Blood and Roses

chapter twelve

RICHARD'S POV.

I arrived at the scene a few minutes ago and watching my men kick and beat her up was entertaining. She was in a terrible shape, dragging her bloodied body on the wet concrete, looking for a way to escape. I stepped in front of her, blocking her path and she lifted her head, opening her swollen eyelids slowly. The look of shock and disgust present in those blue blazing orbs of hers made me tingle with excitement.

"Where are you going to baby doll?' you look very bad." I mocked.

"You know, watching you search my study and trying to escape through the window was fun!!" I said, squatting to maintain eye contact with her.

"You're a spineless asshole!! What do you want from me?' Why did you kill my parents?" She asked with tears in her eyes.

"It was a job that had to be done. Your father betrayed the Russian syndicate by exposing our human trafficking channels and we lost a lot of money and some good men. It's only fair we kill his family in return" I answered with a smirk.

"f**k you and whoever you work for!!" She shouted with rage.

"Oh I would love you to do that but I hate sharing", I responded sarcastically.

"Today seems like a good day and I am feeling generous baby doll so I'll be giving you a second chance", I said, tapping the top of her head with my gun.

I stood up, straightened my jacket and took two steps away from her but not without noticing the spark of hope in her eyes.

"I'll give you a sixty seconds head start and if you manage to escape, you get to live but if I catch you, I'll kill you", I said with a shrug.

She remained on the ground, looking at me with uncertainty and trying to decide if she should run.

"You have thirty seconds left" I shouted and immediately, she forced herself up and willed her fractured limbs to move.

"Ten seconds left!!" I warned and she increased her pace turning back to stare at me from time to time while I made a mental countdown.

"Your time is up!!" I said and she stopped dead in her tracks turning around to stare at me.

"You never planned on letting me go did you??" She asked.

"Yes, it was never my intention." I replied, pulling the trigger twice and watching her lifeless body slump to the ground.

"What a waste!!" I sighed, putting on the safety of the weapon and tucking it into my waistband.

"Let's go, the fun is over" I ordered and turned to leave with my men sauntering behind me.

ROSELLE'S POV.

I heard the pistol go off twice before feeling the bullets pierce my body. Everything came to a stop as I fell hard to the ground. I laid still, feeling the rain drops beat down on my body and listening to the sound of retracting footsteps.

I could feel my life crawling gradually out of my body and to be honest, being shot in the stomach and left to bleed out on a cold wet pavement in a dark alley, was certainly not one of the ways I wanted to die.

The pain,the cold and the fear of what will come afterwards was undeniably frightening. My vision was fading and I struggled hard to stay awake.

My body was failing and I could feel it. I fought hard to keep my heart beating amid the excruciating pain in my lower abdomen.

"Richard, Dimitri, Nikolai, the Russian syndicate"

"Richard, Dimitri, Nikolai, the Russian syndicate"

"Richard, Dimitri, Nikolai, the Russian syndicate"

They thought I was dead, and that was their mistake.

Like a religious devotee would recite his chants and prayers with faith, I chanted the names of my debtors like a mad woman, gasping for air as the burning sensation increased immensely.

Those were the words on my lips as I finally slipped into unconsciousness.

It was quiet and peaceful with dreams about my parents and Royce and on a second thought, I didn't want to wake up.

I was safe and for once, I knew that nothing could hurt anymore.