Chapter 4 Ellie

Those thugs called him the reaper. Some Irish-American Wolf, like a gang name. I can't understand their jargon, but how do I save Sophie?

I saw a closed-down maintenance sign placed outside the door. We are the only ones here since said 'Wolf' likes to work alone. If I crack the door open just a little when he's distracted, I can hit him from behind and save Sophie.

But I don't have any weapons on me. Nothing sharp enough to cut or hard enough to land a crippling blow. He starts saying something, and I shut my thoughts off to listen.

"Pity. You don't look a day over twenty-five."

Sophie's muffled screams are painful to listen to. The gag in her mouth looked fucking tight. She must be hurting badly. But I can't speak. I can only listen and feel useless.

"What's that? Ah, these goons have no idea how to treat a woman. Let me," he says and shuts up for a long minute.

I'm waiting with bated breath, anxious to my wits end.

"Ple-Please don't kill me! I'm innocent. I swear that I-I am," Sophie cries out immediately.

My eyes widened when I realised that he released her from the gag. Relief immediately loosens the vice knots in the pit of my stomach, but I understand that this man wants to talk. Squeeze out any piece of information that he can from her. I strain my ears. This is the only way to know what he wants. I have to use my head now and grasp every word.

"No one on the clan's hit list is innocent. Knowingly or unknowingly, you've done something you shouldn't have, and I'm here to deliver your verdict." His deep voice is measured to perfection despite the heartwrenching words falling from his tongue like venom.

I feel woozy. God, is he here to kill her?

"Please, I swear!" Sophie sobs louder, "I really haven't been bad lately. I swear on my life-"

"Your life means nothing to me," he raises his voice, only to go silent again for a beat, "But this beauty right here. Who gave it to you?"

I frown in thought and then it strikes me. The necklace. It has to be the necklace, but Sophie doesn't respond.

"Listen to me, Sophie, Sophia. How you respond from now on will determine whether you'll grow old in a white picket fenced house or die right here."

Slowly, Sophie's scared voice says, "The necklace was a gift."

"Aye, a stolen gift. That part is well known, but I'm interested to know who gave it to you. Was it your father?"

"No! It wasn't my father-"

"Cnag!"

"I'm serious. It wasn't him! I-I met someone on Tinder. He was a lot older, and-and he liked calling himself sneaky hands. He gave me the necklace on our first date."

Silence.

I hear the low sound of a dial. He's calling someone. I'm tempted to get down from the toilet seat and press my ears to the door, but that will be too stupid of me. This is a professional hitman, not a supermarket robber.

"Siobhan." His calculated voice comes back, and my interest piques again. "The Lockwoods don't have your cargo." He keeps talking, but I'm not following too well because I can't hear the person on the other end of the line. "Some sneaky hands on Tinder. Truth. It's being fenced. Gotta go."

"What are you going to do to me?" Sophie asks a few beats later, relieved because it seems he's got the wrong target. I'm relieved, too.

Silence.

"You've heard too much. I will have to make you disappear."

My heart stops.

"No, please." Her voice breaks again, and my heart clenches at the sound of my friend barely holding on. "I don't even know your name! I swear I won't say a word about this."

"Here's my offer. I can slit your throat now and end this, or I can permanently erase your memories and get you a new life somewhere far away from here."

"Wha-What?"

"Blondie, I don't have all day. Sophie Lockwood will die today whether you like it or not. Just depends on how."

My heart aches. I can barely breathe. She needs me. I hate that I can't do anything for her at this point, and just who does this wolf man think he is to decide someone's fate? I fist my chest, angry and scared for both of us.

Sophie stutters, "Will-Will I ever get-get my memories back?"

"No. The right dosage will erase your memories from the moment you took your first breath to this day."

"And the wrong dosage?"

"Do I really have to tell you something so obvious?"

Sophie gulps loudly, "Okay, but where will you send me?"

Silence.

He laughs. He fucking laughs and I hate that I don't find anything bad to compare the sound of it to. It's a good laugh. Sexy even.

"I don't know yet, lass. Time will tell."

"I-I don't know what I want. I-"

"Look, you have thirty seconds until I make that choice for you. My methods are simple. Ini. Mini. Miny. Moe."

Silence.

I'm counting the seconds in my head. Twenty-nine. Twenty-eight. Twenty-seven. My hand itches to shove the door open and embrace her. I want to shield her from hurting, but I'm useless. I'm weak, too weak to go out there and defend her. Snot leaks into my mouth.

"Kill me," Sophie whispers on a sob, and a shudder leaves me.

I'm no longer breathing silently or being careful. My chest heaves as I struggle to breathe. Sweat soaks the underarms of my red crop top. Please. I shake my head. Sophie, please don't do it.

My breath hitches in my throat when I hear something heavy drop to the floor. I detonate, crumbling like splinters of glass on the inside. I don't need to see to know what has happened. I hold the tiled wall to stop myself from falling to the ground.

Sophie.

A knock jerks me back to the moment. I slowly raise my head, realising that the sound is coming from the door in front of me. My heart lodges in my throat. My eyes fall to the space underneath the door.

I release a shaky breath. Oh, God. It's a different pair of shoes this time around. It's him.

He knows I'm here.

Shit.

The reaper tries opening it, and my eyes widen in realisation when it doesn't budge. I had slipped the lock in place the second time I shut it.

"Why don't you save us both the trouble and open the door?"

