THE HOSTAGES

Psychopathic but it's okay, okay

***

CHAPTER LIV

*****

I MADE MY way down the hallway as Leon had instructed, not stopping until I had seen the end of it where my father was supposed to be located if Leon's word was to be trusted. Which it wasn't but that was behind the point. Unfortunately, a guard had stood positioned by it, making me have to quickly think up a plan as I confidently made my way towards him, no falter in my steps.

“Go,” was the only thing I had said as I reached him as if he would magically start taking orders from someone he didn't even know. As expected, he only raised a confused eyebrow at me before his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked me as he assumed a more defensive position, making me raise my arms in mock surrender as I rolled my eyes at him. The key was to play it cool.

“Boss says he wants you,” I lied to him smoothly, making him relax a little as a worried frown fell upon his lips.

“Did he look angry?”

“Very,” I answered.

“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, now too afraid for his own wellbeing to be suspicious of me. I wondered what kind of boss Frederick must've been to his workers for him to be this scared. “You'll watch him for me, yeah?” he asked as he began walking away to which I nodded. I wasn't even sure who "him" was but my intuition told me he was the very man I was searching for.

“I will.”

I remained silent as I watched him walk off, debating whether or not I should fire my gun before firing it anyway. The bullet had hit his thigh, making him fall to the floor in pain as he clutched his wound in an effort to stop the bleeding and numb the pain. I made my way over to him, making sure to take his gun away from him before he could draw it and use it against me. After, I began to tie up his bullet wound so he wouldn't end up bleeding out. Because I was nice, of course.

“Who are you?” he groaned in pain as I tightly tied a bit of his own shirt around his leg. “Why did you shoot me?”

“I'm Araceli. The woman your boss captured and locked up down the hallway,” I confessed, making his eyes widen in surprise and fear. “I didn't want to kill you so I only immobilised you but one wrong move on your part and I won't hesitate scheduling a meeting between you and your ancestors. I am not the one to be played with.”

He only nodded his head in response, leaving me to make my way back down the hallway until I had reached the end. Lo and behold, my father was exactly where Leon had said he'd be, sitting there looking so sorry for himself. I couldn't see him too well, but even I could tell that he was wasting away in here. It made me realise what could've possibly been waiting for me if I didn't come here with a plan. It was what Daniel wanted to protect me from. So all this time, this was where he was? I almost felt bad for thinking the worst of him.

“Raymundo,” I said in a firm tone, making him snap his eyes up at me, his forlorn gaze now filled with surprise and even happiness once he realised who it was that called his name.

“Araceli?” he asked, not trying to hide his shock at my presence as he made his way over to me to look at me through the bars. Gently he took my hand in his and just held it. “How did you find me? How did you get here?”

“They brought me here,” I confessed, making a sad expression take over his features again, but I wasn't in the mood to dwell on the details of being captured. Instead, I wanted to move faster. “How do I get you out?”

“He has the keys,” he said, using his head to gesture to the man I had shot who looked like he was trying to get up. Immediately he had noticed me watching him, he assumed the position I had left him in with a guilty look on his face.

Deciding to move past that, I narrowed my eyes as I walked closer to him. “Where are the keys to that cell?” I asked, gesturing to the cell my father was residing in.

“They're at my desk in the security room. I'll need to go get it.”

“Where s the security room?”

“Same floor. Just before the cells.”

“Let's go,” I said much to his surprise as I grabbed his hand and helped him onto his feet. Once he was standing, leaning heavily against the wall, I used my gun to gesture for him to start moving which he obediently did.

We walked through the same hallway I had come down, passing Leon who was still tied up but now looked to be unconscious. The guard must've assumed he was dead though because the look on his face turned to one of horror and fear as he looked back at me.

I only gave him a fake smile back, not feeling the need to explain myself as we continued walking. Finally we had walked through a door that immediately gave us access to a small dinghy office space. I couldn't help the relief that had coursed through me as the cool air of the AC fanned through the room but the relief was short lived as I set eyes on the other guards that were present, recognising one of them as the guard Leon had sent to rape me with his friends. I quickly assumed that the other people he was with were his friends and began firing my gun before any of them even realised I was in the room.

