Born to die - Playing dangerous I

O N E

Adelaide's P.O.V.

For most days of my life, I had been wondering if there was anything worse than having a crack addicted mother and an irritable father, who wouldn't stop drinking and gambling if God Himself asked him to. The day after my fourteenth birthday, was the day the whole universe decided to give an answer –a positive answer– to my query, while laughing deviously.

It was the day my mother overdosed.

It was the day my father lost his only source of income; his wife. The one he had been pimping out for the past 5 years so that he could gamble and drink more.

It was the day he decided that I had to take my mother's place.

And that's how I ended up here.

Sitting on the lap of Rowan Moore, a slimy, almost middle-aged pervert, who had his hands all over me, in his lavish mansion, somewhere in Miami. The mere thought of him made my stomach turn, but I couldn't break character. I never broke character. I had managed to become his favorite. The stupid fucker thought I loved him. He had told me that he loved me.

Laughable, yes, but it was my best chance at escaping this hell.

I tried to ignore his hands on my ass or the droplets of his saliva splattering my face as he spat commands to his men. I had been patient with him for the past almost four and a half years. Actually, patient is an understatement. I pretended wanting to have s*x with him. I faked orgasms whenever he f****d me. So, I could stand a few drops of his spittle on my face.

When he was finally done talking to his men, my hands rested softly around his neck before I spoke. "Who are you meeting, master?" My eyes locked on his tie, like it was the most intriguing thing they had ever seen, and feigned sweet innocence tainted my voice.

In those past five years of my life, I had mastered the art of acting. It was what kept me alive. It was the only way I could survive this. One of my only weapons.

"He goes by Adonis. No one knows if it's his real name or not, but his nicknames are why I'm meeting with him anyway." Rowan answered, his hand stroking my ass.

"What are his nicknames?"

"The Professional or The Specialist, Shadow Snipper, Ghost, Jaguar, Bullseye Striker, Sinister Shot... He's the best and the worst."

I didn't have to ask what this man was. Even before I was thrown into this world, I would understand that he was a hitman. An assassin.

I rested my forehead against Rowan's and bit the inside of my cheek, before speaking again, in that same sweet voice. "Why are you meeting him?"

"Curiosity killed the cat, my love." He responded after a long pause.

He didn't want to tell me, which only left me with one option; eavesdropping.

"Boss, he's here." One of his men entered the office and Rowan quickly took his hands off my ass and straightened.

Taking my que to go, I shot up to my feet and quickly left his office, heading for the library.

Noemi, another one of Rowan's purchased s*x-slaves, sat on an armchair, with a book laying on her lap. Her eyes were red from crying and her cheeks flustered. She was forced to have an abortion last week and she hadn't stopped crying since then. If she continued like that, Rowan would decide that she was not worth the fuss, and kill her, after passing her to his men first.

"What are you doing?" She murmured in a voice coarse from crying, when she saw me pushing a bookcase to the side.

A thin wall was the only thing that separated the library from Rowan's office, where the most important for my escape information was said or kept. On one of my first days here already, more than four years ago, I had managed to open a tiny hole in that wall, and every time Rowan seemed to have an important meeting there, I was spying on them through that hole.

Thankfully, no one knew, except Victoria, who had been like a big sister to me, and whom Rowan killed about a year ago, after catching her with one of his men. They were in love and they both died in each other's arms... And now Noemi –to whom I had been trying to be what Victoria was to me, since she was brought here, soon after Vic's death– was about to find out too.

My chest ached at the thought of Victoria. An image of her hand stroking my hair, while she murmured soothing words to me, as I cried with my face in her lap, after I was raped or beaten, made me pause and take a deep breath.

I put my showing finger over my lips, shushing Noemi, and then gestured for her to come help me with the bookcase. She hesitantly got up and approached me.

"You want out of here?" I whispered and she nodded with no second thought.

"Then help me and be quiet, okay?" Noemi nodded again, and helped me move the bookcase to the side.

