Page 23 of Against All Odds

“Please. Just let me go, I’m tired. I just need to rest. I’ll give you the money back. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay? You have my number. I’ll text you. I promise.”

I heard the lie in every word from her lips – and if I heard it, he must’ve, too. We both knew she would block the bastard the moment she got home.

My own instincts had sent out the query before I could stop myself.

Chance of fire alarm going off → increase to 80%.

The fire alarm blared, wailing through the cramped space, but Peter barely flinched. Raya’s eyes flew open, and for a moment, something contemplative crossed them – instantly replaced by fear when Peter pinned her hands above her head, caging her with his body weight. More than ever, I hated how tuned in I was to her emotions, how I could feel everything she felt – his alcoholic breath, his belly fat pressing into her, the bile rising in her throat from his proximity.

Fuck.

“Fuck this.” I squeezed my eyes shut, spitting out the words. “Fuck you. Fuck him. Fuck you, Soraya. Fuck you for fucking up my life.”

Chance of Peter getting a spontaneous heart attack → increase to 75%.

I knew I shouldn’t push it. Triggering a heart attack on this man was not the same as a phone ringing or an alarm blaring, but hopefully, if I didn’t max out the odds, fate would decide to be on my side, and—

Nothing happened. Of course, fate wasn’t on my fucking side.

“This is all I can do.” I clenched my teeth. “All I should do.”

Should I call Jurrian to tell him I gave up right now? I could accept my descent into the underworld, but I did not have to watch this, did I? This could not be part of my assignment.

Raya’s scream tore me back to reality as finally, when all else failed, her fight instincts kicked in. She started struggling against his grip, even spat in his face, but it seemed to only further enrage him.

“What is wrong with you?” he panted into her ear while one of his hands found its way around her throat. “What happened to you that made you like this?”

Raya started crying – her whole body trembled with the effort of it. “I don’t know,” she whispered, her voice choked by the weight of her emotional release.

I couldn’t fucking stomach this.

Chance of Peter getting a spontaneous heart attack → increase to 90%.

And yet, Peter didn’t falter as he forcefully smothered her. The sound of her gagging turned my stomach.

“This is madness!” I shouted out into the void where it was just me, and for a moment, I wondered if my rage and my frustration and my fucking helplessness about it all would be powerful enough to break through the veil and make them hear me. “Why won’t he fucking die?!”

“We’ll get back to that later,” Peter groaned against her lips, his voice raspy from alcohol and lust. “But first, you’re going to give me what you promised me.”

He roughly grabbed her hand and placed it back on his flaccid dick, still hanging out of his open pants. She tried to pull away, but was powerless against him.

Even without a body, bile rose in my throat – and on an impulse, I decided I would rather burn in Hell than watch this for a second longer.

Chance of Peter getting a spontaneous heart attack → increase to 99%.

And just when I signed my death sentence in blood, fucking finally, fate answered.

Peter froze. He let go of her, both his hands clutching his chest – fingers splaying out as if he were trying to press something back in. A deep frown creased his forehead, like he couldn’t quite name the feeling, but knew it was wrong.

Raya stopped crying. She clutched her trembling hand, her lip curling up in disgust as she looked down at it – as if she no longer wanted it to belong to her.

Then, she glanced up at her attacker.

Peter’s breath came in ragged gasps, each more desperate than the last. He staggered, sweat blooming across his brow in seconds, running cold down the sides of his face. His skin had gone pale, as if someone had drained all the color from him at once.

Raya said nothing. She barely blinked, barely moved – just watched, expression unreadable, as his knees buckled, and he dropped like a puppet with its strings cut. Arms twitching slightly. Eyes wide open but unfocused, staring past the room and into nothing. His mouth twitched, but only a rasp came out.

Then, his entire body went still.