The Games We Play

45. Forty-Four - X

Forty-Four - X

I often wondered if, right before you die, you know it’s happening. Does your body accept defeat the split second before your heart stops, or does the mind hope until the final synapses in your brain fire?

This room is heavy with death. Like it’s latched onto my back, and I can’t shake it. It feels different from when I’m the hunter. Death doesn’t touch me then; instead, it fills the air around me. Tonight, I’m prey, and I need to find my predator.

Getting Puppet as far away from me as possible was the only option. If I tried to explain it to her, she would have refused to leave my side. But above the killing, above the beast in my soul craving blood, we both crave someone more.

Her .

Everything revolves around Puppet now. And with my dying breath, I’ll keep her safe.

I refrain from looking back. If I spot her alone, I’ll talk myself out of what I’m about to do .

Frances is on the other side of the orchestra, laughing and chatting with his companions. I stand beside a group, slightly angled toward them so any onlookers would think I’m a part of it, merely bored with the conversation.

A lone figure shifts around a column with dark brown hair, head down, and hand in their suit jacket. I narrow my gaze as the figure walks closer to Frances.

I slowly step around the orchestra. The moment they fulfill their contract, they’re mine. For Lance. For Ryan, I’ll do this for them and for what Puppet has lost.

With each step, the killer gets closer, and I fall into step behind him. His hand shifts in his pocket, and I tense, ready for the shot. He walks right up to Frances, and I’m an arm’s length away from him. His hand whips out, and the crowd parts. I am ready for the grab, then…Frances lets out a boisterous laugh, and the man’s stance relaxes as he hands something to the scarred target.

I immediately turned to the side to show interest in the musical talents; my hands relaxed at my sides.

“I thought for sure he was the one. I mean, how obvious can you be walking like you’re carrying a secret?” a male voice says as he walks up beside me. I immediately look past the entertainers to search for Puppet.

“There’s a mighty price on your head and for the Wallace Princess.”

My hands clench into fists, and I turn, facing the threat head-on. I stare down a man with blocky glasses and a smirk. His face is cleanly shaved, and I have to angle my head to make eye contact with him.

“Easy, Xane. Before you try anything, why don’t you look over there?” He jerks his head to the left, and I look out of the corner of my eye .

My jaw immediately clenches, and all the air leaves my lungs. Anger, unlike anything I’ve ever felt, surges through my chest, and I want to fucking kill every person in this place for letting this happen.

Puppet stands with an arm pinned behind her back and a gun pressed to her temple. A waiter is her apprehender, and the realization that I sent her to the fucking kitchen for an exit has me nearly sick.

“She means nothing to me. Simply a means to an end,” I bite out, portraying annoyance at the inconvenience. “Let her go.”

“Nice try. I don’t think you’re in the position to make demands. November would like a word with you.”

A phone rings, and I keep my stare locked on Glasses.

“You should answer that,” Glasses says, pointing to my pocket. I pull out a phone that isn’t mine, and the word unknown flashes across the screen. “I could’ve killed you when I planted that earlier. She’s a distraction, and it’s cost you your life, Xane. How does it feel to know she’s the reason you got caught? The notorious Xane Collins, brought down by some good pussy.” He laughs, and the phone rings again.

“If you don’t answer, orders are to kill the princess.”

I don’t let my gaze flit to Puppet again, no matter how much I want to. I have to make the lie believable. I used her. She meant nothing to me. I put on a good show, and she fell for it. That’s it.

I hit accept and lift the phone to my ear.

“Nice of you to join us. I hear the party is wonderful.”

As if cued by some unknown order, the crowd disperses. The attendees leave through the kitchen, the door we entered through, and a hidden entrance I didn’t see behind a ceiling-to-floor picture .

Everyone leaves…except the several men scattered around the room. They stare at me like I’m the salvation they’ve been waiting for. They practically salivate, the yearning for my death prominent in their eyes.

“And the main event is about to arrive,” November coos in my ear. The surrounding men turn and face the doorway that leads to the stairs. In my periphery, Puppet struggles under her captor’s hold, and he leans in closer, whispering something in her ear that has her eyes widening and screaming at me to help her.

I can’t. I told Doc I wasn’t enough to keep her safe from this, and I was right. I should have let her go that night. But I was too damn selfish to do what was best for her. Instead, I let my desires get us both killed. It was a child’s fantasy that she could exist in this world at my side.

She may have a taste for blood, but she’s not the cold-blooded kind of hunter that survives this life for as long as I have. Her eyes pool with emotion, and I clench my jaw.