Nobody had time to react. Some tried to take out there weapons and fight back, but the fact that they weren't expecting me made it easier for me to just kill them off quickly. I turned back to the guard I had brought with me and again gave him a fake smile as dead bodies oozing blood scattered around us.

“They were going to rape me so I had to,” I said, this time feeling the need to explain myself even though I didn't really have to. “Where are the keys?”

“O-On this desk,” he said, moving quick towards the desk which had made me follow him with gun aimed and ready just in case he tried something.

He began rummaging through the sheets of paper on the desk looking for it while I briefly took a sweeping glance around the room until my eyes fell on something interesting.

“What's that?” I asked, pointing towards the large floor length box that seemed to be a safe of sorts. He looked up and followed my finger towards where I was pointing before he responded.

“Oh, that's just the weapons safe.”

“Open it.” He looked over to me, his gaze again filled with fear and reluctance which had only made me raise my gun to his head again. “Should I repeat myself?” Reluctantly, he waddled his way over to the weapons safe and punched in the code, immediately giving me access to the abundance of guns and ammunition they had in there. “Sit here,” I ordered, making him sit down by my feet as I picked out a couple guns, reloaded my own and then finally attached a silencr to it. I really couldn't have a gun be the thing that caught me out.

“Do you have the keys?” I asked him again once I was done, making him nod as he showed my the keys in his hand.

With a brief nod, I helped him back to his feet again before leading him back down the hallway to my father's cell. I wasted no time in unlocking the door, allowing my father out before turning back to the guard with an eyebrow raised.

“Get in.”

“There?” he asked, making me roll my eyes at his stupid question.

“No, heaven. Get in,” I demanded again, making him reluctantly hobble past me and Raymundo into the cell before I locked the door behind him, trapping him there. “Thank you for your help,” was the last thing I said to him before I began walking away, Raymundo coming after me.

It didn't take long until we had passed the cell that Leon was in, making Raymundo raise a surprised eyebrow at me. “You did that?” he asked to which I shrugged casually.

“I did what I had to.”

He said nothing else until we had reached the office, making him come to a halt as he let his eyes fall on my work. About five men lay dead in front of us, the floor almost completely covered in their pool of blood. I almost felt bad. Almost.

“Ara, we can't go up. It'll be too dangerous,” he confessed, but I only shrugged my shoulders because I didn't care whether or not it was dangerous.

Instead, I crouched down to the level of one of the guards and pulled his phone out of his pocket before using his finger to unlock it. Immediately, I had dialled Jorge's number and began calling him.

“Who are you calling?” Raymundo asked,  but that had been the moment that Jorge had picked up the call, making me sweep my answer to his question to the side.

“Jorge. Do you have Mateo and Daniel?” I asked, immediately skipping to the important questions because there was no way I could just sit there and greet him normally, as if I wasn't in a modern-day dungeon.

Jorge didn't make a sound for a couple seconds, making me check if the phone was actually on before, finally, his voice came through, sounding confused as ever. “B-boss?” he stuttered out in shock, “I, um, yeah. They're here. Wait, this is Araceli, right?” he asked, making me roll my eyes.

“Yes, it's me, Jorge. How are they? I hope you guys didn't run into any trouble leaving.”

“No, everything went fine. They didn't suspect a thing,” he confirmed making me let out a sigh of relief at least knowing that my family was safe where they were. “They were sedated though. The doctor said they should be waking up in a couple hours.”

“Good. How far away are you from me right now?”

“We should be there within the hour if the location we have from your tracker is correct,” he answered, making me look down at the scar on the inside of my arm and feel it for the tracker we had implanted there.

“It is.”

“Good. Just stay put wherever you are. We'll be there as soon as we can. Don't cause any trouble,” Jorge warned to which I rolled my eyes again because of course he would tell me to do that. No different from Daniel and Pablo.

On the other side of the phone, Jorge seemed to be struggling with someone which had made me start worrying for his safety when a familiar, very concerned voice came through the phone.

