“Try anything, and I’ll kill you,” Isaid.
Sebastian’sjaw clenched, but he said nothing.
His head remained still, but his eyes moved to the left.A safety clicked as it was turned off. And I’d be an idiot to think it’d be pointed at anyone other than me.
“Don’t,”he growled, his eyes glued to the person on our left. At least, he had some inkling of self-preservation. Well, that would make things easier. After he’d continued moving towards me while I had a gun pointedat his chest, I had wondered if he was the one withthe verydeath wish he’d accused me of having earlier.
“Keep still. You move your head even an inch, and I swear to God I’ll shoot,” Isaid.
Slowly, I moved while keeping my gun trained on his head. Finally, I was behind him with my gun digging into the back of his skull. There were nine men in the library, all of whom had a gun pointed at me. If I hadn’t taken a hostage, I wouldn’t have liked my odds.
“This is howthis is goingto work-” Istarted.I caught movement in my peripheral vision.“Luca, if you fucking move again, I will shoot your brother, then you.Don’tfucking test me.”
The movement stopped.
“Luca,” I ordered,“you are going to walk towards the window on my left so slowly that everyone here will think you are a member of the walking dead. Then you are going to walk your ass out of this room. If you don’t, I swear I’ll kill you.”
Once Luca was out of the room, I spoke again.“Let’s try this again: we are all going to walk out of this room without shooting each other. Anyone eventhinksabout shooting me,bam, Sebastian dies.”
I nudged Sebastian with my gun, but he didn’t move.
“Walk,” I growled.
“I thought you said if I moved an inch, you’d shoot me,” Sebastian said, the sarcasm dripping from his voice. I had a gun to his head, hereallyshould take me seriously.
“Fucking move!” I dug thegun deeperinto his skull, and he took a step forward.“Everyone else, too. Back the hell up!” Iyelled.
The men stayed still. Unbelievable. Did they wantSebastianto die? Maybe Luca was pissed enoughabouthis nose to let them shoot his brother. I might need a back up plan.
“You heard her. Move,” Sebastian ordered. The suited men began stepping backwards, their guns never leaving sight of my head. When we passed by the duffel bag of money, Sebastian slowly picked it up, and we continued on.
Once we reached the door to the hallway, I ordered everyone in front of me to get out of the doorway and move to the left side of the hallway. Again, they ignored me until Sebastian reiterated my command.
Sebastian and I stepped out of the doorway, and I moved backwards while feeling for the elevator button. The elevator dinged, and we stepped on.
The elevator door closed,leaving two of us alone. And for some fucking reason my shoulders relaxed. What the hell was wrong with me? There was an army of men waiting for the opportunity to put a cap in me, and I was fucking relaxing. There seemed to be something wrong with my body whenever I was in proximity to Sebastian. And if this situation was any indication, it’d end up killing me.
The lift started to move, and Sebastian glaredat meinthe reflection of the metal wall. Now,thatwasa rational response.
“Do you want to die?”he growled.
“I told you earlier,you’rethe onewho'sgoing to die,” Isaid, a reference to our banter earlier in the hallway. My heart twinged at the thought. Everything had seemed so much easier then. Ask for some money, give some information, and we all go our happy way. I had been so stupid to trust him before. Fuck, I should have known better.
Iknew what Sebastian’s brother was capable ofand yet I had walked into their headquarters without a single weapon or back up plan.And nowthe most likely result of my naïve optimism was my quick death before I even left this house.
The elevator opened on the first floor, and eight sets of guns were pointed at me.
“Back up,” I ordered. I didn’t have time to dwell on those regrets anymore.
Again no movement.
“Tell them,” I said with a sigh.
“Do it,” Sebastian said, with so much authority in his voice I almost stepped back out of reflex. His men stepped back, and we stepped forward before the elevator could close on us.
“Everyone go left,” I said. Everyone stood still.Was I fucking invisible? Why was no one listening to me?Mymomentaryresignation to this pointless telephone game was quickly fading.
“Now,” I snarled. As the seconds stretched on with no movement, I felt like strangling someone.Was I speakingIrish? Why the hell did Sebastian keep having to translate everythingfor me?
