Page 86 of Law Of Love

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the basement, and I jolted, but I felt nothing. No pain. Just emptiness. Was this what death felt like? Was it actually more painless than we’d been led to believe?I hoped so.

After a few seconds, realising I was still alive, I peeked a lid open.

Will was staring at his bald butler, who was on the ground with a bullet wound to his chest, blood spurting from the hole, creating a crimson-coloured fountain.

What the fuck?

My eyes became blurry as a geared-up Kaleb and Brent barrelled down the stairs, their large guns drawn. Kaleb’s fierce eyes immediately found mine, and his pupils blew out once he spotted the blood smeared across my face.

“Did you do that to her?” he seethed as he shot at the remaining butler, dodging one of his bullets. The object whizzed past Kaleb’s ear as the butler cried out, collapsing onto the ground and shaking his head.

“No, I didn’t touch her,” he responded, pointing at his deceased co-worker. “It was him.”

Kaleb huffed, looking at him with a deadpan expression. “Try the fuck again.” The butler did nothing but groan, and Kaleb tutted before firing again, his chest heaving, causing the butler to gargle on his own saliva as he convulsed, stilling after a few seconds.

Will was heavily distracted, and I continued to move my wrists back and forth quickly, praying that the rope was going to fray.

“Drop the gun, Will,” Kaleb warned dangerously, turning his weapon to him.

Will still had the barrel of his gun pressed to my chest, and he smiled before releasing a throaty chuckle, repositioning the firearm so it was pointed at my head.

Kaleb's jaw pulsated. Fury didn’t even begin to describe the look on his face. It was as if he had ripped his emotion straight from the bottomless pits of hell—stealing all the hatred and rage that was held there, projecting it all onto the man who was threatening to end my life.

“If you shoot, then so do I,” Will warned casually—as if the idea of murdering me was nothing but a simple chore. A walk in the park. A day-to-day activity.

“You’ve already touched her.” Kaleb nodded towards my split lip. “So you’re already going to die. It’s up to you how painful I make it. Drop your fucking weapon, Sheffield.”

Brent growled from beside Kaleb, monitoring the stairs while he also aimed his gun at Will’s head, spitting threats that seemed to go in one ear and out the other.

“You’re not going to kill me, boys.” He chuckled. “Your organisation and the police want nothing more than to keep me alive to sentence me. If I die, all your work will have been for nothing.”

“Things change when you’re holding a gun to my girl’s head,” Kaleb spat, taking a threatening step forward, causing Will to tut at him, pressing his firearm harder against my skull. I whimpered.

“Here’s an idea then,” Will said, cocking his head. “I’ll give you a choice. I’ll be generous and only dispose of one of them.” He gestured to me and my father with his free hand. “You get to choose who that is. The only catch is, you have to do the honours.”

My eyebrows flew into my hairline, and panic set in as Kaleb’s eyes flickered between my father and me. I pressed my wrists harder against the metal pipe.

No, no, no.

“Kaleb, don’t—“

“Shut up,” Will hissed into my ear. “Come on, Kaleb. Make a decision. I’m giving your girlfriend an out here. I’m willing to let go of my need for revenge. Mark will just spend the rest of his pathetic life locked away if he survives anyway, but she,” he tore his eyes away from my father and jostled me, “actually gets to live. All you have to do is kill her father. You know I’m a man of my word.”

That was true. If there was one redeeming quality about Will, it was that he always stuck to his promises.

It was obvious what he was doing, though. He wanted to get back at Kaleb just as much as he wanted to get back at my father, and he was willing to put the need for revenge for my father aside if it meant having me loathe Kaleb for the rest of my life.

Killing my flesh and blood… Will knew that was going to kill Kaleb. There was no need to end his life—as long as I could never forgive him.

Kaleb’s eyebrows furrowed, and he breathed deeply before he slowly changed the angle of his gun, the barrel of it pointed towards my father.

My body tensed. “No, Kaleb, don’t!”

He clamped his teeth down on his bottom lip as he glowered, and I could see his tongue running along the front of his teeth under his lips, indicating he was battling with himself tremendously.

I painfully chewed on the inside of my cheek as I angled my wrists against the pipe so that each scrape was also deeply cutting into my flesh. The pain was nothing to me, though, and I pushed the searing sensation aside, watching Kaleb in horror as he glared at Will menacingly.

“Time is running out, Kaleb. Who’s going to survive this? The choice is yours. I only have a brief window of opportunity to disappear, so make up your mind before I do it for you.”

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