Hunter - Blaire Drake Page 0,15
old giggles echoing through the backyard as I had to dispose of it. I'd kicked it into the fire pit and set it alight an hour later.
It was so easy then. When that was the worst thing I'd ever done in my life.
“Why did you come here?” Adriana looked up and into my eyes. Her smile was gone, and her blue eyes were sad. “Were you really going to do it?”
“I don't know,” I admitted. “I thought so. But then...”
“Then I made the mistake of talking.”
“Yes. Except it wasn't a mistake. The mistake was thinking I could kill you.”
“Well... That's good. I suppose.” She sat back on the sofa and hugged her knees to her chest. She rested her chin on her knees and looked down at her feet. “What happens now? If it's you or me?”
I shrugged and turned away from her, finally dropping my hands from my hair. I didn't want to kill her, but I didn't want to fucking die either.
“How long do you have?” she asked.
“Three days.”
“Including today?”
“Yes.”
“So you have two days.”
“All right, all right.” I glanced back at her in enough time to see her lips twitch into the tiniest of smiles. “I have two days to convince your father you're dead and hide you again.”
She sighed and picked up the remote control. “What you have is not long to get out of here before Darien gets home from work and tries to resolve the 'me or you' problem.”
“I'm not worried about Darien.” That was a lie. I learned everything I knew from him. He was Enzio's assassin when I was nothing more than a kid in target practice. In fact, he wasn't even Enzio's. He was Alexandria's.
“Then you're a fool,” is all Adriana said before she picked up the untouched pizza and carried it out of the room.
I decided not to follow her. Nothing good could come of that. She was torn. I could see it in her eyes. One minute she trusted me, then the next she looked at me as though I'd pounce on the gun next to me and do what I came here to do in the first place.
I didn't blame her.
I didn't trust me, either.
And I knew that Darien sure as hell wouldn't trust me when he got here, but I was reluctant to leave her. Although I was one hundred percent sure I was here alone, you never knew. I knew I had to check in with Enzio tonight or he'd send someone to make sure I was doing my job.
I had to come up with a story that could buy me time. Time to think of something that could keep Adriana safe.
Ironic.
I'd come with the intention to kill her, but now all I could think of was getting her far away from everyone who wanted to do that.
Even if it meant she was away from me.
Something deep inside me clenched at that thought. I was a fucking fool to think I could come in here, hurt her, and then walk away from her. Hadn't I been missing her for ten years? Wouldn't I have done everything in my damn power to find her if I knew she was alive?
Yes, and yes. I did, and I would've.
No question.
“You're still here.”
I turned my head toward the doorway. Adriana was leaning against it, her fingers wrapped around the frame.
“Why are you still here? Darien will kill you if he comes back and you're here. The gun won't stop him. He'd probably use it.”
I shrugged a shoulder. “I'd deserve anything he did to me.”
“Yet there's no apology for almost trying to kill me.”
“Do you want an apology?”
“Not really. You were just trying to do your job. Shame you're pretty shit at it.” Now it was her turn to shrug.
I cracked a smirk. “Yeah. I'm awful. That's why my hands look like they went ten rounds with a wood-chipper.”
“You sound proud of that.”
“Not really, but I've got fuck all else to be proud of, Addy.”
“Adriana,” she repeated. “You don't get to call me Addy.” Her phone rang in her hand as she finished speaking, and she glanced at the screen. “I have to take this. If you've got any brain cells, you'll be gone when I get back.” She swiped her finger across the screen and lifted the phone to her ear. “Now what, Pontarelli?” she answered, leaving the room.
My jaw tightened. Pontarelli. Angelo or Gaige? That was what I wanted to know, although I had no damn right to. It was