Gunfire rocked the room, ear-shattering, relentless. Plaster and splinters cascaded from the ceiling as bullets punched through the walls, each shot booming like thunder in Mariam's head.Her heart hammered against her ribcage. She flat out on the cold floor, gasping, lungs filled with dust and gunpowder. Her eyes were burning from the smoke but she couldn't help glancing at the man in the doorway.Her breath hitched. No. It can't be him."Samuel " The name left her lips like a ghost.Her childhood friend. The boy who stole mangoes with her, the one who swore he'd protect her from every demon on the planet. Now standing in front of her in the fog, gun raised high, his eyes sharp, merciless, a grin distorting his mouth."Hello, Mariam," he said.The tone of his voice emptied her out. It was familiar to her, yet distorted like a children's ditty stretched into something rough and sadistic.Adrian's head snapped in her direction, then towards the intruder. His jaw clenched into steel. "You know him?"Her windpipe tightened. She couldn't bring herself to utter the words.Adrian didn't let her. He yanked her by the wrist, dragging her behind the solid oak desk as another spate of bullets ripped through the room, shredding papers, snapping the legs off a chair."Stay down!"His voice was as icy as cut glass."I can't he's"..."He's trying to kill you."Adrian's voice cut to her heart. "That's all you need to know."Mariam's whole body trembled. She wished she could scream that this was not possible, that Samuel would never hurt her. But the truth was in his eyes the vacant coldness where warmth had once been. The Samuel she knew was gone.
Her mind tricked her with memories: Samuel balancing her on his shoulders across a washed-out road, laughing under trees, mouthing words of promises he'd never leave her. That kid was gone. This guy was here to kill her.Her breathing came in jagged shards. "Why is he doing this? Why would Samuel "Pay attention." Adrian's bark cut off her fear. His hard, unblinking eyes locked on hers. "They sent him because you'd hesitate. That hesitation will kill you."Her stomach contracted. He's right. They used him as a means of beating me. They knew I'd be frozen.Another round of bullets slammed into the desk, rattling the floor beneath her. Splinters stung her cheek. Wood and metal char were burning in her nose.Adrian crouched beside her, spine against the desk, gun gripped firm, breathing regular amidst the chaos. He was a storm contained in human shape."When I say the word," he murmured, "you head to that door."Her heart jolted. "I'm not leaving you"."You think that's romance, Mariam? " His eyes blazed with fire, pitiless. "This is survival. Do what I tell you or you die."Her eyes welled up with tears, but she clamped them shut. She nodded, her throat raw.The shooting slowed. Quiet invaded the shadows, eery, punctuated only by dripping water somewhere in the darkness and the low whine of the generator outside.Adrian leaned his head a fraction to one side, listening like a predator that has caught the scent of prey. His eyes narrowed. "He's moving."Mariam swallowed hard. "How do you know?"Adrian said nothing. He lifted his arm and fired twice into the haze. A curse was heard, Samuel's voice ratcheted with pain."Lucky shot," Samuel growled."Lucky enough," Adrian muttered, his gun still trained.Then Samuel's voice boomed through the haze. "You're wasting your time, Kane. She's already marked. The girl's a dead woman walking."Mariam's blood solidified."Then why not kill her yourself? " Adrian's voice came back, mocking.Samuel laughed, the laughter hollow, cruel. "Because it'll hurt her more if she recognizes me. If she looks at my face before she dies."Her lungs folded in upon themselves. She couldn't breathe. He wasn't kidding. He meant what he said.Adrian's head was inches from her ear, his lips brushing against it softly, voice low and dark. "You wanted a decision? Here it is. Do you trust him… or me? "Her heart raced. Samuel, the boy who had sworn to protect her. Adrian, the one who scared her but kept on saving her. Trust a ghost from her past—or a devil in her present? Her throat dry. "I… I can't"
Then let me make the choice for you."
Adrian's voice was frosty.
He leapt out of cover, firing into the smoke, every bullet precise, controlled.". His pace was swift, accurate, ruthless pushing Samuel away.Mariam crept, trembling with each deafening blast. Her tears streamed, wetting her face streaked with dust. But beneath the terror, something evil was entwined in her body. A pull. Towards Adrian.She loathed herself for it. But she could not deny it.The shooting ceased. Smoke drifted listlessly through the gate. Silence pressed against her ears.Adrian's gun remained raised, his whole body coiled like a predator ready to strike.Then retreating footsteps.He didn't chase. He lowered his gun slowly, jaw tight, exhaling through clenched teeth. "They won't stop," he said flatly. "Not until you're in the ground."Mariam's chest heaved. "He was my friend." Her voice cracked like glass.Adrian crouched in front of her. His dark eyes drilled into hers, merciless. "No. He was your pawn. They used him because they knew you'd shut down. And you did.
Her shame was a knife twisting within her.
Next time you hesitate, Adrian said, his voice low, I won't be able to save you.
Her tears blurred his face. "Then what am I going to do?"
For a moment something relaxed in his eyes. His hand came up, calloused fingers tracing her cheek, trembling just barely. "Learn quickly.". Or die slowly.
Her breath caught.
Before she could answer, the overhead lights flickered.
The generator whined.
Then silence.Darkness closed around them entirely.Her chest clamped tight.indefinite"Adrian…"He grasped her hand, blade in the other.indefiniteHis body pressed against hers, rigid, poised.Then, a breath slipped from the black, close and icy."She doesn't belong to you, Kane.indefiniteShe belongs to us."Mariam's blood ran cold. Her fingernails raked into Adrian's arm.The lights came back on gorgeous.Her gasp was stuck in her throat.The room wasn't empty anymore.Half a dozen men with masks pulled up over their eyes stood there, guns aimed, shadows creeping down the walls like monsters.And at the front, Samuel.With a smile."Time's up," he said, gun fixed on Mariam's chest.undefined"Hand her over."Her scream stuck in her throat.Adrian's jaw clenched, his finger drawing tighter on the trigger. "Over my dead body."
The air pulsed, seconds from detonation.
Mariam's heart pounded, every part of her protesting that what happened next would change everything.