Blaire's POV

I hopped off the car and took the lead.

“Wait up,” Christian called back.

I saw him narrowing his eyes at something far off.

“What's wrong Christian?” I asked out of my suspicion.

“Nothing. Just let me go in first,” he said, his eyes not averted even an inch.

“Sure.”

The door unlocked with a clank and the lights lit up with a voice command. Looking around quite a few times, I saw him sigh with a noisy exhale.

“I guess nothing is wrong,” he said as his eyes landed on me.

With a swift move, he scooped me up and carried me upstairs.

“What's going on?”

“Private time, sunshine,” he replied with a flirty wink.

“So this is your private time, hah!” I smacked his arm.

No sooner did I grasp his collar than my back hit the bed. All he needed was a jump to hover over me with his towering height. And his lips hit mine. Sometimes I surprise myself by the way I can sense his moves and actions. Our lips moved in sync as I let the whole world shut down. The sharpness of his teeth slightly nibbled my lower lip and traced downward along the edge of my chin. His lips were firm against my flesh as he traced kisses slowly along my neck which earned him low moans that escaped my lips. My eyes were shut and sealed and I bit my lower lip. His left index traced my skin as it danced and slid down it.

He brought his lips back to mine and this time the forces were inverted. The passion built-in and I deepened the kiss as I poured down my heart vigorously. I could feel his cold finger riding up my thighs and holding my waist firmly. Our tongues went on syncing when I felt the zip being down and his fingers were cold against my bare skin. Everything was bliss until the second we heard a gunshot.

In a split second, Christian was up and in senses. He reached the door and locked it. Grabbing me into a tight hug and zipping up my dress, he urged in a concerned tone, “Stay in the room, okay?”

Striding towards his drawer, he pulled out his gun. Turning off the safety and making it ready to shoot, he took a last glance, “and you know where the other guns are.”

To that, I nodded. Although I was pretty much confident about my skills, I could still feel the nervousness building up in the pit of my stomach. It was so silent, that I could even hear the ticking of the clock. Each second was being felt by my senses. There was a kind of cold and deadly silence. Amidst light and shadow, I could sense someone. I don't know why but my senses alerted me. It was a kind of alarm going on inside my head that I shouldn't be sitting here unarmed. I started backing off towards the door. Making my way out of the room, I grabbed the gun from the cupboard in the corridor. Leaving my shoes unattended, I climbed down the stairs.

“James?” I could hear the astonishment in Chris's voice.

“Surprised, brother?”

“Why-,” He blurted out and trailed off silently.

I stood there quite like an audience, witnessing two best friends aiming guns at each other. One with a devilish smirk and the other with a stunned and pained reaction of being betrayed and back-stabbed by his own best friend.

“James?” The question in my voice didn't go unnoticed.

“Surprised, blondie? But why?” He grinned. The venom in his tone was crystal clear.

“I guess your intelligent boyfriend didn't even see this coming. Did he?” he spoke venomously.

“Fuck you, you scoundrel,” Christian snarled.

“I - - I started selling drugs to save your damn ass. You know all of it how Christoph master-puppeted me pulling me down on that dirty lane,” he sighed,“ you know the threats and how I wanted to save the person dear to me, to save you. You know it all how I couldn't afford to lose anyone after I lost my mother and Illeana,” he spoke on his face, still aiming the gun at him.  

“Well, that's old...,”

“No, I'm not finished yet,” he warned, putting his index high in the air.

“And what did you do?” he continued,“ And what did you do?” he yelled at James.

“You fucking backstabbed me? You bloody dick- head,” he further cursed raising the question.

James was silent all this while. Listening to whatever Christian was saying or just shrugging it off, he was not the James with whom I was friends with. There was a poisoned coldness in his looks.

“Blaire--,” 

Christian's voice clogged in his throat and I know this was a huge blow to him. Maybe he's such a stony person from outside but I know how soft and kind-hearted he is. He was maybe on the verge of breaking down. No one can accept betrayal that easy that too coming from one's best friend, brother. I couldn't even be in his place.

“Christian - - no. Do not divert. Focus Chris, composure,” I went on reminding him.

“So, what do you say? Let me finish my task for what I'm here,” James interrupted.

“Wh-what task? You backstabber,” Christian spat back.

“Killing your girlfriend, bad boy,” he smirked.

A soft laugh escaped his lips, “That easy, huh?” He asked.

“Look, we have tried. Honestly, we didn't even think that we have to kill your blondie. I even gave you drugs and tried to create misunderstandings so that you guys break up. But no. After trying a lot of ways including kidnapping, you still seem, you know, unbreakable. So, the final triumph card,” he gave us a wicked smirk.