“Araceli? You stupid idiot. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“It's nice to hear your voice too, Pablo,” I said sarcastically, making him kiss his teeth at my indifference. “How are you?”

“You shouldn't be asking me that question and you know it,” he said, his voice sounding angry yet worried at the same time. As if he wasn't sure whether to dote all over me or yell at me. “You said you're safe, right? Wherever you are, stay there. We'll get to you in half an hour.”

“Jorge said it'll take you an hour though,” I pointed out, confused.

“Well Jorge must not intend to speed to you but I very well do.”

“Pablo, be careful.”

“Shut the fuck up,” he said disrespectfully. I was almost about to be offended before I reminded myself that it was Pablo that I was talking to and I couldn't expect anything more from him than rudeness. “Wherever you are, just stay there. We'll come to you soon. Don't get yourself into trouble,” he emphasised, making me let out an exasperated sigh. “I mean it, Araceli. Say you won't get yourself into any trouble.”

“I won't get myself into any trouble,” I repeated back to him half-heartedly, which seemed to appease him anyway. “Be safe. You and Jorge.”

“I should be telling you that. Don't want to be you when Daniel wakes up and finds out what you've done,” he said, letting a small chuckle leave his lips before rudely hanging up on me, making me glare down at the phone, hoping he would receive it wherever the hell he was.

My father let the silence between us linger for a couple minutes longer before he finally spoke. “Was that your people?” he asked, making me turn to him and nod silently. “They're coming?” I narrowed my eyes in suspicion of him making him let out a sad sigh. “I understand you don't trust me and my word means nothing to you, but I swear on my life that I'll never do anything to put you in harms way.”

Instead of responding to him, I made my way over to the desk and took a seat on it before training my gaze on him and asking him the question that had been playing on my mind since I had been brought here. “Who was my mother, Raymundo?”

He faltered at my question, a frown coming across his face as his gaze once again filled with sorrow - possibly at the thought of my mother. “She...” he stuttered, closing his eyes in pain. “Aracelia was your mother,” he confessed, making me confused because the mother I grew up was not called Aracelia. “She was pregnant with you but her father didn't approve of me so she ran away with me,” he said, making me raise my eyebrow because that one hundred percent sounded like something I would do too. I guess now I know where I got it from. Kind of. Really, I knew nothing. “Her brothers who only wanted her inheritance placed a hit on her when she was close to due. I was working, so I wasn't there when they had broken into our home and shot her. By the time I had come back, she was bleeding out and barely breathing.” He blinked rapidly, as if trying to blink away his tears as he retold the story, obvious pain in his voice. “I rushed her to the hospital but she had died along the way and they were only able to save you.”

I let us both fall into silence as I let his words settle in my mind. That my mother wasn't actually my mother and that she had died before I was even born; before I could get a chance to meet her. How the hell was that even fair?

“You were my world, Ara,” Raymundo continued after a couple minutes of silence, making me meet his gaze again only to see the tears that were now trailing down his cheeks. “You were everything to me. You were the only reason I had to live because the love of my life was gone and you were the only thing I had of her. Even to this day, you're a splitting image of her,” he said, his voice cracking as he looked down to the ground, as if he couldn't look at me anymore.

“Then why did you go?” I found myself asking. Truly, this was the question I had had for him ever since I became old enough to realise that I was never going to see him again. I fantasised about living a life with him but when I sat down and thought about what I would say to him, the only question that came to mind was "why did you abandon me?"

“Because it was too much,” he confessed, guilt taking over his expression as he still refused to meet my gaze. “I was a grieving single father with a newborn making below minimum wage with targets on yours and my head. I knew they would come back and kill you too if they found out that you survived and I couldn't risk that. I couldnt risk them taking you away from me,” he said, sounding pained as he finally looked at me, allowing me to see all the sorrow and grief and genuineness in his eyes. “I gave you to my sister to take care of you as her own and turned myself into the police because I knew I'd be far away from you but they also couldn't kill me from in there. I had never intended for Linda to pass you off as her own, but when she did, I figured that maybe it would be best for you. To have someone you could actually call "mother".”

