He scoffs in appreciation.
“I wonder,” I say, “How did you know I entered the warehouse?”
“One of the many secrets we hold,” he says and adds with a cunning smirk, “We don’t dare speak of the Lord’s power.”
I snort before I open the door, grab my backpack, and slip a transmitter underneath the seats. I know they’ll come to kill me eventually. When they do, I’ll see it coming and take as many of them with me as possible.
The man leans in on me.
“You have 48 hours,” he says and closes the door in front of my face.
I walk away without looking back.
People stare at me, even though I have my hood slipped on.
They let me out on the worst spot ever possible, and that is Broadway. Many people to get lost in are usually good, but not if Iam hurt and stand out. My face must still be bloody and swollen from the beating I took, not to forget I’m wearing a blood-soaked jacket.
I need to get lost in the crowd and do what I inevitably have to do, the thing I should have done all along.
16
LILIAN
PLAYLIST: CARRY MY STONE – BRAD URBA
“She fucking took it!” I roar. “I know she did. That’s why she was here.”
“Lil,” Doug says, and I am close to ripping his head off. “You need to calm down. Otherwise, you’ll jeopardize the wound and healing process.”
“I don’t fucking care!” I shout. I hardly recognize myself at this moment. This isn’t who I am; I know better. But everything that’s happened has finally got me, and right now, this is the outlet.
I rest against my desk in the company, panting in murderous anger and a stabbing pain in my chest. Each breath pinches my chest, but I ignore it.
After I received the security alert that the closed system was operated outside the company, I ordered Doug to take me in. He pulled every card in the book to have me rest, but I am his boss—end of story.
I never leave that laptop unguarded, except for this one time when Ella, or whatever her real name is, was here and we had the issue with the employee. Maybe they were even working together.
I trusted her. I let her in. And she used me. It was all a game to her to get to the company data. She is a spy who played me to get the data.
“I am going to murder her!” I shout and clean off my desk. Themonitor, my Tech Innovator Award, and my Forbes 30 Under 30 trophy fly to the ground and shatter into a million pieces.
How could I be so stupid?
“You'd better do so now,” I hear a voice say, and my eyes fly up. There she stands, leaning against my door. Horribly beaten up, blue undereye, swollen cheek, bloody, and a cut lip.
I didn’t even hear her coming in over the shattering glass. Doug has his gun drawn immediately.
I'm at a loss for what to do right now. All the anger in me vanishes like someone opened a drain. I want to ask her who did this to her, to know if she's okay, and what happened. In this moment, I despise myself more than ever before. A feeling I will not allow.
She has to pay,I tell myself.She has to. She betrayed you. Used you. Make her pay.
I open the drawer to my desk and pull out a gun, pointing it at her. It’s been a long time since I held a gun.
She smiles weakly as she walks up to me around the desk.
“Freeze!” shouts Doug, but she ignores him. She walks straight into my gun over the glass pieces on the floor, the crushing noise trails into my ears. She’s pressing herself into the gun on her chest.
She is so close, I can smell the iron scent of the blood on her.