I bite my bottom lip hard, trembling, but staying as quiet as I can. Silence consumes the bathroom for a moment. You'll almost think he's gone with how quiet he is. I hold my breath, but it's stupid to think a wooden door will stop a bad man like that from harming me.

Seconds later, the door falls. I jump, heart beating as fast as drummers on steroids. He literally picks it out of his way, and I presume he cut the hinges with some kind of tool.

I raise my arm sharply and hide behind it, refusing to look at him, shaking like a seizure patient. This is the end.

"Ellie, did you seriously think I didn't see you rush to shut this door at the beginning?" a clever smirk tugs at the corner of his mouth when I glance up.

And my jaw drops.

♡

The world is upside down.

No, wait. That's just me.

I jump, but the action is useless. Strong arms have me hooked over a shoulder I don't recognise. Save for the black leather jacket under my hand, I won't have had any idea where I am now.

Never mix fear and drugs because the result is frequent blackouts. I fainted the minute the Wolf found my hideout and called my name. My actual name. My heart couldn't take it any longer-best I would not be awake during my last moments. I mean I do not know how he would kill me. Will I get to choose like Sophie?

"Where are you taking me?" I need to know what my death will look like, just in case we share different views.

I've always imagined my passing will be peaceful. Once I've grown old with Zane and all our kids have moved out, we will spend our last days together, reminiscing our youth. When the time is right, we'll die happily in each other's arms.

I'm about sixty years too early, and there's no youth to reminisce.

But he just grunts, picking up his pace. I check out the dry-leaf-covered path that cuts in between a mass of white pine trees, already adjusting to the fall season. There's a "beware" sign far behind us, where the eerie trail starts.

Seriously, he's a hockey mask away from starring on Friday the 13th.

A shudder skates through me at the thought that I will feel pain tonight as I die. I've come to terms with what is about to happen, but I'm not big on the 'excruciating' pain part.

"Uhm, let-let me down, please," I stutter once I realise he may be about to cut me open in this space that's far away from civilization. "I think we should talk about how this will go-"

"Ah!"

I groan and dart my eyes to him. The moon casts a dull light over his face, making him visible in the dusk. He just dropped me without warning. My butt is on fire.

"What is your problem?!"

He adjusts the black glove on his left hand. "Women. They forget so soon."

"I know I'm about to die, but I never wronged you. Would it hurt to be nice?!" I snap again, sinking my fingers into the ground.

"Maybe. But you shouldn't have been in that bathroom, Ellie."

I hate the way he says my name. I gag on my spit. It's horrifying, especially after what he had done to her.

"Shit, I can't believe Soph-" My voice breaks, and I look away, hiding my tears from this monster, "I can't believe Sophie told you my real name."

"No, Ellie. She's a loyal lass. I overheard your conversation earlier."

Raw fear icens me when the truth comes out. This man's been watching me since the moment I stepped into the nightclub. I shiver. He must have tailed Sophie. He knew the four of us would be here tonight. God.

'He's on his way back from Rhys's office.' Bile rises to my throat as I remember what that thug said earlier. Had we walked into the lion's den without even knowing?

"Just kill me already. Isn't that why you've brought me here?"

He cocks his head and tuts. "Pity."

"Isn't it?!" I demand again, though I'm certain my knees would have wobbled pathetically if I had been on my feet.

"No. There isn't a target on your back, but you are right. You've heard too much."

Suddenly, he hauls me to my feet. The nozzle of a gun digs into the tender skin of my neck. I wince, staring into his deep blue eyes that hold no emotion, not even a flash of it. He's a sturdy rock of viciousness, but I want to remember his face so I can come back to haunt his dreams, like in the movies.

"Run."

"What?!"

He frees me. "I'll give you a two-minute headstart. Run."

My heartbeat finds a staccato rhythm through the silence. Ba-dum. Ba-dum.

I search his eyes for a trace of insincerity, but something tells me that he's not the kind of man who says things he doesn't mean.

"Tick tock, Ellie."

I push away from him in a flash, dashing down the path. Even though I'm headed further inside this strange woods, the monsters hiding in here don't scare me as much as he does.

My waist burns from his touch as I flee. His hand was just hooked around me, and it was the only weirdly not-menacing thing about the past few minutes. Why had that sicko done that? Why had touched me like that?

Then the crack of a gun sounds so close to me, and I dive for the ground, closing my ears. Sweat trickles down my body, even falling into my eyes as I pant.

Footsteps. Someone's running after me. I gasp, eyes wide. My time is up.

Although I've just scraped my knee, I get on my feet and run again. I can hear my heart racing. My lungs can't take in sufficient air.

Another crack. I duck while jumping over a heap of stones. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. I swear the next bullet he releases whips past me, faster than light. If I remain on this path, I'll die.

I rerouted into the block of trees on the left, dodging trunk after trunk. Eyes above, behind, and ahead of me all at once.

The man's taunting me with each shot. I breathe harder. Damn, I know he is just messing with me for his fun. Two more cracks and my resolve shatters. A tear escapes when the eight crack comes. It hits the tree that I narrowly just passed. I shriek.

Please stop. Please.

As if he read my mind, there are no shots fired again. Ten seconds pass, and I can only hear my heavy breaths and erratic heartbeats.

"Argh!" I suddenly cry out when something pierces my neck after a while.

I slap my hand over the area, feeling a needle sticking out. Weakness seeps into my bones immediately and I crumble, pulling at it while my eyes droop closed.

Total blackness takes over.