“I wrote you,” I said, my voice full of accusations as I narrowed my eyes at him because I knew if I didn't start shouting, I would start crying instead. “I wrote to you so many times.”

“And I still keep those letters locked away in a small box,” he said quickly, almost as if in defense. “I have the responses as well. I swear, Araceli, I talked to you just as much as you talked to me but I was too much of a coward to send them,” he confessed, looking guilty again. “Every letter you sent, all I thought was how intelligent you were and how amazing you were. The words you were using at such a young age and the books you were reading and the grades you were getting. It showed just how brilliant you were. I thought it would break your heart to know that I'm your father. The person that never even went to high-school. Just like your mother and I never deserved her; I felt I didn't deserve you too. I don't know how to explain it,” he said, letting out a tired smile as he shook his head in disappointment. “It just felt like I had failed you from the second you were born. I had worked so hard to give you a good life but I couldn't even manage that. I thought it would be better if I stayed out of your life; that way you didn't have to know the disgrace I was and I didn't have to worry about putting your life in danger.”

“Linda had never told me that she put you out,” he admitted after a while, making me raise an eyebrow in surprise as I looked at him. I shouldn't have even been surprised at her behaviour in all honesty. In fact, I was just surprised that they talked about me at all. “She only kept up the charades until your sixteenth birthday and then she told me that you had began working and decided to make a life for yourself elsewhere.”

“She told you I had left home?” I asked, still trying to wrap my head around it. So she knew her kicking me out was wrong if she felt the need to lie about it but why had she never tried to remedy the situation?

“She did,” he confirmed with a nod. “I wanted to look for you because I didn't want you out there without knowing about the possible danger you were in, but she had convinced me not to because there was no reasonable way they would know you exist and that she was keeping a close eye on you. Meanwhile, the man she was fucking was the person we were running from all along but she was too blinded to fucking see how she was putting your life in danger,” he said, the obvious anger in my voice taking me by surprise. Had I ever heard him curse before?

Truly, Raymundo seemed like such a gentle person. This sudden anger took me by surprise, but then why wouldn't he be angry?

“Isaac?” I asked just to confirm because he seemed to be the only possible candidate. My mother — or Linda, I suppose — tended not to keep many people around but Isaac was an exception to that rule.

“Yes,” he nodded as he started pacing as if in an effort to calm his anger. “It's why I wasn't surprised when she died. I loved my sister but, her character was questionable at times.”

“She had her moments,” I offered but Raymundo only shook his head.

“Rarely.” I couldnt help but crack a smile at his words, feeling like I was finally bonding with him over something. Even if that something was my questionable mother. Auntie, I mean. Shaking the thought that my mother was now my auntie out of my head, I got to my feet and began walking towards the doorway, making Raymundo call out to me. “Where are you going?”

“Raymundo...” I trailed off as I turned back around to look at him, a determined look on my face, “you lived your life in fear and hiding and it made you miss out on too much,” I said, making the pain return to his eyes again. “I'm sorry, but I can't live like that. I'll be damned if anything ever tries to keep me away from the people I love. Quite simply, that thing is dying,” I said, making his eyes widen with either fear or concern.

“You can't kill all of them, Araceli,” he said, trying to deter me.

Instead, I only picked up my gun from the table it had been sitting on and made sure it was loaded before I gave him a small smile. “Just watch me.”

“You'll only get yourself killed, Ara,” he continued to try but I just shook my head and turned around.

“I'd rather that than live a life of misery,” I said to him as I continued walking down the hall I was hoping would lead me to where I wanted to be. “Stay here. Jorge will be here to get you soon.”

“Ara!” he called out for me, “Araceli, no!”

If only he knew how stubborn his daughter could be when she was determined to get something done. In this case, I was determined to paint the four walls of this house with the blood of my enemies and nothing was going to stop me from doing that.

