she manages to wrestle it out of my hold. I underestimated her. Just as I had during our entire relationship, and the irony of it all is a bitch.
I wasn’t planning on spilling Hannah’s blood tonight. I just wanted to hear the truth come from her fucking lips. I knew she was merely a puppet in the grand scheme of things, and the only one I really wanted to hurt was the master pulling her strings.
“You’re so fucking pathetic.” She says, barking out a wicked laugh as she levels my own gun on me. “Nothing like him.”
Her once melodic laugh sounds putrid and wrong. It grinds against my bones and makes me grit my teeth as she continues to cackle.
“That may be.” I admit, visibly swallowing. “But at least I’ll die knowing the truth. Unlike you.”
I’m baiting her, partly to prolong the inevitable and partly because she deserves to know the truth. There’s no way I’m escaping death either way. We’re standing too close to each other and my brothers are too far out of earshot to stop her. I signed my own death certificate the second I let her grab my gun.
Strangely, I’ve made my peace with my death. I made a mistake, and I trusted the wrong person. I put my brothers at risk and brought a spy into our home. Dying tonight will be my penance for that.
I level my eyes on Hannah and solemnly shake my head. She has no idea how fucked she truly is. The sad thing is, there’s still a part of me that wants to protect her. That wants to shield her from pain at any cost. But that’s not fair and goddamnit she deserves to know the truth.
“You’re a pawn, Hannah.” I say, willing her to hear the sincerity in my voice. “A means to hurt me and my brothers. Nothing more.”
“That’s not true.” She says, her voice wavering slightly. “Mitri loves me.”
Damn. The fucking bastard. Dimitri is using her own con against her and she doesn’t even realize it. Yet even I can tell that her words have no real conviction behind them and it’s clear she’s trying to convince the both of us of their sincerity.
“Did he tell you we have security cameras?” I ask, nodding my head at the one pointed down on us.
She says nothing in response, but her frigid glare answers for her. He didn’t.
“They’re in every room in this house.” I say, rotating in a slow circle. “Tell me, would someone who loves you send you straight into a trap?”
She narrows her eyes at me and blows her tousled brown hair out of her face.
“It wasn’t a trap.” She hisses, jerking the gun at me. “He sent me to gather intel. To take as many images as I could of Atlas’ study.”
I shake my head with a sad smile and can’t help but feel sorry for her. I know what it’s like to convince yourself that you’re loved. I’ve been doing it my whole life.
“Dimitri knows there’s nothing in there.” I say, locking eyes with her. “He’s been in our house countless times. Been left alone in that study on several occasions, and he’s never once cared to look through our shit. Do you know why?”
She shakes her head no.
“Because he knows it would be suicide, love.”
The ‘love’ part slips out, but somehow it still feels right coming out of my mouth. I loved Hannah. I know that with every fiber of my being. But she never loved me and that’s the cold, harsh reality of Dimitri’s wicked game.
Even as she shakily levels a loaded .45 at me, all I can feel is remorse for what’s going to happen to her. Hannah will die tonight, one way or another. If my brothers don’t kill her for killing me, Dimitri surely will. She served her purpose and he won’t hesitate to dim the light in her beautiful blue eyes to clean up any evidence of his part in this whole mess. He’ll win, and she and I will pay the ultimate price.
“Dimitri loves me…” She says weakly as tears trickle down her cheeks.
“I know, love. I know…”
I can’t help but offer her comfort. Even though it’s wrong. Even though she’s the one who betrayed me. Even though she’s going to kill me.
“He’s going to kill me, isn’t he?” She asks, looking up at me with so much clarity in her deep blue eyes that it crushes me.
“I’m sorry, Hannah.”
“My name is Sarah.” She says, blinking back tears with a sad smile. “Sarah Wilson, and for the record, I’m sorry too, Cyrus.”
BANG.
I flinch my eyes shut the second the gunshot rings out and leap to the ground, but I know I’m too slow. Within seconds, I feel a warm, sticky substance pool around me, but I don’t dare try to move. The coppery scent of blood stings my nose and I can’t hear anything but the ringing in my ears. My body… Well, it’s as if my body feels no pain at all.
