Gun Point
1693 Words
(Hi:) This chapter continues from the prologue)
HER
The air outside was so cold it made Sera’s lips shiver as she shuffled through the chaos, trying to find the car that was supposed to be waiting for her. The driver was gone. No surprise there.
Her phone vibrated in her purse, and she picked it up. “I had to leave,” the old driver’s voice rang through the phone.
“Fabio, for a man who’s been chauffeuring criminals around all his life, you’re a coward.” Sera didn’t hide her anger. The man had left her alone without a second thought. He was one of Denisk’s devoted drivers, and she had asked Denisk to lend him to her for the night.
“I’m sorry,” he pleaded. “I didn’t expect that to happen, and people were running around so much…”
“If it was Denisk who gave you the instruction to wait, would you have run off like a scared cat?”
There was silence at the other end of the line. That was her answer.
“Look, I don’t appreciate what you did, and I’ll be even more pissed off if you don’t turn around and get back here. Ten minutes.”
Then she ended the call.
She had somewhere else to be tonight. The wedding had ended in freaking blood. The underworld was cold and ruthless, and Sera had suspected the marriage of two rival groups would end badly, but she had never imagined seeing the newly wedded couple lying in a pool of blood at their own reception.
After the ball two weeks ago, she had overheard Denisk and his mother discussing some drama going on in Cassian’s family. Apparently, his distant cousin had gotten pregnant by some weapons dealer from Mexico. The man wasn’t poor or anything like that, but she had been engaged to marry someone else and had only done that as a form of rebellion.
Denisk had told his mother that her form of rebellion was her challenging the syndicate’s authority, and it didn’t help that the father of her child was not really liked by Cassian. But since she was already pregnant, she had to marry him because it would be a slap in the syndicate’s face for their daughter to give birth out of wedlock.
Denisk had suspected the wedding would go south because no one was in support. He had even predicted that Cassian would have them killed immediately after they tied the knot, killing two birds with one stone. He would protect the syndicate’s pride but also make it clear that no one got away with disrespect.
When Sera had overheard them, she had no choice but to chip in. “I don’t think he’d do that, would he? I know he’s ridiculously heartless, but she’s his cousin. Distant or not.”
Denisk had given her a look that suggested he thought she was mentally derailed. “Cassian Vale doesn’t give a f”ck about any silly cousin… Or anyone, in fact. She was engaged, and by doing what she did, it made it look like Cassian broke his word with her fiance.”
Sera had shrugged her shoulders. She still didn’t think he was going to have them killed. Svetlana, Denisk’s mum, had shaken her head, her brown eyes sparkling, telling Sera she was enjoying the drama. “He’s going to kill them. She had it coming, playing mind games.”
“Svet, you’re in support?” The old woman had instructed Sera to call her Svet years ago. She claimed she was still young.
Svetlana waved her hand. “Her stupidity is bringing good tea. That Capo terrifies me, and nothing usually scares me, Sera.”
“He might even attend the wedding,” Denisk had added.
When Sera heard that, she had pleaded with Denisk to get her in. He refused, saying it was too dangerous, but Sera had wanted to go. She wanted to see for herself just how unhinged Cassian Vale was. She had heard the stories, seen what his brother and the syndicate could do firsthand, but she had never experienced what he was like for herself.
After promising Denisk something she knew she would regret later, he had gotten her in, though he had told her to be on the lookout, because things could spiral out of control.
Fabio’s car pulling up in front of her brought Sera out of her thoughts. “You’re three minutes late.”
Fabio nodded. “I apologize.”
Sliding into the car, Sera rolled her eyes.
Her mind drifted back to the wedding. Cassian had been there, and the couple had been killed. He might have stood right there when it happened, but she knew it had to have been his order. The security had been too tight for anything to happen while he was there… Unless he had allowed it.
The fact that he had been so nonchalant when it happened unsettled her. He had been occupied. He had been staring at her.