She covered her mouth with a hand when a gasp escaped her, after seeing the small hole in the wall. "He'll kill us if he finds out."

"He won't find out. He hasn't for the past four years that I've been here." I whispered, closing one eye and sticking the other one in front of the hole. "Now be quiet. I need to hear."

She didn't speak, she only placed her ear on the wall right next to me and tried to hold her breath so that she wouldn't miss anything.

"What the hell you mean he wouldn't park inside?" Rowan growled to one of his men.

"He parked outside. A guard told him that he could park in the estate, but he refused..." The man hesitated. "In fact, he shot the guard on the shoulder and told him this was because he wasted his time."

"Who are they talking about?" Noemi whispered.

I didn't respond.

"Ade?" She insisted.

"Rowan's meeting with an assassin." I finally gave her an answer.

"What for?"

This time I only shushed her and thankfully she didn't push it.

One of Rowan's men had been talking but was interrupted when Sylvia, the housekeeper, entered the office to announce that he was here.

Moments later a tall, Caucasian man in a black suit, radiating confidence and control, came into view. He was actually so tall, I couldn't see his face through the small hole, even though he was standing in a distance that would normally allow me to see anyone from the waist up.

"Adonis... I was informed that you shot one of my guards."

Rowan's back was on me, but my mind always got so excited on the mere idea of the slightest discomfort of his, so the image of his clenched jaw was very much visible in my head.

"And I was reassured that my time wouldn't be wasted, yet here we are. I'm a busy man, Mr. Moore, I thought I had made this crystal clear already." A smooth, deep voice resounded, and in contrary to the content of what was just said, it was absolutely calm, with no hint of impatience.

My curiosity peaked and I positioned my eye in a different angle, attempting to see this man's face, even a little, but the size of the hole didn't allow me such thing.

"What's happening?" Noemi whispered, but I didn't respond.

The Professional and Rowan stood still for a moment, none of them saying anything.

"Please, have a seat." Rowan finally gritted.

I almost groaned in frustration when Rowan's head hid The Professional's face, as they both sat down, the former on his seat behind the desk and the later on one of the armchairs in front of it.

"Straight to business then." Rowan started and the shuffling of papers was heard right after. "My offer is two million. I believe it's more than the target's worth."

"It is." The Professional drawled. "Unless the target offers twice as much for your head, of course."

Noemi yelped and grabbed my upper arm with both her hands, a desperate move to tame her nervousness. "He's going to kill him?" I didn't miss the hope in her voice.

"Shh! I don't know."

"Velkov has a hit on my head..." Rowan stated carefully, but it was more of a question.

Silence.

Tapping of fingers on expensive wood resonated through the office. I vaguely noticed two of Rowan's men standing behind The Professional, assault rifles on their arms. One of them shifted on his feet and the other one looked at Rowan, waiting for a simple gesture to start the shooting. From his calmness and his body's posture and everything, The Professional didn't seem concerned however.

"How much?" Rowan asked finally.

"Why does Velkov want your head, Mr. Moore?" The Professional asked thoughtfully.

Rowan shifted in his chair. "Because I want his..." His answer didn't convince even me.

"More like the other way around." The Professional droned.

Tapping of fingers on expensive wood.

Noemi's fingernails dug into my arm. I reached for her hands and gently removed them from me. Her body relaxed and she gave me an apologetic look, when she realized what she was doing.

I spoke in a low but firm voice. "I don't know what's going to happen, but the moment the shooting starts, we run. And we don't stop No, or we'll die. The assassin's car is parked outside, so we get there before him, while he and Rowan's men are busy killing each other, and we leave. This might be our only chance."

When Noemi's head frantically moved up and down in agreeance, I positioned my eye back in front of the hole.

"Four and a half million. Do you accept this offer?" Rowan compromised.

Silence.

"Five and a half million." The Professional finally decided.

"But I thought-"

"You're willing to spend millions on a single s*x-slave but won't spend just a little more to save yourself, Mr. Moore?"

