by Ella Miles
“What”—she pants—“are”—she sucks in as my lips touch her neck again—“you”—she exhales deeply—“doing?”
I grin against her neck. “Making you change your mind.”
She moans and grabs my head, forcing my lips on her lips. Her tongue is on my tongue. My cock is pressed against her stomach.
“I don’t think that is possible. I’ve already made up my mind.”
I reach my hand under her bra and run my thumb over her hard nipple. I watch as her body convulses with just the touch. “I’ve made you change your mind before,” I say into her ear as I squeeze her nipple again, making her pant.
She reaches into my jeans and grabs ahold of my cock that is already hard for her. “I need you now. It can’t wait.”
She slowly moves her hand up and down my thick cock. I grow harder, willing to give her anything she wants as long as it means I get to be inside her.
“Fuck me, and give me the courage to walk back inside this building. Fuck me against this building in the alleyway.”
My brain doesn’t register her words. It doesn’t register that this is her saying good-bye. All that it hears is, Fuck me.
“My pleasure, princess.”
I spin her around so that she can hold on to the building to keep her balance. I kiss her neck and listen to her groan as I reach my hand into her pants, feeling her wet pussy welcoming me in.
“Fuck me, Killian,” she moans. “I can’t wait.”
I move to unbutton my pants and watch as she does the same to hers. Our need to have each other outweighs our need for safety. I hold my cock in my hand and press it against her bare ass now that her pants are hanging around her ankles. I glance to the right, trying to figure out what people might see if they walk by right now, but since I can barely even see the street in the darkness, I know nobody can see us either—at least not until the electricity comes back on, and the darkness disappears.
“Fuck me,” she whimpers again.
I press my cock against her again. I grab ahold of her ass and bend her further until I find the entrance to her pussy. My cock slides inside.
“You’re so tight, princess,” I moan as she tightens around me.
I begin thrusting slowly, enjoying just being inside her, but her hips tell me that it’s not enough. She needs more. She needs passion.
“I need…”
But I already know what she needs. I grab her ass and begin thrusting into her harder and harder. My balls hit her clit with each thrust, and I grab her breast with my free hand.
I feel her building with each thrust. I feel her lose herself, which is exactly what I wanted.
I move my head to her ear. “Come for me, princess,” I whisper into her ear before biting down on her earlobe.
“Killian!” she screams into the darkness.
That’s all it takes for me to explode inside her.
I tightly squeeze her, refusing to pull out of her anytime soon.
This is what I need. This is what we both need for the rest of our lives. Without this, there is no reason to keep living. Without her, I have nothing. No job. No home. No love. No life.
She takes a step sideways though, and I am no longer inside her. I watch her pull her pants back on, and I do the same. By the time I put my pants back on, she is already turning back toward me. The streetlights flicker back on. She looks beautiful, standing there, in the light. Her lingering orgasm is still shining on her face. Now, we are exposed though, and it is no longer safe.
We both have to make a choice—to go back inside and put a stop to everything or run away together and never look back.
“Have you changed your mind?” I ask.
“No. Have you?”
“No.”
She firmly kisses me. A good-bye kiss. A kiss that I refuse to even think about because it is not a good-bye kiss.
“This isn’t good-bye. If you choose to go back in there, I am going, too. I’ll be hiding in the shadows. I will keep my promise to your father and to you. I will keep you safe, princess.”
“You promise?”
“Always.”
I open the door to go back inside. I walk in, and Killian grabs the door and follows me in. I wish he would leave. I wish he were safe, but I guess it’s not fair to ask that of him when I won’t go somewhere safe for him.
I walk to the far door of the office and pause at it. I can’t look back at Killian and still do what I have to do.
“I know. I love you, too. Go. I’ll be watching you,” he says.
I open the door and step out into the now lit hallway. I quickly close the door behind me. I look back at the door for just a second, and then I start walking. Away from Killian. Away from the only person left who is worthy of my love. And, this time, it feels more final. It feels like this could really be the last time I see him. The last time I kiss him. The last time both of us are alive.
I walk down the hallway to the stairs and down into the dark basement where Nacio told me to meet him. The room is large, and several of the men are already in the room, beginning to load up the money into bags, while others are carrying the bags out of the building.
I spot Nacio and Granddad directing them.
“What can I do to help?” I ask.
“About time you joined us. Where have you been?” Granddad asks.
“I was trying to help arrange transportation, like Nacio asked, but I couldn’t find anyone who had a phone I could borrow.”
Granddad motions with his fingers, and Santino and Seth grab ahold of my arms before I realize what is happening.
“What is going on? Let me go.”
I struggle against the men’s hold, but it is useless. Their arms are too strong, and even if I did break lose, there are half a dozen other men ready to grab me. I glance around and notice the whole room is frozen, watching me.
Nacio notices it, too. “Get back to work.”
The men immediately snap to life and begin putting the money from the vault into bags.
Granddad walks over to me. “Nacio told me about your trip.”
“It’s not my fault that Killian escaped with the children. I had nothing to do with it. I thought it was in our best interest to keep him alive.”
