Chapter 26 #2
He turned towards Grayson then, unleashing his heart-stopping glare on him. But Grayson did not squirm like the rest of us would. He simply stared back, looking almost bored.
“Seems you’re everyone’s princess now,” Grayson said to me without taking his haughty stare from the director. “Can’t even kiss you anymore without getting everyone’s panties in a tizzy.” He lifted a mocking brow at Director Devereux.
“Take him to the cells,” Owen sneered.
The director held his hand up. “Not the cells. Taylor is gone. Meaning Varon already knows the way out. Take him to the basement interrogation room.”
Grayson chuckled, looking at the men around him. “Kinky.”
We ignored him.
“The rest of you, join the search. We need to find Taylor,” the director instructed.
Owen, myself and Director Devereux, along with three other agents, escorted Grayson through the FBI building towards the basement.
I could feel Grayson’s eyes burn a hole into my back.
“Keep your eyes off her.” Owen confirmed my suspicion. He had Grayson tightly by the back of his overalls, pushing him forward, not wanting him to get away again.
“Why? You afraid she will fall for me again? I know you saw how much my Ava enjoyed that kiss,” Grayson taunted.
I heard a thud and whirled.
Owen had swung at Grayson, hitting him in the jaw. Grayson’s head was tilted to the side, a deadly smirk slowly spreading over his face.
“Keep her name out of your filthy mouth!” Owen spat, his face red with rage.
“Oh, mutt. You have no idea how filthy her name can be. It belongs in my mouth.” Grayson turned his gaze to me, a wicked glint in his cold eyes as he straightened.
“That’s it, baby. Just like that. Don’t stop.
Fuck, you look so good, Ava. Don’t stop.
Come for me, Ava. God. You feel good. So good. Yes, baby. You’re so close. Fuck, Ava…”
The memory hit me like a freight train, and I gave an unholy scream in blinding fury, flinging myself onto him. We tumbled to the ground, and I attacked, punching and clawing at his face like a feral animal.
How dare he? How fucking dare he?!
My vision was tinted red, my limbs fuelled by raging adrenaline and a suffocating hate. Or maybe it was hurt.
Someone dragged me off him and I struggled against them, my need to wipe Grayson from this earth still desperately clawing at my insides. “I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill you!” I screamed at him, over and over again.
And the worst part was, he was laughing. He was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down his face, mixing with the blood. He looked and sounded like a deranged maniac as he laughed at me while they pulled him to his feet.
One of the agents took a subtle step back from Grayson, fear flashing in his eyes.
But Grayson was only looking at me. “If I wasn’t in cuffs right now, I would reach under your ribs and pull your heart out with my bare hands.”
I shuddered, my hair raising. “That’s not how the story goes. This is my woods,” I snarled at him, the hatred seeping out of me in waves. “In here, men like you die.” Oh, I was itching to take a blade to his heart.
He gave me a knowing grin. “Maybe so, priestess. But I’ve been a predator much longer than you. It’ll take a god to bring me down.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. He was up to something.
“Enough!” The director’s stern voice broke through the stare-off between me and Grayson. He took Grayson’s left arm and harshly plucked at it.
Grayson gave a small grunt of pain and snapped his glare to the director. His shoulder had been dislocated, I realised. And Director Devereux had popped it back into place. A little harsher than necessary too.
Satisfaction bloomed in my gut like I’d never experienced before.
I had done that.
The director motioned for us to walk again. “No one knows how Varon got hurt. We found him like this.” He met all of our gazes, eyebrows raised.
Everyone nodded.
“I won’t tell,” Grayson quipped, winking at me.
Owen’s hand around my arm tightened, silently asking me not to lose my shit again.
I was thankful when we reached the black door before Grayson could continue with his taunting.
I didn’t trust myself to behave like a mature, well-adjusted adult.
I was still shaking, waves of heat pulsing through my body.
I couldn’t even look at him without wanting to wrap my hands around his neck and choke the life out of him.
How could I ever love this monster?
Behind the heavy door was a set of stairs that led down to a barred gate that looked like the ones from the holding cells. Owen grabbed a bundle of keys from a hook and unlocked the gate. He held it open for us to walk through. It was too dark to see what was up ahead in the corridor.
As Grayson passed Owen, he struck. He banged Owen’s head into the bars with a sickening clang.
As Owen toppled over, Grayson swung at the other agents.
He moved so fast, I struggled to keep track of him in the dark.
He got hold of the director’s gun and shot the remaining two agents still standing, before lifting the gun to me and Director Devereux.
He shrugged at us. “Sorry about the agents.”He swiftly closed the gate between us, locking us in.
How did he get out of his cuffs? How the fuck had he just managed to lock us in?
The disbelief that froze me in place quickly evaporated as Grayson whirled and bounded up the stairs. My hands did not waver, did not shake as I took the gun a dazed Owen held out to me.
I aimed at Grayson’s retreating frame.
And fired.
The shot rang loudly through the hall and through my body.
I stopped breathing as Grayson stopped on the stairs.
Time slowed as he lowered his head, inspecting his body.
I shot him.
He slowly reached up to his side, his fingers grazing a spot just above his hip. He brought it up to his face, then turned towards me.
I could not read his expression. I had never seen it before as he held my gaze through the sight of Owen’s gun.
It’s a flesh wound. A flesh wound.
Grayson wordlessly brought his hand up, showing me the blood on his fingers. Then touched his middle finger to his thumb. He turned and kept walking.
I took aim again, trying to blink away the blurriness in my vision before it was too late.
“Don’t,” Director Devereux quietly ordered. “You will never forgive yourself.”
I sucked in a ragged breath and the gun clattered to the floor. Grayson disappeared out of sight.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
My fingers shook in my hair as I turned towards the carnage behind me.
The director had his hands pushed down onto an agent’s upper thigh, trying to stop the bleeding. The other agent that was shot had taken it to the shoulder. Owen was trying to make his way to the third agent, who wasn’t moving.
“Holmes?” he rasped.
I beat Owen to him, checking if he still had a pulse. I held my hand under his nose. “He’s alive. Just out cold.”
Director Devereux nodded, relief washing over his face. “Everyone’s fine. You’re all alive.” He looked towards the entrance. “No one would have heard the shots. It’s soundproof down here.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket.
“No use. No signal,” Owen grunted as he steadied himself against the wall. At the panic on my face, he added, “Someone will come.” He looked me over. “You did good.”
I swallowed, watching Owen help the second agent shrug out of his shirt, checking for an exit wound.
“What does eight mean?” Owen asked. “He signed eight to you.”
The floor tilted a little. Grayson had somehow tossed all the guns out to the other side of the gate, except for Owen’s. “It was the eighth time I made him bleed,” I answered Owen while lowering myself to the ground against the bars, my legs wavering beneath me.
“This is all a mess,” the director let out on a breath, his eyes looking worried. I’d never seen him rattled before.
“Ah, shit!” an agent cursed from the top of the stairs. “Syntax! They’re over here! Get an ambulance,” she shouted before darting down the stairs. Syntax followed her and I let out a breath of relief, my body slumping against the bars, my fingers feeling numb.
“There’s another key in my office safe…” The director started rattling off instructions, but I couldn’t hear anything anymore, as the blood rushed in my ears.
I had shot Grayson.
I had tried to kill him.