***

The office was the place that I had decided I needed to be and the office hadn't taken me long to find. Much to my surprise, it had been left completely unguarded when I got there, making me realise that Frederick wasn't in it. I tried to figure out where it was he could've been until I realised that he said he was supposed to be off somewhere with Lola. Still, as I let myself into the office, I put up my highest caution with my gun aimed and ready to shoot at anything that may present as a threat.

It ended up being empty like I had expected, making me relax and lower my gun as I made sure to close the door behind me. I took a quick glance of my surroundings, taking note of every nook and cranny of the office to find any object I could use in my defense and anything my future hostage could possibly use against me.

The office was decently normal with a normal mahogany desk, a couple chairs and a long white sofa on the other side of it. Apart from that, there was only a small bookshelf and nothing else.

I quietly made my way towards the desk and settled in the desk chair before switching the computer. There hadn't really been any method to my madness before but now that I was sitting in front of their computer with possible access to their entire security system, I couldn't help but want to wreck havoc from the inside out.

Unfortunately, a passcode had been required to access the security system leaving me locked out. Fortunately, I was determined so I remained seated in my position and waited for Frederick to come like I had expected him to so I could pry the passcode out of him.

There was nothing much to do to keep myself busy, so I had only ripped out a piece of paper from his notebook, not caring if it was important or not and scrunched it up into a ball. To fill up the time, I threw and caught the ball until Frederick's recognisable voice came from outside of the office, making me drop the ball and sit up straighter.

As his footsteps approached, I positioned myself behind the door, ready to strike as soon as it opened. Luckily for my impatient self, it hadn't taken long for the door to slowly creak open as the sound of footsteps then filled my quiet surroundings.

I had decided not to attack him yet. From what I could hear, he seemed to be with two other guards; people who I didn't want to take on so I waited quietly for him to gently close the door before I came up behind him and pressed the barrel of my gun against his head.

“I know you're a smart man, Freddie. One wrong move and I will kill you,” I hissed lowly under my voice as to not alert the two men on duty outside. “And don't think they'll know either. I have a silencer attached to this thing.”

Frederick let a short, unserious chuckle slip past his lips as he shook his head yet put up his hands in surrender anyway. “You got me,” he said sarcastically as he probably rolled his eyes at the same time. “What do you want?”

“I want you dead,” I answered honestly which didn't seem to elicit any emotion from him. “But before that, I'll just take your gun.” Without a word of warning, I had snatched his gun from the waistband of his pants and placed it in the waistband of mine, adding to my plentiful stash.

“You know, I've just been to the basement,” he said casually as I patted him down in search of anymore weapons. It baffled me how this man wanted to act as if we could just have a casual conversation when I was only one misplaced strand of hair away from splattering his blood all over his cream walls. “It seems you caused quite a bit of ruckus.”

“You wouldn't know it was me if I didn't,” I said, clearly taking pride in the amount of chaos I had the ability to cause. “Now walk,” I demanded, making him walk forward.

As he walked to the middle of the office, I kept my gun cocked and ready for the right opportunity before aiming for his thigh and pulling the trigger. Almost as soon as the sound of the gunshot had gone off, he had collapsed to the floor in pain, his hand grasping the bullet wound in an effort to numb the pain and stop the bleeding.

“You bitch,” I heard him mutter under his breath but before he could continue to rain abuses onto me, I had shot his other leg, making him collapse completely onto the floor. “Fuck,” he had cried out as he squeezed his eyes shut, his body writhing in pain.

I just stood there staring down at him as he rolled about in agony, his blood now seeping through his pants onto the wooden floorboards. There was some innate part of me that just wanted to sit there and watch how long it took until he bled out and then there was another part of me that wanted to preserve his life just so I could see how much torture he could enjoy until he finally died. Of course, I understood that these feelings were very wrong. Logically, I knew that but emotionally? That was a different story.

It was a bit like how a child knows not to do something because their parents had told them not to, but they don't actually understand why they shouldn't. In this context, I knew I shouldn't have subjected him to a horrifying death because it was wrong, yet I could no longer grasp why it was wrong. There was no longer an angel sitting on one shoulder begging me to spare his life. There was no inkling of me that felt bad for taking a human life or subjecting a fellow human being to this kind of torture. Maybe because I no longer saw him as a fellow human being.

