He finally eased up, and I couldn’t breathe.
“Sorry,” he whispered against my lips.
“Hey!” A man yelled at us, and I jumped.
“Sorry, Ava,” Owen whispered again as he pulled away.
I had thought he was apologising for kissing me, but our eyes met for a second before he pulled away completely. In them was an utter devastation, complete defeat. “I’ll get you out.”
No.
He didn’t think we were going to make it out. He knew we were going to die.
Owen turned towards the men, tugging me behind him and lifted his hand over his eyes to shield them from the flashlight they shone on us. “Jeez, bro! Could you chill it with the light?” His whole body language had shifted. He wasn’t the uptight agent anymore with a straight back and a proud gaze. No, he looked more like a toy boy, they type of guy Rachel and I would roll our eyes at.
“Who the fuck are you?” One of the guys asked in a thick Russian accent, stepping closer to us.
I grabbed a hold of Owen’s hand, and he squeezed it tightly.
“Look I was just tryna take my girl somewhere romantic, ‘kay? Can you blame me, fellas? Look at her.” He looked me upand down. “We meant no disrespect or anything. We’ll just go back to the club now.” Owen pushed me backwards towards the window and turned to walk away.
“You’re not going anywhere,” the guy said, lifting his gun towards us and shot off a round, the bullet hitting the wall beside us.
I shrieked and Owen threw his hands up. “Woah, woah, woah! What the fuck, dude? What’s with the gun? We don’t want any trouble, okay? Just chill!” He was still acting.
The three guys laughed, closing in on us.
“What do you think, Vlad? Should we let them go?” The one furthest away asked, but his tone was mocking. He was fucking with us.
The man who had shot at us answered, looking us up and down. “Net, this bloke here’s a cop.” He gestured with his gun to Owen. “I can smell arata mile away,” he sneered at us.
Owen gripped my arm tightly. “I swear to God, dude. I’m no cop. Just let us go, okay?”
They laughed. “Vlad has never been wrong. You’re not going anywhere,rat.”
I heard the sound of a gun cock behind us, and Owen’s head whipped around. My stomach dropped to the floor. The burly guard and his friend had climbed through the window, guns pointed at us.
“Fine, I’ll stay. But let my girl go. I’m begging you. She won’t be any trouble.” Owen’s voice broke.
“Cuff him,” Vlad said, unaffected. “Bring the girl too.”
My ears rang loudly. Owen tried to reason with them at first, then floored the first guy to touch him and nearly the second, before two men pressed a gun in his face, forcing him to the ground and cuffed his hands behind his back.
This was it.
We were going to die.
Vlad pressed a gun to my head. A crazed laugh escaped me at the familiarity of the cold, rigid metal against my temple. Maybe this had always been the way I was supposed to die.
“Something funny, girl?” one of the men asked, yanking Owen off the ground.
I laughed again, my shoulders shaking. I ignored their confused sneers and addressed Owen. I pointed up at the gun to my head. “Does this look familiar?” Owen had watched the security footage of the bank robbery and my kidnapping, multiple times.
Another bout of giggles shook through me. Gods, I might have lost it completely now. I was full-blown crazy. But fuck it, I was going to die. If that wasn’t enough reason to give into the madness, then what was?
Owen huffed a laugh, but his eyes turned sorrowful as he looked into mine. “You don’t suppose this one will fall in love with you too, hmm?” He gestured with his head to Vlad, who still held the gun to my head.
Owen shifted his gaze to him. “Don’t feel bad if you do, Vlad. Happens to the best of ‘em. It kind of sneaks up on you.” He looked back to me with a sad smile. “Happened to me too,” he said quietly.
