Chapter 3
1380 Words
EDGE OF DECEPTION
Scarlett's POV
"Tell me the truth, Sebastian," I say, my voice shaking with a mix of terror and resentment. "Who are these people and why are they after us?"
His hands tighten around mine as if he were anchoring me to reality, his sharp blue eyes fastening on me with an intensity that shivers down my back. "Scarlet, now isn't the time—"—
"Don't you dare?" I cut him off tugging my hands free. His sharp features are hardly illuminated by the gentle glow of the emergency lighting, but I can see the agony flashing beneath his calm façade. "You keep repeating that, however the moment never arrives, does it? Though you give me just half-truths and imprecise warnings, you want me to believe you!
His voice falls to a snarl as his nostrils flare. "Because the truth will just serve to increase your target's profile. Do you believe I would want you caught in this? Knowing this—“
"I have no care!" I reply, pushing forward despite the danger boiling between us. Sebastian, do you not grasp it? Already I am ensnared in this. It is already here whatsoever you are attempting to shield me from. Tell me what's happening, then stop treating me like some delicate doll!
He lets out a strong breath and runs a hand through his black hair. The flashing emergency light catches the strains on his face. With a clipped tone, he asks, "You really want to know? "Perfect. Once I tell you, though, there is no turning back.
His comments linger in the air, loaded with unstated meaning. Though my heart beats, I nod and refuse to back away. Sebastian, I have nothing to fear of the truth. I am terrified of the falsehoods.
He looks at a shadow, and for the first time I sense vulnerability—something I have never seen before. He extends his hand achingly gently and brushes a strand of hair off my face. You should be terrified, he says. "Because I am the reason they are after you; the truth is, myself."
My breath pauses. "What are you referring to?"
He pauses, his fingers lingering on my cheek then he distances himself. "There is a group—a network—whose business depends on control. Anyone who is in their path is penetrated, controlled, and destroyed. I used to work beside them.
The revelation seems like a slap; his words weigh the breath from my lungs. "You what?," I whisper, incredulity tinged with resentment.
He responds hurriedly, his voice tight, "I had no choice." Years passed. Desperate and attempting to rescue my business, I terminated relationships, nevertheless, when I understood their capabilities. At least, I considered myself to have done it.
"Cut ties?" My voice increases as my emotions spin out of control. "You don't merely 'break connections' with someone like Sebastian, Sebastian! You had to know they would be after you; you are not dumb!
"I did know," he says sharply. "And for this reason I have spent years attempting to keep ahead of them. But then you showed up—"
"Oh, so this is my fault now?” I seethe and press his chest. "I asked to not be drawn into your dream, Sebastian. You remembered, you brought me here. It is you who—"
"I brought you here because I couldn't risk losing you again!” His voice breaks, and the unvarnished passion in his words stops me here. "Do you find me not hateful of myself for this? Regarding endangering you? Scarlett, but, do you not see? I just have you left to lose.
The admission silences the torrent of my rage by slamming into me like a goods train. My chest heaving as I struggle to understand his words, I gaze at him. But the faint sound of footfall echoes from the corridor before I can reply.
Sebastian takes my hand, his hold strong yet quick. We must migrate. These days.
Wait, I object, my head still whirling. "What if they come upon us? What if—"?
He cuts me off, dragging me toward the door, saying, "They already have." "And they won't stop until they get what they want."
"What do they wish?," asks My voice shaking as he guides me across the dark hallways, I ask. You stated this is about control, but what does that mean?
"It means they not only want me to fall," he says bitterly. "They want to wipe everyone I know as well as everything. That covers you as well.
As we round a corner, we stop only to see a shadow across the far end of the hall move. Sebastian glances around the corner while he pushes me against the wall, his body concealing mine. My pulse thumps in my chest, the excitement racing through me making thinking difficult.
His voice just heard, he murmurs, "They're here." "Stay right near me."
The guy goes into the light and his black outfit is revealed, a mask hiding his face. He is holding something—a gadget with blinking red LEDs that seems shockingly familiar.
Sebastian swears beneath his breath, his hold on my arm stiffening. You run when I say run. Get it?
"What about you?," said Panic swelling in my throat. "I am not leaving you here!"
"Scarlet, this is not up for discussion!" he hisses. We both die if you stay.
The man pushes a button on the gadget before I can dispute any more, and the corridor echoes with a mechanical voice. Two minutes were the countdown started from.
It strikes me like a gut-grab like punch. Whispering, my voice almost audible, "It's a bomb."
Sebastian says nothing. As the countdown becomes louder, he grabs my hand and runs across the maze-like hallways. My legs hurt as we dash for the exit; my chest burns.
But a second person walks in our path and blocks the stairway as we are approaching it. Their attention fixed on Sebastian, they are brandishing a gun.
"End of the line," the guy adds frigantly. Cole, you have fled long enough.
Sebastian walks in front of me, his body stiff with will. "You have to pass through me first."
Grinning, the guy raises the rifle. "That's the schedule."
Thirty seconds is the countdown; the beeping of the gadget sounds like a death knell. As the man's finger closes on the trigger, my breath freezes.
And then the lights go out.
All I can hear is my heartbeat and Sebastian's voice in the darkness—one solitary word that makes me shudder: "Run."
The darkness swallows everything in its path, total. I know they can hear my heart hammer so loudly. Sebastian's voice is harsh but under control, and his iron-fast hold on my arm slices across the emptiness.
"Stay down." Stay silent; his breath warms my ear.
Suddenly a flare of light cuts across the black, a flashlight beam scouring the hall. As it falls inches from our feet, my stomach falls as well. The man's voice resonates, silky yet threatening. Cole, you think you could hide? You have just made this more entertaining.
Sebastian moves next to me, his body coiled like a spring about to be struck. "Keep your head down," he says quietly.
Sebastian—'s I start, but his silence with a gaze I can hardly see in the little light.
His voice almost audible, he adds, "Trust me." "I will not let them touch you."
As the flashlight beam approaches, I hear the man's cautious, methodical footfall. My pulse leaps, the weight of terror choking. Sebastian moves, just as the light floats exactly over us.
He lunges suddenly with a great speed, throwing the man off balance. A gunshot blounds the confined area, deafening.
Run, Scarlett, please! Sebastian screams, his voice unvarnished with desperation.
Frozen between instinct and terror, I freeze until his yell cuts through the fright haze. Go!
My heart breaks with every stride as the clock echoes louder and the last seconds count away as I fly into the night.
I hear Sebastian's angry snarl and the man's laughing behind me.
Then the thunderous boom breaks out, and the force sweeps me ahead into the future.
Silent.
And then nothing.
- Writer