In the past, I would put myself in the shoes of my victims and ask myself how I'd feel if someone came to kill me. Now I'm questioning why I'd ever do that because if I were these men, I would never do the horrific, evil shit that they did. It was simple really. Don't be a horrible piece of shit and I won't come to kill you. Not hard rules to live by.

Still, I decided to preserve his life.

“Make one dumb move and I'll aim for the thing between your legs next time,” I threatened as I grabbed his arms and began pulling him towards the seat in the middle of the room, ignoring the trail of blood that flowed after us. With a great deal of effort, I had successfully hoisted him onto the sofa before yanking off his suit jacket. Briskly, I had walked back to his desk, retrieved a pair of scissors and cut the material into two roughly even pieces before making my way back to him and wrapping them tightly around his wounds.

He had groaned and hissed in pain but I couldn't find it in myself to give a damn. As a matter of fact, I was sure that I had gotten even rougher just to subject him to even more pain.

“So what now?” he asked once I had finally taken a step back. His brown eyes seemed to narrow in on me. “You'll just wait here until somebody notices I'm missing or what?”

“Don't insult me,” I chuckled softly under my breath as I made my way back towards his desk and sat in front of his computer. “You're actually going to give me the password into your security system so I can access it and move all of your guards away from their posts making you vulnerable for attack.”

“And what makes you think I'll co-operate?”

“I already told you. It's your penis next,” I said to which he only narrowed his eyes at me as if he didn't believe me. “Oh you think I'm joking.”

Swiftly, I pulled out the pocket knife I had stolen from the weapons safe from the basement and made my way over to him, making him lean away from me subconsciously. As soon as I was close enough, I crouched down to his level, ensuring that I maintained eye contact with him as I stabbed his knife into his thigh; shallow at first and purposely avoiding the bullet wound.

He had winced in pain briefly, but his gaze remained hard and his conviction set on not sharing the passcode with me. That was until I had started moving the knife.

“Along the thigh,” I began muttering to myself under my breath, “away from the knee, towards the ballsack.”

Under my touch I could feel him tense up as I drew nearer to his dick, still never taking my eyes off his. In his eyes, I could see him breaking but I was enjoying it too much to actually care.

“Okay, wait, wait,” he said, finally giving in like a scared little bitch. “Let's talk.”

“Tell me,” was my simple demand. I wasn't here to "talk". All I needed was a five digit code and possibly his mother's maiden name if it came down to it.

“It's 11982,” he finally confessed, making a pleasant smile stretch across my face as I stood up. I found it funny because I hadn't even really touched him yet and he was already begging. God, for a group of people that spent so much time trying to capture me, they really were not prepared enough to have me here. I was wrecking havoc and barely breaking a sweat while doing it.

“Mother's maiden name?” I asked as I made my way back over to the desk and assumed my seat in front of the monitor again.

“Fernández.”

“Thank you for your cooperation, Frederick,” I said in a faux-formal voice as I typed the information into the system, successfully granting myself access to every bit of information I needed.

With the phone I had robbed from the guard, I took pictures of each location guards would be at and hastily forwarded them to Jorge before forcing the system to shut down and deleting all back ups, rendering everything useless. Well, useless until someone came and fixed it.

Finally done with my work, I sat back in my seat and stared at Frederick who only stared back at me with irritation clear on his face.

“Now what?” he asked, breaking the silence that I had actually been enjoying. It seemed like no one here actually wanted to bond with me for some reason. “We just sit here and wait for an enemy to notice and attack?”

“No, Freddie,” I said, giving him a weird look as if he was stupid for even suggesting that idea. “I didn't come here to sit around and wait.” I picked up my phone and made my way over to him, making him watch me suspiciously. “I want to have a bit more fun before I kill you. I want you to call Lola. Tell her to come down.”

