Page 109 of Prohibited

No, she couldn’t.

Her wrists were raw now and she could hardly think of anything but the pain. Perhaps if she just got the ropes loose enough–

A small sound made her freeze. The pit of her belly filled with dread, certain that Walter had settled his business and was on his way back to deal with her.

But then another sound and another reached her ears until she realized that it was coming from the bank of windows along one wall of the room. And that, in fact, someone was opening one of those windows and crawling through.

If she had been in a better mind, it wouldn’t have scared her so badly. But with the tension coilingthrough her, she nearly screamed when a dark shape dropped to the floor beyond the sheer white curtains.

“Evie,” said a voice in a loud whisper.

“Yes?” Evie said, unable to even breathe.

The shadowy figure behind the curtains beat back the long linen, revealing itself.

A bright shock of copper curls and a grim look of determination.

Saoirse.

“Oh my god,” Evie said. Her eyes stung with tears. “W-Where did you come from? Saoirse, you shouldn’t be here, he’s–”

“Alex is distracting him,” Saoirse said, limping as fast as she could to close the gap between them. “We’ve got to hurry.”

“Saoirse, I–” Evie said, jumbling up all the words that wanted to come out of her mouth as Saoirse bent over her hands and began to work at the rope. “Did you say Alex? How did he– And where is Ryan? Saoirse, you can’t be here. Get away while you still can!”

“Yes, Saoirse,” said a chilling voice that made both of them go perfectly still. “Run away, little girl, while you still can.”

Saoirse straightened slowly and stepped to the side, opening Evie’s line of sight. Walter stood in the door of the room, leaning with his hand on the doorknob, the signet ring he always wore glinting on his pinkie finger.

The look on his face was predatory. Amused. It made Evie nauseated with worry for Saoirse.

“Walter, leave her alone,” Evie said in as intimidating a voice as she could muster. “You’ve already harmed her enough, leave her alone.”

“This time, she’s turned up on my doorstep of her own accord,” Walter said, advancing on Saoirse slowly, who took a step back, and then another. “Did you miss me that badly, little cherry?”

Evie began to tug against her bonds until her teeth hurt and she was nearly screaming with frustration. “Walter– Walter, don’t! Leave her alone!”

“You know what?” Saoirse said, coolly. “I forgot to tell you something, Walter.”

“And what is that, pet?” Walter said, continuing his advance one step at a time as Saoirse moved back. Evie twisted desperately in her chair to see what was happening.

“Saoirse, run!” Evie cried.

“Go fuck yourself,” Saoirse said. And then her hands moved, throwing out a series of explosive noises–pop pop pop pop pop pop–that made Evie’s ears ring and filled her nose with the rank smell of spent gunpowder.

Walter dropped to the floor.

Evie screamed.

Terror suddenly filled her to the brim, stealing the breath from her lungs, drowning her for one horrible moment with a black panic at the sound of gunfire.

Saoirse swore, ripping her back into the present. Very dimly, over the ringing in her ears, Evie could hear the sound of the empty chamber in the revolver clicking.Dear God, she’d emptied it trying to kill him. Some of the bullets had gone wide, splintering the door and the wall behind him. But three or four of them had struck home.

Blood was soaking his white shirt.

Saoirse was beside her again, filling her nose with the smell of honey and apples while her nimble fingers made quick work of the ropes.

Evie couldn’t stop staring at Walter, who was down on all fours, turning a very appalling shade of white. He coughed, sending a spurt of black blood onto the carpet.

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