Chapter 43 Scholar’s Mate
My vision narrows to the two feet of space separating Aria and Blake.
Their argument was loud, the words traveling through the cracked-open door. The scheming bastard. All the pain he put my Aria through.
Leveling my gun on him, I motion for Aria to come to my side.
She drifts toward me, eyes reddened, cheeks wet with tears.
“Ren,” she whispers.
Then her lips wobble. Like she’s been putting on a brave face, and she can’t do it any longer.
I’m going to end Blake Amscot. Painfully.
“You want to die?” I rasp. “Done.”
The man stiffens, gaze hardening. He looks over my shoulder.
Then I feel it.
Metal pressed against my skull.
A gun.
“What did I say about being impatient?” Sir Tao tuts under his breath. “Lower your gun. Let’s talk like civilized people.”
Aria whirls around, stabbing her finger in Blake’s direction. “You. You were in cahoots with him too?”
Blake shrugs. “Cornelius had enemies. Plenty of them within his own house. Only he was too arrogant to care.”
“Blake and I came to an understanding,” Sir Tao says when I don’t lower my gun. “He’d return the evidence he has on us, and I’d let him keep the cash. But he had to butt out until Cornelius was six feet under.”
“Have to keep the machine running.” I scoff, my aim steady. “Whatever happens in this room, none of it touches Aria.”
“That depends on what you do next,” the old, two-faced monster says.
Blake lifts his brow, a smug smile on his face. He pulls a gun from behind him and points it at me.
Aria gasps. “Blake, don’t—”
“It’s okay, Aria. I don’t blame you for being with him,” Blake says, his eyes never leaving mine. “You were grieving. Vulnerable. The bastard took advantage. Come with me, we’ll start the rest of our lives, just like we were supposed to.”
“Don’t listen to him,” I tell her.
Her face pales, gaze darting from Blake’s gun to Sir Tao, who still has a weapon pressed against my nape.
Her feet pivot toward Blake.
She’ll go to him to save me.
Sacrifice herself for the game.
No.
If anyone’s to be sacrificed, it’s me.
I lower my weapon and face Sir Tao. “I’d be honored to join you in your dynasty. You’ve taken care of me all these years. For that, I’m grateful.”
Surprise lights up his eyes. Smiling, he lowers his gun. “I knew you’d come through—”
“But the first order of business is to eliminate rats, don’t you think?” I rasp, my finger firm on the trigger even as my gun points to the ground. “Who’s to say he didn’t keep a copy of the evidence elsewhere? I prefer my rats dead.”
Sir Tao narrows his eyes. He opens his mouth—
Blake laughs. “I see he hasn’t told you how your mother died. That’s the thing with Cornelius. You hate him, but he keeps impressive records.”
In a flash, Sir Tao has his gun in my face. “Don’t listen to him, Ren. He’s trying to turn you against me—”
“Please, who borrowed a page from Cornelius’s book? Threatening the kids so the mom would take her own life? Just like their poor father?” Blake snickers behind me.
“Is it true?” Betrayal saws through me.
“I read her case file, Ren,” Sir Tao pleads. “Her body was so weak. She couldn’t have withstood a heart transplant. But she overheard Cornelius talking about your father’s death. She figured out what he did and was going to tell you. We couldn’t let that happen—”
“Because you two couldn’t lose your Si Shen to do your dirty shit.”
“She didn’t have much time left anyway. It was a painless death. Much better than if she slowly died of heart failure. Sedation first. Then sleep. She never felt the water. Nature took care of the rest.”
The revelations land one by one.
“Ren,” Aria whispers.
My borrowed heart pulls tight. For one fleeting second, I wonder whose life Blake stole to disappear.
I sneak a glance at the woman I love, finding her eyes overflowing with tears.
Tears for me.
It’s then I make a choice.
If someone’s going to make it out alive today, it’s going to be her.
She’s going to enjoy sunlight on her face again. Recommend books to unsuspecting patrons. Laugh at horror movies. Stuff her mouth with orange marmalade cookies her friends make for her.
She’s going to study, pass her exam, and save innocent patients like little Grayson.
She’s going to live beautifully. Happily.
Because she has all the time in the world.
“I love you,” I mouth, and her eyes widen with horror.
She shakes her head, her lips forming the word “no.”
“We’ll always have Scholar’s Mate,” I whisper.
She flinches. Understanding flashes across her face.
Aria pivots toward the door and hits the switch.
The lights go out.
Blackness swallows the room.
I duck as a bang goes off and glass shatters. A body by the window hits the floor.
Ren wanted a distraction. I gave him one.
Now, all I can do is hope that he’ll pull through.
That it wasn’t the last time he told me “I love you.”
Grunts fill the air. Two silhouettes grapple in front of the window, moving too fast for me to see their faces. I grab my phone, punch out a message to Lana, hoping she’ll get it and tell the others.
More gunshots ricochet through the air. The window cracks, broken veins spreading across the surface, warping the moonlight streaming in from the outside.
Something smashes next to me. Books. A chair. More pained grunts and groans.
I slap my hand over my mouth and swallow my scream.
One silhouette goes down. The other stands over him.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Each shot jolts my body even though they didn’t hit me.
The standing shadow flinches. Stills.
Then collapses with a heavy thud.
An eerie ringing fills the room.
The familiar metallic scent registers next.
Blood. Lots of it.
I crawl backward until I hit the wall and slowly get back up, my fingers reaching for the light switch I flicked off minutes ago.
Light floods the room, temporarily blinding me.
When the dots clear from my vision, a cry wrenches out of me.
Carnage meets my eyes.
Crimson streaks across the walls, over the bookshelves. A broken lamp and an office chair riddled with bullet holes lie toppled on the ground.
Then I see the bodies.
Blake’s vacant eyes stare blankly at the ceiling, a bullet hole lodged in his forehead. For a split second, horror slams into me, a phantom echo of the hospital shootout that killed the man I thought I’d already buried. A man I never really knew. But I shove the thought away. No time for that now.
Sir Tao, face bloodied, arms twisted unnaturally, clearly bested by his prized student, lies still by the desk.
I dash to the third body and collapse next to the man I love.
Ren coughs, blood dripping from his lips as he reaches for me.
“You did it,” he rasps. “Scholar’s mate.”
“Ren,” I sob, examining his face, his neck, then the rest of him.
He has superficial cuts all over, but was he shot?
Then I feel it.
My hand comes away wet from his upper left chest. A single bullet hole.
Too close. Oh God, too close to his heart.
I put my fingers on his neck, noting his rapid pulse, my thoughts racing.
“You’re o-okay. You’re okay.” My hand shakes as I yank off my shirt and press it on his wound.
Sirens blare in the distance.
My phone rings. On the screen flashes a message. A reply to my text.
Aria
SOS. Help.
Lana
Sending the cavalry. Hang in there.
“It’s okay,” Ren whispers, his face paling by the second. “They’ll never hurt you again. I only wish I had more time with you.”
“No. No. No.” I shake my head, watching helplessly as my tears fall on his face.
His finger trembles as he wipes them off my cheek. “Take care of Celia for me. Don’t tell her much. She doesn’t need the details. Tell her I love her.”
Sobs pour out of me as I gather him in my arms, careful not to jostle him.
Praying this time the story ends differently.
“I love you, Ren Sima. Don’t you dare leave me. I-I’ll haunt you to hell and back, I swear.”
“Not if I haunt you first.” He gives me a weak smile, his eyes drooping shut. “And I love you, Aria. So damn much.”