Those last words are directed at me as he looks down with concern etched in his face. I stare back at him, wondering what kind of surreal situation I’ve just gotten myself into.
“Cat got your tongue?” he adds, as I find myself in one of those rare occasions in my life where I can’t think of a single thing to say.
“Aren’t you going to kill me?” I croak out at last.
He makes a face. “Well, when you put it like that…” He stands up straight and faces Damien. “Is that really necessary? What could a young girl like that do anyway? She doesn’t look like she could hurt a fly.”
“She’s a liability,” grunts Damien. “Come on.”
He pulls me toward a room that looks like it’s his office. He slams it shut behind us, and then, at last, he lets my arm go.
I rush toward the back wall, rubbing it, but stumble over a chair first and fall flat on my ass.
Fuck me. This day really could not be getting any worse. First I’m taken by some assholes, slit a guy’s throat then nearly get raped by another. Now I just fell on my ass in front of the all-powerful asshole who’s planning to kill me.
That asshole wears the shadow of a smirk as he actuallyreaches out and… helps me up.
“Where are your glasses?”
“I, uhm. Tony took them. You know, the guy you hired who beat me up and then nearly raped me.”
“Right. Sorry about that.”
“Youaregoing to kill me… no?” I ask, hope beating at my chest as I wonder if maybe, just maybe, I’ve got this all wrong. He seems kind of nice, albeit scary. Why the hell would he apologize if he was planning to kill me anyway? Or shoot the guy who was trying to rape me?
“Well,” he grimaces. “Yes, I suppose so.”
The hope plummets just as swiftly.
“I don’t like it, but I don’t see any way out. You’re a very inconvenient young woman, do you know that? Still, your death was supposed to be humane.” He sighs heavily. “Well, I guess it can’t be helped. I’ll go get Igor.”
I swallow the lump rising in my throat at the mention of Igor Vars. He’s got a reputation as being the Devil henchman, and I guess it’s true. He’ll be the one to put the bullet in my head.
“Sorry about this,” says Damien again as he opens the top drawer of the desk, handcuffs my wrists together then chains them to a hook under the table. “I’ll be right back.”
I never imagined my future murderer would apologize so much. I’m also kicking myself at realizing I never even tried to run away. Then again, it probably wouldn’t have done a thing. At most, I would’ve gotten beat up again before getting killed, and I think I’ve stomached as many punches as humanly possible.
Sighing wearily, I let myself fall into the office chair behind the desk. I sink my head in my arms and try to accept my fate, but before I can even begin to try, the door opens again.
My blood turns to ice as I look up quickly, expecting to see the face of my executioner.
Instead, I find myself eye to eye with a girl whose black hairis just as wild as mine. And her eyes, so deeply blue that they appear violet, pierce through the fog surrounding me, making me feel terribly unsettled.
She looks even weirder than me. She has a haunted air about her that contrasts oddly with her cheerful smile.
“Damien—oh.”
She stares at me, and my unfocused eyes stare right back.
“Who are you?”
“Uh, Piper.”
“Piper…” Her brow suddenly clears. “Piper Day?”
“Yeah. How do you know?”
I don’t know why I ask such a stupid question. Of course she knows. Everyone in Astley knows who I am, though somehow I can tell she’s not an Astley girl. She doesn’t have the insufferable rich girl look about her.