The Villain Duet by Bella J.
Chapter 10
Charlotte
Iwas wrapped up in a bundle of silk sheets when a loud slam of the door jerked me awake.
“Charlotte, get up.”
A curtain of dark, disarrayed curls fell over my face, and I wiped it back with my arm. “What is—”
“Get the fuck up. Now.”
The silk sheets swooshed as he pulled them off and grabbed my arm, hauling me off the bed so fast I tripped over my own feet. But he yanked me back up, giving me no time to find my goddamn footing.
“What is happening?” I tried to twist my arm free from his hold, but he only gripped tighter.
“We need to leave. Now.”
“Why?”
We rushed out the door, and he pulled me down the hall so fast, my feet barely touched the wooden floors. It was still dark, maybe early morning hours since the windows revealed the black sky. Dim lights lit the way down the hall, and I tried my best to keep up without tripping over my own two feet.
“Where are we going?”
“It’s no longer safe here. Shit.”
“What do you mean? What is going on?” Pushing down my heel, I tried to stop and pull back. “Elijah, stop!”
He turned to face me, and my breath got lodged in my throat, his golden pupils all dark and dangerous. Wild and bewildered, he stepped right up to me, his shoes touching my naked toes. “Right now, I need you to trust me. Can you do that?”
“I…what…Elijah, what’s—”
His grip on my elbow tightened, fingers clawing into my skin as he pulled me against him, leaning down as his stare burned into mine. “Tomorrow you can fight me all you want. Be defiant and act like I repulse you.”
“Act? It’s not—”
“Charlotte!” Like a sonic boom, his voice exploded down the hall. “Either you fucking listen and do exactly as I say and we both get out of this alive, or you continue to be fucking stubborn and you won’t see another sunrise.”
It was one of those intense moments when the sound of your racing heart drowned out the sound of your thoughts. When the rush of adrenaline stopped time, and you were frozen, unable to comprehend what was happening, what your options were, and what it was you were supposed to do.
“Mr. Mariano,” a man came rushing down the hall, “all three cars are ready. They’re waiting at the back exit. We need to leave now.”
A loud crack blasted next to us, followed by the piercing sound of glass breaking. I crouched to the side and felt Elijah’s arms cover my shoulders. “Josh, switch off the lights. Now!”
Fear sliced my insides, and I looked up at the cracked window. “What was that?”
“Keep your head down.” The lights went out, and Elijah kept his arm around me as we ran down the hall as fast as we could. Everything happened so quickly, it was just one giant blur. Wooden floors were replaced with the loud echo of tiles as we moved across it in almost total darkness. There was a glint of steel doors in front of us—an elevator, but Elijah pulled me to the right just as a door opened in the far corner.
“Come on, come on.” Elijah’s arm dropped, and he wrapped my hand in his as we started down two flights of stairs before we darted through another door. “Josh, keycard.”
Josh swiped a keycard, and the elevator doors opened, my heart pounding in my ears as I struggled to catch my breath. Once inside, the doors slammed closed, and Josh pushed the last button on the panel.
For the first time, Elijah let go of me, pacing while holding a goddamn gun in his hand.
“Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” I demanded between rapid breaths, my hands clinging to the support rail behind me.
Elijah completely ignored me. “Is the plane ready?”
“Yes, sir.”
Elijah nodded, still pacing. I wanted to press for an answer, raise my voice and make myself heard so I could find out what the hell was happening. But the ping of the elevator door signaled, and it opened, two men and a woman waiting on the other side.
“Charlotte and I will go in the last car.”
“Sir,” Josh paused, “he’ll expect that. I suggest you take the first car.”
Elijah shook his head. “They’ll expect me to think that taking the last car would be the obvious choice, therefore opting for the middle one. Here, put this on.” Elijah handed me a black hoodie and glasses, the exact same as the other woman was wearing.
I opened my mouth, but his pointed stare warned me to keep it shut. “Do as you’re told.” Then turned to the woman in the hoodie. “Vivian, you go in the middle car. They won’t know which one to follow.”
She nodded, and Elijah grabbed my hand, all of us scattering in different directions toward the black SUVs.
“Is she supposed to be me?”
“Just to throw them off our trail.”
“And by them, you mean…?”
“Not now, Charlotte.”
We reached the car, the cold air stinging my cheeks, and Elijah opened the door.
“Oh, by the way, Josh?”
“Yes, sir?”
Elijah lifted his arm, the metal glint of the gun a harrowing warning before a sharp strike sliced through the air, followed by a blunt crack. My reality got severed as I watched Josh fall to the ground with a blood-oozing hole in his forehead. Everything went mute. All I heard was my erratic heartbeat echoing between my ears, my skin numb and ice cold.
