“How was it supposed to be, then?” I cut my eyes back to Alex, noticing how pale he looks. My chest tightens. He’s going to die here, and that’s going to be my fault, too. More tears threaten to fall when I look back to Kade.
“I knew about the deal Satori made with them…but only afterward. He lied and said that we were just going to join up with D. We were just supposed to distract him enough to let Avery’s plan go unnoticed. But then I heard about your poisoning… That it was really meant for D, and then when they tried to kill him again. Then you. God, it all went so wrong!” He starts to pace again, clearly getting antsy. “Now everything isfucked! I tried to make it right! I swear, I did! I really tried to help you guys find him. I didn’t want anything to happen to him…” He sobs, momentarily lowering the gun, but then instantly righting himself again.
“I’m sure you did…” My voice is soft, trying to keep him from getting overwhelmed, but the shakiness there only seems to aggravate him. There’s so much pain and fear on his face—so much desperation. Desperate people do desperate things…
“He used my fucking code!” he screams again, pushing the gun further in my direction with every word. “Myfucking code!” He lifts his hands to his head, squeezing the sides so tightly that I’m afraid he’ll either yank out his hair or bash his own face in. “D’s going to kill me… He’s never going to let me live after he finds out that I knew…” His voice twists in an agonizing crack.
“Kade… Listen to me, okay? We can talk to Damien…” I try to plead again. “We’ll tell him everything that happened. He’ll understand. I’ll help you…”
“Understand? You’ll think he’ll understand?! I tried to tell him and look what he did! Look at me!” He points to his neck with his free hand, pointing out the bruises that Damien left on him last time. “He tried to kill me, and he doesn’t even know yet! What do you think he’ll do to me when hedoesknow?!” His eyes widen as he imagines what my husband will have in store for him. “I’m holding his wife at gunpoint… Holy fuck, I’m holding a gun to his pregnant wife…” He runs his free hand over his head. “He won’t make this quick, will he?” His face contorts in pain just at the thought.
I take a deep breath of my own, attempting to keep my heart rate down, but to no avail. My head continues to pound, and I can feel my chest weighing heavy with panic. Alex continues to groan behind me, but he’s getting quieter by the minute, and I know that if we don’t get him out of here soon, he’ll die.
“Kade, just breathe. Okay? I’ll talk to him, and we can come up with a way—”
“He’ll kill all of us…” he interrupts, starting to lose it. “I’ve seen what D does to people. I couldn’t let that happen to our guys. I didn’t want to do this…”
Disappointment falls upon me, but only because my heart knows why he’s doing this before my head.
“What do you mean?”
“Satori’s getting them out… He swore he’d get them out if I did this! They have to be okay… They’ve been through too much. I couldn’t let them pay for what Satori did…”
“Kade…” I cradle my belly with one hand and risk taking a step towards him. As she kicks and flips against my palm, I tighten my grip, wishing that my hold alone could protect her. “He lied…”
“What? No. No. No. He swore he’d get our guys out!”
“Look.” I slowly step to the side and point to the screen with my free arm. The system starts to beep erratically, alerting me that the file has completely downloaded. I need to restart it, but I can’t. I can’t move too quickly, because I don’t want to startle him. “He put all of them at the front lines, and where is he? He’s running away…”
Kade averts his gaze to the screen, and then his features fall with the same betrayal as we feel.
“No… No, that—that can’t be right. He said if I did this that D would drop everything to get to you… That was our only chance to get them all out…”
I take the risk of looking as well and immediately find Damien. He takes a step in Satori’s direction, then halts like some unseen force keeps him back. His head snaps behind him, undoubtedly looking at Carter and Zeke, and then he bolts towards the entry door.
Satori was right about one thing. Damien would drop everything to protect me, and that’s exactly what he’s doing right now. He’s on his way here…and Satori used Kade for bait.
“Satori is a piece of shit, Kade… None of this is your fault…” I try to level with him, but he just shakes his head. Tears stream down his face, and there’s emptiness there now. It’s paired with defeat. Any hope that charged his heart is fading, and the realization dawns on him.
“I was never going to hurt you… I swear, I just… I had to get D away… I really like you, Ash. I’m sorry…” His stance melts into something languid, even though the gun remains in my direction.
“I know. I like you, too. It’s going to be okay. You’re Damien’s friend. He’ll see that. Just…just put the gun down and we’ll talk to him together. Okay?”
“There’s no hope for me, Ash…” he sobs, then looks up at me with trembling lips and flushed eyes. “There never was…was there?”
“Ashia!” Damien screams from the other side of the door, making Kade flinch. My heart drops to the floor, afraid that he’ll pull the trigger unwillingly. Harsher bangs pound against the metal door, and I start to shake. Kade looks into my eyes then down at his hands before coming back to me.
“Tell Damien I’m sorry…”
My stomach churns.
“Kade, don’t. Please…”
Before I can reach out for him, he yanks the gun to the side of his head and pulls the trigger, causing a loud bang to echo in the small space. I scream unwillingly and cover my mouth, flinching when hot liquid sprays me.
“Ashia?!” I faintly hear Damien yell again past the screeching in my ears.
“I’m okay…” I don’t know if I’m loud or not. It feels like I’m whispering, but I can still hear myself. “I’m fine.” I try again, unable to tear my eyes away from Kade’s body that’s now contorted on the floor in front of me. “I’m fucking fine…”