Maybe I can use her emotions to my advantage. They’re proof of how much she believed the lie.

“You were my bargaining chip, after all, Xane. I guess I should thank you. Your sacrifice is duly noted. Give Mallard my regards, will you?” November says.

A click and silence are all that’s left of the phone call, and I slowly lower the phone from my ear as I step down the hall and come closer.

Step. Step. Crack.

Step. Step. Crack.

Glasses smiles and steps away from me until I’m alone in the middle of the room. Puppet moves closer to the stairway, and I steel my features, even as she comes perfectly into my line of sight. She doesn’t stop fighting. My pet writhes and wiggles in her captor’s hands, crying out when her shoulder is bent too far back and she’s held suspended with her toes barely touching the ground.

With a final crack, a figure emerges from the darkened hallway. Their chin dipped low, and the brim of their hat hides their features.

“My, my. This is a pleasant surprise,” the voice echoes around me, and my nostrils flare, the only sign giving away how much his presence shocks me.

How is he here? What did he offer Nadia to get me here?

“You,” Puppet roars, and her fight rages with a whole new purpose.

The man lifts his chin slowly, leaning on his cane as he favors his left leg, and a cynical smile curves up his lips.

“You fucking monster!” she screams, her shrill voice echoing off the stone walls. “I’ll kill you!”

Stop , Puppet . Please, just stop fighting .

“Xane,” Darius says, ignoring his daughter’s threats. “What a mess we find ourselves in!” He clicks his tongue and steps closer. The clack of his cane reverberates off the stone walls. “First, you kill me, then I come back from the dead and kill your brother, who honestly I thought was you. Imagine my surprise to learn of your existence. Nadia finally clued me in. You plotted my ruin for nearly a year. Quite impressive restraint you have, really,” he says with a gleeful chuckle. “But how disappointing was it to learn that my daughter wasn’t the way to get to me? After you spent so many nights fucking her, with only revenge driving you forward. A year of your time, wasted. And here I stand,” He raises his arms at his side, the cane in his left hand suspended over the ground. “I am immortal,” he breathes out. “And you’re nothing more than a grain of sand in this universe. I’m going to wipe you from existence, and nobody will remember your name. ”

He drops his arms down and places both hands atop his cane in front of him.

“What did you offer her? What was I worth to you?” I ask, genuinely curious. “How much of your empire did you have to trade to be the one to kill me? What did I cost you ?” Knowing he lost even a fraction of his power because of me is satisfying, even if it went to an equally repulsive person.

He leans in closer, his smile widening. “Not a damn thing. Right now, there is a team sneaking into her headquarters and cutting the head off the snake. She thought she had me by the balls, sure. But one thing our father didn’t teach her was to never trust family. I won.”

“Boss,” a man shouts, gesturing with his phone. “It’s done.”

Darius sighs and looks up at the ceiling. “It’s been a long two years. And finally, it’ll end. I have eradicated the Collins line and will raise a new line of Wallaces. Ones who aren’t so easily persuaded by men who make them blush. I blame her mother, really. She was always weak and not good enough to have my child.”

Puppet screams again, and it gets muffled. I can’t help it. My eyes flick to her for a second, then back at Darius, but it’s enough for his eyes to light up.

“Women are always leading us around by our dicks and screwing up our plans. Eve was the first to eat the forbidden fruit and convinced Adam with a bat of her lashes to do the same. They’ve damned us since the beginning of time. I’m doing you a kindness, Xane. My parting gift to you, so to speak. I’m taking my daughter with me, alleviating you of your burden.”

He raises his cane and pokes me in the chest .

“And they’re going to tear you limb from limb to ensure death, so final resurrection isn’t an option.”

“NO!” Puppet cries out, and she breaks her arm free, and it hangs limply by her side. She reaches through the slit of her dress and pulls the gun from between her thighs.

I try to lunge at Darius, but I’m grabbed around the collarbone and jerked back, an arm around my throat cutting off my air supply. She shoots the man she’s fighting in the foot, and he howls in pain, falling back, and two more men grab each of her arms. They pry the gun from her hand, and she bites the one on her right when he gets too close. He jerks back with a roar as she spits his ear to the floor at Darius.

Her father pinches his nose and sighs. “This is why you need your medication, sweetheart. You—you don’t think clearly without it. Who in their right mind bites off people’s ears?”

Puppet’s screams sound possessed, and I struggle against my crushing windpipe.

“Now, where were we?” Darius asks as his men restrain Puppet. “Oh, yes. Ripping limb from limb.”