“Oh, my God.” My voice quivered, and I couldn’t stop shaking my head, refusing to believe this was really fucking happening.
“Come on.” Elijah grabbed my arm, but this time I managed to twist out of his grip.
“You killed him.”
“Thank you for stating the obvious. Now get in the motherfucking car.”
“Why?” My legs grew weak, and I fell back against the car. “Why did you kill—”
“The man was a fucking traitor, Charlotte.”
An ache spread through my chest, the bitter taste of bile leaking on my tongue. “What…what…Jesus.” I couldn’t even think straight, teetering at the edge of hysteria while my brain threatened to shut down. “You killed him.”
“Just get in the motherfucking car.” He grabbed me behind my neck, fingers biting into my skin. I tried to fight, to kick and grab at his arm, but I was no match for him as he shoved me into the back seat, getting in behind me and shutting the door.
“Drive,” he ordered, and I got knocked back in the seat as the car pulled away, screeching tires hurting my ears.
The two SUVs in front of us each split up in different directions, and we drove straight. I tried to catch my breath, my hand gripping the doorhandle tight. “What the fuck just happened? Why…why did you kill—”
“He fucking talked, and now they found you. Fucker!” Elijah pulled out his phone, threw it on the floor, and crushed it with his heel. He scavenged the pieces and found the tiny SIM card, pulling a pocketknife from his jacket and stabbing the card straight through, tearing the leather seat, before tossing it out the window.
“What do you mean, they found me? Who are they?”
“Un-fucking-believable.” He slammed his fist into the back of the font seat, the leather creaking under his anger. “Fuck! Henry,” he said to the driver, “give me your phone.”
The driver didn’t hesitate, handing his phone over to Elijah. Sweat dripped down my spine, my palms wet, and breathing rapidly as I watched Elijah’s fingers fly across the touchscreen, making a call.
“It’s me. Plan A has been compromised. We’re moving on with plan B…Yes, we’re headed there right now. Okay.”
He hung up and tossed Henry’s phone to the floor and crushed it the same way he did his, stabbing the SIM and throwing it out the window.
“Is that really necessary? That’s not even your fucking phone.” I was stunned.
“You don’t mind, now, do you Henry?”
“No, sir.”
Elijah shot me an arrogant glare, annoyance rippling from his rigid shoulders. There was so much rage, panic, fear, I had my body pushed up against the door. “What is going on right now?” I didn’t even realize I was crying until I tasted the saltiness of my tears on my lips.
He dragged his hand through his hair, then straightened his collar as if he tried to slip that cool façade back. Meanwhile, I was busy hyperventilating while my brain splintered inside my skull, trying to make fucking sense of what just happened.
There was this heavy silence around us, and not even the bustling New York crowds and traffic could penetrate it. The grueling sense of foreboding filled my lungs, and I sat back, waiting for him to say something. Anything.
He glanced in my direction. “Not yet.”
“What?” I glowered at him. “What the fuck do you mean, not yet?”
“I mean not yet!” he snapped. The tension that rolled off him was frightening, his dark gaze holding a secret he struggled to share. “Things are not as they seem, Charlotte.”
“No shit. First you kidnap me, and now you shot a guy?” I tugged at my hair as I weaved my fingers through the curls. “I can’t even fucking think straight right now.”
He rubbed his palm across his beard, the scratchy sound scraping against my last goddamn nerve.
“I can tell you more when we get to our destination.”
I balked. “Our destination? Where are we going?”
Elijah eyed the driver, the look of distrust flashing across his face. “You’ll know when we get there.”
Something inside me snapped—my sanity, maybe. But every muscle in my body reacted as if there was something inside me that needed to get out. To escape.
God, I needed to escape.
“I can’t. No. No. I can’t do this. I can’t be here.” With panicked breaths and adrenaline gushing through my veins, I grabbed the doorhandle, desperate to get out. I didn’t care if I died while jumping out of a fucking moving car, I just wanted to get away from all of this. From him.
“Jesus, Charlotte. Stop.” Hands grabbed my shoulder, and I pulled my knee up, kicking at him, screaming for him to leave me the fuck alone.
“Let me go.” The door wouldn’t open, and my throat started to close up, panic wrapping its poisonous tentacles around my lungs. “Let me out!”
“No, stop!”
He pulled me back, slamming me into his chest as he wrapped an arm around me, pinning me so I couldn’t move.
There was a sharp stab in the top of my arm, a needle, and I felt the liquid burn as it spread through my veins. “Why are you doing this to me?” I cried. My pathetic attempt at staying strong didn’t even last a fucking day. “Why?”
“Shhhh, little cellist. Soon.”
“No, no, no.” My words got lost and my body went numb, my thoughts vanishing, until it was all…black.