Cassian had asked her who she was, and Sera had known it was better to leave than to play smart. She wasn’t scared of him, not a chance, but she did find him deadly.
He had done it. Denisk and Svetlana had been right.
Seeing that up close would make anyone back off. Sera knew she should do the same. But, like always, she did the exact opposite.
“It’s okay, you can pull up here,” Sera said to Fabio.
“Why? We’re in the woods. It’s not safe…”
“I’m not asking you to stay with me. You can go.”
“But…”
“Stop the car, Fabio. And don’t tell Denisk.”
He pulled over, and she grabbed the bag she had dropped in the car earlier that morning before sliding out, waving him off. Sera had asked him to leave the car earlier so she could change at some point. She was now wearing loose-fitted jeans and a hoodie that covered her crop top. She always wore something that concealed her curves, because it was one of the things her mother hated most about her.
Sera snapped out of her thoughts when her phone rang minutes later. She was now walking down a different road, her heavy bag tight on her shoulders. She had a car, but driving here would make it easy to be caught.
She picked up the call. “Hello…”
“What the hell, Sera?” It was Abbon, Mikhail’s oldest brother.
“Abbon… what’s the problem?”
“You’re in the woods right now. And that only means you’re headed to another warehouse. Look, it’s dangerous,” Abbon snapped.
“Fabio called you, didn’t he?”
“Does that matter? You’re making a mistake again. Come back.”
“You know it’s not that easy. And you shouldn’t be calling me when you’re close to work. It’s not safe.” Unlike Mikhail, Abbon had already joined the syndicate, and he was working for one of Cassian’s men.
“Sera…”
“Look, it’s not that easy, okay? You of all people should know that!” Sera snapped.
“If I can’t change your mind…”
“You can’t.”
“Fine. But share your location with me, so I’ll know if something goes wrong when I don’t hear from you.”
Sera shook her head as if he could see her. “No. That’s not happening. I don’t want to get you involved…”
“I’m not taking no for an answer. Either you send your exact location, or I’ll come find you myself. Which do you prefer?”
“I’ll send my location.” She didn’t want to get anyone related to Denisk involved. It could all go wrong for their family.
She assured Abbon she would share her location and ended the call. Sera was already in front of the warehouse by then, but he didn’t need to know that. She was good at hacking. Way too good, and that was how she had discovered the locations of some of Cassian’s warehouses. This one was old and abandoned, which was why she picked it. Most of the warehouses she burned down were old, meaning they had no security. The others were more guarded than the freaking White House. She wasn’t dumb enough to start with those, but eventually, they would burn too.
As Sera finally managed to break the lock with the tool she brought, she mentally patted herself for choosing today. They would all be busy with the wedding and the chaos. No one would give a s**t about protecting this old one.
“It’s huge,” Sera said. From the outside, it looked big and old, but once inside, it didn’t look so old anymore. Sera knew they used old warehouses once in a while, but this one was different. The interior was neat, with the stairs leading upstairs looking well-kept. There were cabinets, storage containers… Everything one would expect a criminal warehouse to have.
She had been convinced they left old warehouses unguarded because they knew no one would dare break into the lion’s den. But she soon found out why.
Just as she knelt on the floor to get her lighter before going to find the petrol that would probably be somewhere inside, she heard the sound of a door opening… then closing… and then something clicked.
All the hairs on the back of her neck rose, and her breath hitched.
Her first instinct was that Abbon had found her. But that wouldn’t be possible. She still hadn’t shared her location.
Sera suddenly felt a looming presence behind her and went alert. For some reason, her survival instincts weren’t kicking in fast enough. She was in shock. Not once in any of her operations had anyone followed her.
She needed to defend herself. But she was already kneeling, and the intruder had the advantage. The shock froze her in place. Just as she was about to get up and turn around, something cold pressed against her head.
“Don’t. f”cking. move.”
- Writer