Granddad smiles a smug grin. “I think you had everything to do with it.”
I frown. “I was just as drunk off my ass as the rest of them. I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“We will see if you have the same story to tell afterward.”
“After what?”
My question is immediately answered though.
Granddad nods at Seth and Santino, who immediately have me on my back against a hard bench. Cloth goes over my face, and my arms are held to my sides. Before I even have a chance to understand what is going on, water is being poured over my mouth and nose. I didn’t even have a chance to take a deep breath before the water was poured over me.
I struggle, trying to get free, but they tightly hold on to my arms. I try to move my head from side to side to find a way to breathe, but either way I move my head, the water finds me. I try to hold my breath, but I can’t. I try to cough to keep the water out of my lungs and mouth, but I can’t.
The water gets into my mouth, into my lungs. I’m going to drown. This is how I’m going to die. They aren’t going to stop. There is no need for them to stop. They think I’m guilty, and this is my punishment, so they are going to watch me suffer and die.
My eyes burn. My lungs burn. My nose burns.
I panic, but the panic only makes me take in more water.
I’m going to die.
The blackness slowly creeps around the edges of my consciousness. I try to let go. I try to let it consume me, but just as I feel myself letting go, the water stops. I’m jerked upward.
I immediately throw up all of the water that was being forced inside my body. And, even when I think it is all up, I cough, trying to get more up, but nothing more comes up. The rest stays, burning in my lungs.
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“Now, would you like to tell me what happened on that yacht, or should we try this all over again?” Granddad asks.
I cough, but the pain in my chest makes me not want to cough again. “I didn’t do anything. I was with Nacio the whole night. I’m on your side.”
I glance to Nacio, who is standing next to Granddad. With my eyes, I beg him to put a stop to this, but he doesn’t move. I glance over at Granddad, who nods, and then I’m being dragged to sit back down on the bench.
“Stop!” I try to scream, but my voice is no longer able to scream. “Stop!” I try again, this time much louder.
Everything hurts as my body is slammed down onto the bench, but the fear is worse. The fear of slowly suffocating to death is much worse now that I’ve had a taste of it.
I struggle, but it doesn’t matter. I struggle, but the now wet cloth goes over my face, followed by the water. I try not to struggle this time now that I know the panic will only make it worse. But it’s hard to convince my body to stop. My body fights, and the water seeping in makes the panic worse.
I feel the same darkness coming back, this time much faster than the first time. I won’t last much longer if they keep this up. Maybe one or two more times.
This is how I’m going to die.
I sit at the top of the stairs to the basement, listening, but I have a hard time making out what is going on.
Until I hear Kinsley scream. The second she does, I can’t wait any longer.
I run down the stairs as I pull my gun out from the waistband of my pants. I know that the gun won’t be enough. Not against a dozen men with guns, but hopefully, it will be long enough to keep her alive until the FBI gets here.
That’s all I need. More time.
When I reach the bottom of the stairs, what I see terrifies me.
I aim the gun at Lee’s head, knowing he is the one giving the orders. “Tell them to stop.”
He smiles and motions for Seth and Santino to stop. I watch out of the corner of my eye as they jerk Kinsley back up. She coughs up water, but otherwise, she seems pretty lifeless. Santino smacks her cheek, trying to wake her up more, but her seeing me does that for him. She tries to run forward, but they hold her back.
“So happy you could join us, Killian. It saves us the trouble of hunting you down. Now, we can kill you without the hunt.”
“Let her go. You can have me. Let her go, and I can ensure that the FBI won’t find you.”
Granddad shakes his head. “I don’t think I’m going to have to let her go. We will be long gone before the FBI arrives.”
“They will be here in half an hour. You need to leave now.”
“I think you are bluffing. See, we have someone on the inside now, and he says they won’t move in for another three hours at least.”
My eyes widen because he knows the truth. I was just bluffing about the FBI. They are most likely still hours away like they told me earlier.
“Let her go,” I say again.
“Drop the gun,” Seth says as he points a gun at Kinsley.
I immediately drop the gun.
“Kick it away,” Lee says.
I kick it.
I watch as Seth forces Kinsley into a standing position, and he walks her over to where Lee and Nacio are standing.
“Give her the test,” Nacio says. “Let her prove that she is telling the truth.”
Lee looks over at Nacio. “And if she doesn’t do it?”
“Then, we’ll have our answer,” Nacio answers.
I look from Nacio to Lee to a broken Kinsley. I know what they want her to do. They want her to shoot me. I want her to shoot me. If she shoots me, she guarantees her life. They will think she is on their side, and they will keep her alive until the FBI moves in. I just don’t know how to remind Kinsley of her promise to me.
Nacio pulls a gun from his waistband and hands it to Kinsley. “Shoot Killian. Avenge your father. Prove that you choose us, not him.”
Seth continues to aim his gun at Kinsley as she studies Nacio’s gun for a second. Her eyes go to mine, and I tell her what I want. I tell her to shoot me. Her eyes tell me she loves me.
And then she lifts the gun and pulls the trigger.