“I'm not doing that—”

“Call Lola, Frederick,” I said, my tone coming out assertive as I held out the knife again, this time pressing the blade just under his chin before flipping it and pointing it downward. I let go of it, letting it drop and making him flinch in fear yet before the blade could meet him, I had caught it by the handle and smirked at him. “You know what's at stake.”

Exhaustion settled in his eyes as he leaned back in his seat and let out a tired breath. “Okay.”

I quickly dialled Lola's number into his phone, knowing that I didn't have much time before Jorge and Pablo showed up to rescue me. “Make it convincing,” I told him firmly before hitting call and putting the phone on speaker phone.

It didn't take Lola long before she answered and I couldn't help the smile that settled on my face at the sound of her fucking awful voice. “Frederick,” she said acknowledgingly to which Frederick nodded as if she was here, resulting in me slapping him upside his head.

“Lola, Araceli escaped the basement and none of my men know where she is currently. I need you to come up here right now,” he said, his voice coming out smooth and even, making even me almost believe it and I was in on the lie.

“I'm coming,” was all she said, her voice coming out dead serious before the call ended and we were surrounding by silence once again. This time, I was the one to break it.

“Good job, stink stink,” I said as I patted his shoulder enthusiastically, which had only earned me a menacing glare from him but I didn't really care. This was my world now and they were my subjects. “You should've gone for an acting career, I swear. "I have an estranged uncle that's literally a world famous celebrity" has a much better ring to it than "my uncle tried to kill me last year." Like that's so common. Be original next time.”

I made my way back to the door, assuming the same position I had assumed when I first came and let my back lean against the wall, gun still in hand. Holding people captive was fun but was equally exhausting and I was definitely starting to feel its effects on me, but I was nowhere near finished.

In no time, hurried footsteps had began making its way down the hallway until they had come to this door and slowly, the door creaked open. This time, I had only waited for her to fully step into the office before I slammed the door shut behind her, slammed her head against a wall and pressed my gun to her head.

“What the hell?” she hissed as she began struggling against me, her hand immediately going for her gun. Annoyed at her will to live, I had shot her hand, snatched her gun and then shot her leg in quick succession before kicking her over to the side.

Instead of keeping my gun pointed at Lola, I had instead pointed it at Frederick as I stormed over to him. I dialed another number and put it on speaker phone again.

“Dismiss them,” was all I said, making him let out another sigh once the phone was picked up.

“Bennet, Nicholas. Leave me,” he said, addressing the two guards at the door that Lola had almost alerted of the situation that was going on in here.

“But Boss—”

“I said leave me. I want to be alone.”

“Yes boss,” the men complied, making Francisco end the call with a frown.

“They probably think you two are fucking,” I laughed to myself, yet the silence that followed seemed to say enough. “Wait. You two are fucking?” I asked, unable to help my surprise at the fact that they were before rolling my eyes in exasperation and embarrassment on behalf of the both of them. “Of course you two are fucking.”

“What do you want?” Lola groaned as she just managed to sit herself up, propping herself up against the desk.

“Why does everyone keep asking me what I want?” I said with a frown. “What if I just want to catch up with some of my old friends, huh?” I asked as I walked closer to Lola and crouched in front of her. “How have you been, Lola? How's life been treating you?” I asked before letting my eyes look back at the top of her head before meeting her gaze again. “Has your hair finally grown back or is that a wig sitting on your head?”

A quick as a flash, Lola had swung her arm out, aiming something sharp and flashy at my throat to which I had been able to dodge quickly. I took a couple cautious steps back despite not actually being afraid of her and knowing that no matter what she did, I still had the upper hand.

“So what? You think you can leave now?” Lola asked, her voice almost sounding desperate and deranged as she spoke to me, knife still pointed at me. “Even if you tried to make a run for it, there are guards everywhere. You wouldn't even make it halfway passed those gates before your ass would be hauled back.”

“The security system is down,” was all I said, making her face drop once she realised that the only thing actually keeping her safe and me here was no longer working.

Without the security system which was really clear orders for each individual guard put into one place, it would be up to individuals guards to use their common sense and know what to do. Which they weren't going to do because most either thought that they were on lunch now or their shift was over.

