Moth(57)

“That’s why he wants you here. Don’t you get it? He’s got eyes everywhere. He knows how to play people. All I wanted was to find my brother. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

“Did you kill my brother?”

She shakes her head. I can see the shock in her eyes as I ask it. “No. I promise you that I didn’t do it. I’d been spending so much time with him to protect him. He thought he was tutoring me. I put a live feed in his room and…”

It hits me. The room I’ve been staying in has been bugged. She’s been watching me this whole time. She knows I was watching her. “You little bitch.”

I start to go at her, but she waves the gun around to remind I’m not control. “Don’t come any closer. Please don’t make this harder than it already is.”

“You made me want you. That’s so f*cked up.”

“I knew if we were together I could keep you safe until the time was right to tell you the truth.”

I point in her direction. “You’re crazy. This isn’t the right time. The funeral would have been the right f*cking time, or when you overheard they were going to murder my brother.”

“I’m sorry. If it was your family you would have done the same thing. I’ve given up my life for this, Moth. I have nothing – no job to return to. All my training, years of school and preparation and this is how it’s all going to end. I have to pull this trigger, because if I don’t they’ll find me and kill me.”

“Sorry, toots, but they’re going to kill you anyway. You’re a pawn. You’re a f*cking little pawn who never should have tried to hang with the big guys. You nailed your own f*cking coffin.”

“Don’t say that! Please. You have to know this isn’t what I want.”

“Fuck you. Just shoot me already. Get it over with, or are you too f*cking scared to pull the trigger?”

I’m surprised she’s still crying, but I can only assume it’s a show. Everything else has been nothing but a game to get me to this point. She’s used me and led me to my death. I have nothing but hatred for her, yet as I watch her tears stream down her face I feel pity. She may have gotten herself into this situation, but it happened because the love she felt for her family. She’s right. I would have done the same damn thing. While I wait to feel my life slip away, I close my eyes. I can’t look into those beautiful brown eyes. I’m determined they won’t be the last thing I see.

I hear the safety being flipped back on. My lids open to discover she’s lowered the gun. Our eyes meet and I’m taken back by emotions I shouldn’t be experiencing. Her face is contorted and strained. She’s bawling, falling to the floor in a heap of her own misery. I don’t know whether to fight for the gun, get the hell out of there, or dip down to be the savior she desperately needs.

In the past I wouldn’t think twice about destroying this person that’s done nothing but lie since the day we met, but Nina is different. Somehow she’s managed to get to me on a personal level whether I like it or not. She’s struggling and though I’ve never been in her predicament I’d like to think I’d be fighting my own demons in a similar manner. I crouch down beside her and wait for her to acknowledge me. Gradually, my hand comes over the weapon and pushes it to the side, while I speak in a calm tone. “Why can’t you do it?”

She tries to shove me away, her teeth gritting as she speaks through them. “You know why.” I watch her fall back and put the gun up to her temple. She’s crunching up her pretty face in preparation of the fire.

I rush on top of her, smacking the gun so hard it flies out of her grip and about ten feet away. “No. You’re not getting out of this that easy. Do you hear me, Nina?”

“I’m dead regardless, Moth. Whether I do it, you do it, or they find me, I’m dead. There’s nothing anyone can do about it. Just let me do it on my own. Please. It’s better this way.”

I sit up and run my hands over my face. I never thought I’d be naked while fighting for my life. I don’t know why I trust that she’s not going to go after the weapon, but I do. She’s behind me sniffling while I continue to work through this madness in my head. “Was any of it real?” Why should I care? I was a target from the get go. How I let myself get involved with this deceitful woman is beyond my recognition. I’ve let my guard down to be taken advantage of. I can’t fathom what this will do to me, my career, and mostly my ego. She’s destroyed me, yet I can’t begin to understand why I want to keep her alive, close to me even.

“Don’t ask that.”

I turn to face her. “Why? Were you faking the whole time? When we were f*cking did you fake that too?”

“No.” She’s wiping her tears as she speaks. “I started to develop feelings for you when you made me dinner. I should have been more cautious, but it had been forever since someone touched me that way.”

“You could have walked away.”

“You’re right. I should have, but the people who want you dead started threatening me worse. I knew if we weren’t together they’d off you themselves. When you discovered my brake lines were cut I was sure they wanted us both to be in the vehicle when it crashed. No loose ends. That’s why your idea to run away seemed smart. I knew it would give me time to decide what I had to do, and how much of the truth I wanted you to know.”