I watch Killian fall to the ground, and it is the worst thing I have ever watched. I tried not to aim for any vital organs, but watching him fall like he did has me worried. I know it’s what he wanted. I know I promised to shoot him. I just never thought I would have to do it.
I feel like I betrayed my heart by shooting him. I feel empty, like I was the one on the other end of the gun.
Nacio grabs the gun from my hand and then tightly hugs me.
“I knew you would choose correctly,” Nacio says in my ear before releasing me.
Seth lowers his gun, accepting that I am on their side. I smile. This is now my chance to ask about the other locations. This is my chance to become a true Felton. And then I can do anything to keep Killian alive.
But Granddad’s laughing distracts me. Nacio lets me go as I turn to face him.
“Is it funny now to watch a man die?” I ask, cocking my head to one side, as I look at my grandfather.
“No, watching you shoot someone because you thought he killed your father—that is what’s funny.”
“Killian didn’t kill my father?”
“No.” He laughs again.
“Then, how did he die?”
“I killed him. I had him poisoned.”
“Why?” I ask, my voice shaky.
“Because he was soft. He grew tired of the business. He grew a heart. He didn’t want to traffic people anymore. He didn’t want to smuggle drugs. He didn’t want to kill people anymore.
“From the second you were born, I noticed when he began to change. His heart simply wasn’t in it anymore. Once we found a man to pass the company on to, I thought that would change, and for a while, having Killian there did give him new hope, new energy. Until he found out that Killian was FBI. I think he took it as a sign that we weren’t supposed to be doing this anymore.
“He wanted out. But you don’t get out. Not once you start. He had to go, or he was going to ruin everything. He risked everything for you. I had to kill him.”
Tears fall from my eyes. “You killed your own son?”
“Yes.”
More tears fall. They fall for my father who didn’t deserve what he got. They fall for me for losing a father too soon. And they fall for Killian who is barely breathing on the floor all because he sacrificed himself, just like my father did to save me.
“I hate you! I fucking hate you!”
I begin to move toward him, but he pulls a gun and aims it at my head. I freeze. If I die, shooting Killian would have been for nothing.
“You are just like him. And, now, I get the pleasure of killing you, too,” Granddad says.
I glance to Killian, who is lying on the floor. Blood pools around his body, but I can’t tell where the bullet went. He’s still breathing, just barely. He won’t make it much longer.
“I love you always,” I say under my breath as I close my eyes.
The last thing I hear is the bang of a gun being fired before the pain in my lungs overtakes me.
I open my eyes, and all I see is white. White walls. White lights. White sheets.
I’m in a hospital room. I survived.
I test my arms and legs, trying to see what has been damaged, but the only thing that hurts are my lungs.
“Oh my God!” Scarlett squeals next to me before she tackles me with her body. “I was afraid you would never wake up. I flew to Paris as soon as I heard.”
I smile, happy to see someone I love. Happy to feel safe. I just wish I saw another face in the room as well.
“Is Killian…”
“He’s alive.”
I exhale the breath I was holding while waiting for Scarlett to answer.
“Where is he?”
“He’s here, at the hospital. They won’t let him see you until they have questioned
you first. And they couldn’t question you until you were awake. He’s been going crazy out there.”
I smile. He’s alive.
“Where was he shot?”
“The shoulder. Evidently, your grandfather didn’t have very good aim.”
I raise my eyebrows, realizing that Killian must have said Granddad shot him instead of me. I’ll have to remember that when I’m questioned.
“Did Granddad…”
“He’s dead.”
“How?”
“Nacio shot him. Nacio is in the hospital room next door. The FBI shot Nacio after they heard him fire at your grandfather. He’s a rather good-looking…”
“He’s a horrible person, Scarlett. I watched him shoot a woman.”
“Nacio also saved your life.”
“It still doesn’t make up for what he did. He will still spend the rest of his life in jail.”
Scarlett nods.
“Did they get everyone else who was there?”
Scarlett shakes her head. “No. I guess Nacio’s brother escaped. And they haven’t found their father or their other location yet. They are hoping Nacio will tell them in exchange for a deal when he wakes up.”
I nod. I hope the FBI finds them, but for now, I’m glad the Feltons are no longer involved.
I’m safe. Killian is safe. That is all that matters.
“My mother?”
“She’s in jail.”
I nod, not really caring.
I hear a knock on the door, and I sit up, hoping it is Killian, but I see two men in suits standing at the doorway.
“We have a lot of questions for you. Are you up for it?” one of the men asks.
I nod. “I bet you do.”
The FBI questioning went well. I told them Killian’s lie about who shot him even though I’m not sure it mattered. We did whatever we needed to survive. They aren’t going to arrest me or Killian. Although Killian will never be able to work for the FBI again. I’m not sure if it matters anymore though.
The doctor came in afterward and said I was in the clear and could fly home. I was suffering from pneumonia after almost drowning, but the worst is over. They will keep me on antibiotics and have me check in later in the week to make sure I’m still healing well, but they don’t expect any further complications. I just need to take it easy and not do anything too strenuous for a while.