I tensed. I was one of those s*x-slaves after all. Rowan had paid three million for me. I was his most expensive one, he said. I was not even 15, and a virgin at the time, and virgins always costed more. And if underage, the price doubled. There are some sick people in this world...

One of Rowan's men raised his assault riffle a bit, his finger on the trigger.

"Three seconds." The Professional stated and my brows knitted together in confusion.

A loud bang and then the dull thump as Rowan's man hit the floor dead filled the room. Rowan stilled in his chair and the other one of his men raised his weapon the slightest bit but froze. No one seemed to have seen this coming. I had been staring at them the entire time, and I had no idea how The Professional had managed to pull this shot. He hadn't turn to see the guard behind him, pointing a gun on the back of his head. He hadn't even shifted in his seat the slightest bit to shoot the guard. He had hardly moved.

"Three seconds." He repeated calmly and, understanding the meaning behind those two words, the other man lowered his assault rifle on an instant.

Fear dwelled in my chest. Rowan's men outnumbered The Professional by far, and he had already pretty-much threatened Rowan, killed one of his men and wounded another one. He could die tonight, but he didn't seem a tiny bit concerned, which frightened me. We had to leave now.

"Come on." I grabbed Noemi's hand and headed for the window.

Noemi nervously looked behind us at the library's door, as I kneeled on the loveseat and opened the window behind it.

"Go." I pulled her closer. "Now!"

She climbed on the window and jumped outside; we were on the ground floor thankfully. I followed right after her, and closed the window behind me, as noises sounded from the hallway outside the library and Rowan's office. We squatted down low, trying to shrink ourselves as much as possible, so that we would be harder for the guards to notice.

Crouched and by the wall, Noemi started heading towards the direction of the back of the estate, but I pulled her to the opposite way, to the front. She shot me a confused glance.

"If we go to the back at this time, we'll activate the alarm. He has a meeting, so the alarms on the front won't be working until the assassin leaves and the meeting is over." I explained to her in a low voice.

Noemi halted. "No, Ade, I'm scared. All his guards will be in the front... We'll never make it outside alive."

I let out an aggravated breath. "No, didn't you hear the fuss on the hallway before we left? Most of his men went there when the gunshot was heard. We can make it without the rest of them noticing. But we need to hurry!"

She hesitated, but when I pulled on her hand again, pleading her with my eyes, she gave in and followed me.

We made our way to the side of the mansion, staying low and close to the walls the entire time. Half hidden in the shadows, we came to a stop before the small grove of tropical trees on the front of the estate's gardens. We checked our surroundings for guards and when we saw none, I jerked my head in the direction of the grove and mouthed a "Run.". Noemi nodded and grabbed my hand. I held hers tight, as if she would be taken from me if I didn't. I counted to three and we ran as fast as we could. We managed to get to the grove and hide in the shadows between the trees alive.

Motivated by a strong feeling of hope and freedom, we crossed the grove fast, and hid between two large trees when we reached the end of it. The front gate was only a few feet away. There was one guard inside the guard-house, but I didn't see anyone else. Perhaps I had him...

My stomach dropped and my heart started beating so loud I could hear it in my ears, when heavy footsteps echoed from only a few feet away from us in the grove.

I locked eyes with the guard in front of me and we both froze.

He reached for the gun on his waistband, but I was quicker, grabbing the letter-opener that I took from the library before we left, and lunging at him with all my might. With a sickening sound, the letter-opener was shoved into the guard’s throat, my hand still on its silver handle. The guard’s gaze locked with mine, disbelief in both our eyes. He never would have guessed I had it in me. I couldn’t believe I didn’t even think about it.

I took a tiny step back and watched as the gun fell from the guard’s hand. The guard’s gaze flicked down on his hands that were touching his neck. Noemi threw both of her hands over her mouth, blocking a cry from escaping, as blood splattered on both our faces. I stood frozen, looking at the guard holding his neck and choking on his own blood, before dropping to his knees and then to his stomach.  

Dead. 

I… I killed him.

I killed someone!