“You gave her the passcode?” she asked, sounding disgusted as she glared behind me at Frederick who looked down in shame.

“She threatened me.”

“And so?” Lola damn near yelled, her eyes filling with fury and so much hatred. “What happened to die trying? You said you'd die trying!”

“Aw, you guys were going to kill yourselves for me? Suicide pact!” I butted in, putting a hand over my heart as if I was touched by the gesture but it seemed none of them wanted my gratitude.

“Shut up!” Lola yelled, sounding like she was on the edge of having a breakdown.

“Rude.”

“Araceli, my men will figure out systems are down any minute now,” Frederick said, directing his words to me as if I actually gave a shit. “Once they do, you won't be able to escape anymore. Now's your only opportunity.”

A smile had spread across my face which had soon turned into a small humoured chuckle and then a full blown laugh, much to both his and Lola's confusion. “You still think...” I trailed off as I struggled to catch my breath, “you guys still think I'm trying to escape?” I asked, looking at both of their expressions before shaking my head, feigning disappointment. “The goal had never been to escape. The goal had been to destroy everything from the inside out.”

“What?”

“Look at this,” I said as I pointed to the very small scar on my left arm. “It's a microchip. And it's tracking my location right now.”

“No,” Frederick shook his head in disbelief, “No.”

“Yes,” I nodded, “Even when I was tied up, you were still going to die anyway. I could have remained in the basement, never escaped and you would still end up dead,” I shrugged nonchalantly, “I just wanted to have my fun before you did. And I think now is a good time to let you know that we've had Lucien captured and technically "working" for us for a while now,” I threw out casually as I checked the time on my phone. “Guess who was behind every phone call he ever made to you?” I asked as the smile on my face grew the more realisation became apparent on his features. “Me. It was always me, uncle.”

Cutting me off was the sound of the door swinging open as a worried looking Lucia came barging into the office. “Boss, there are gunshots everywhere. A rival ca...” she had slowly trailed off once her eyes had set on me, the fear obvious in them.

“Hello, Lucia,” I said calmly as I tilted my head to the side, analysing every miniscule move she made. That was, of course, until she made a bigger move. The wrong move too if I were to judge.

She reached for her gun. But I reached for mine quicker and without a second to lose, I pressed down on the trigger, sending a bullet straight into her skull.

“I never liked that bitch anyway,” I muttered as I sneered at her body before perking up again, “but I guess that really starts us off strong.” Without a word of warning, I had fired the gun again, this time sending a bullet straight into Frederick's skull before turning around to Lola.

“You think you've won?” she spoke up just before I could end her, making me tilt my head to the side in curiosity, wanting to hear what she had to say. “No matter where you go, who you are, you're still going to be you.” No shit. “The bitch that nobody fucking likes. Only problem is you still haven't realised just how much everyone else in the group hates you,” she said, making me furrow my eyebrows and purse my lips before shaking my head, finding myself being serious for the first time in the last hour.

“Lola, even if I "lose", I'm walking out of this room to live a long, fulfilling life with people I love. You're dying at twenty-six knowing you spent every second of that time obsessing over me,” I said as I lowered my gun, confused at how she still didn't see it. “Grow up.”

For a second I kept my gun lowered, considering not killing her so she could live and consider just how much of a fuck up her life was, but then a final second kicked in and without a word of warning, I had aimed and fired the gun, lodging a bullet in her forehead and decorating the walls with splatters of her blood.

Contemporary art.

***

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!! Wishing you all the best for this coming year.

Anyways, so here's the chapter. How are we feeling???

If you read my message board, you know that it's no longer like 2 chapters until the end (including this one). It's three because I wrote a little bit (a lot more) so you've got two more chapters after this one and the epilogue!

If anyone wants to know the word count for this, it's like 7400+ not sure on the exacts. Next chapter is around the normal length at 4900+ the chapter after that may be slightly longer.

Anyway, what do you feel is going to happen next? I'm just saying don't get too comfortable. The next chapter may surprise ;)

Happy New Year again guys. Praying that you all make the year yours and get the best out of it.