Not wasting a moment, he shot and Christian was spared just by an inch due to his reflexes as he sat down. My reflexes kicked in and I shot three in a row.

It took me a few seconds to realise what I did. I saw James fall to the ground, blood oozing out of his hand and stomach. I stood still while Christian walked up to him. 

“Why did you do this James? I'm sorry I realised this so late or I would kill you earlier,” he spat out, his eyes glaring with wrath at James who was currently excruciating in pain.

“Aah!” I gasped as I felt a firm hold grasp me by my hair.

“Damn, that. Fucking leave her alone, Christoph,” Christian glared.

“You wanna fight. Fight with me. Man to man.”

“Well, I didn't involve a girl. You did,” Christopher retorted.

“Fucking bastard,” he cursed and pushed him away from his hold.

“Blaire, go upstairs,” my mind wasn't in a position to decide and thus obeying his orders, I ran towards the staircase.

I stopped midway when another person dressed in black came down the stairs. I stepped back and was back to square one again. Silently, a gun came up and its cold metal met my forehead. I stood silent in his grip. In that fraction of second, my mind was framing a new configuration -

- ‘Either kill or get killed.’

Without a whisper, I brought up my gun to his belly and the bullet dove through his body like a silent killer without making a noise. I stepped back letting the imbalanced body fall to the ground.

I turned around to see a mess, Christopher sitting on top of Christian vigorously punching his face and changing positions vice-versa, they went on fighting. Blood oozed out of Chris's nose, mouth and eyes almost black. I tried to recall where I threw my phone when I entered here. Being ignorant of everything, I ran upstairs and sat on the edge of the bed. My heart shivered at the utmost level of tension and my body almost heated up to 101° Fahrenheit. I clutched the sheets in my fists and my level of anxiety grew even stronger. Feeling claustrophobic, my mind almost stopped working when another gunshot was heard and the window of the bedroom shattered. I reached up to the window knowing that I can get killed. I shot two in the vacant air without any direction but towards the ground of course. I couldn't sit in the room anymore. I stepped out of the room and passed the narrow corridor, I landed onto the stairs when another man appeared out of nowhere. I brought the gun up to his chest and my index pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. I took notice of things and no there wasn't anything happening. It struck that I've used all the bullets I had in the gun and that's when my heart ballooned with fear. My hands trembled and the gun met the wooden floor with a muffled sound. I pushed the man, trying to make an escape, at least get down the stairs. I didn't want my life to get over so soon I tried and tried my best. I would say there was a wild velitation going on. Of Course, I couldn't knock him down because he was greater than me in power and strength but I could at least defend myself. Amidst all these mayhem, someone fired and I saw the man slouch down on the floor after getting shot for consecutive three times. I stood there stupefied. I saw Christian and Christopher still fighting. Chris kicked Christopher hard with his knees and he was on the floor. This time Chris was on the top. I averted my eyes to the door as I saw the director of these gunshots enter. To my surprise, he was dressed like others, in black. Was he betraying Christopher then? He climbed up the stairs and my anticipation increased. I had already picked up the backup gun, in case. He stood almost an arm's length away from me and then unveiled his face from his hoodie. 

“Justin -,” I breathed a sigh of relief and my arms went around him as a reflex I guess.

“Yes, Blaire. It's me,” he whispered.

“Listen, I have betrayed them. Now they'll come after me and make me pay for my deceitful actions. So I must leave now,” he said coolly and then went through the back door escaping everyone's sight.

I rummaged through the sofas when I felt a strong grip on my hand and the gun thrashed on my head. My skull almost broke out in pain but finally, I grabbed my phone. Wincing in pain, I could feel the blood flow out. I fought back trying to come out of the grip but he dragged me by the floor towards the frontage. I kept struggling and then stopped when a shot was fired. To that, he stopped. Leaving me unattended on the floor, he turned back. I scurried away towards Christian where he stood almost straight aiming his gun towards him.

Dialling 911, ‘injured’ was all I could say when both of them fired. Throwing the phone to the floor, I stepped mid-way.

A burning sensation hit just below my chest as I stood there for a split second, eyes wide and mouth gaped. I felt the pain as the bullet dug through me. Christian was already on the ground, zoned out. My legs gave up and my throat suddenly dried up with extreme thirst. My surrendered body slouched down to kiss the wooden floor just beside Chris. I grabbed his hand and intertwined our fingers. My vision was blurry and the pain slowly ate me yet everything was so silent and slow. The last thing I saw was Christopher wincing in pain on the ground and then everything was a total blackout. My hand still held his tightly.