Page 111 of Burning Your Lies

“He kills you. Then I lead him to Savannah.”

Everything they would need to escape Xavier can only be accessed by Savannah. It was done that way to ensure Brynn didn’t double cross us. She needs Savannah to release the money we stole from Rowan. Once she has that, Savannah becomes disposable at Rowan’s hands, and Brynn gets the sweet escape she’s been playing for.

“You’re a fool,” I laugh.

“The only fool is you.”

“He’s going to kill you. The second he’s done with us, he’s going to turn that gun and shoot it straight into your heart.”

She helps Rowan up. “We have a deal.”

“Wehad a deal!”

Rowan spits a mouthful of blood onto the floor. He snatches the gun from Brynn and walks towards me. “I’m going to find your mother, father, brother, sister, fucking dog; everybody you have ever known, and I’m going to execute them one by one.” He smacks the side of the gun against my cheek, filling my mouth with blood.

“Don’t you want to know how I did it? How did I beat the best hitman in the game?” I turn to Brynn. “Have you told him how you murdered them? It was quite a nasty scene when I got there.”

“He’s stalling,” Brynn laughs. “Just kill him.”

“Chase died quickly. She slit his throat. But Eliana…” I laugh. “No. She took her time with her. I couldn’t even pick her corpse up without bits of her falling off.”

“He’s lying!” she screams. “That is not true.”

Rowan’s nostrils flare. The veins in his neck bulge at the vivid image. “Where is her body?” He turns his gun on Brynn. “What did you do to her?”

I can’t tell if the look of terror on Brynn’s face is real or not. Her eyes dart to me before diverting back to Rowan. “I shot her in the heart.”

I didn’t think it was possible, but his rage heightens. His face contorts to a picture of lethal anger. “Let’s see how you like it.” He points the gun at her chest. “Where is her body?”

She frantically shakes her head. “I don’t know! He got rid of them.”

“You killed her and then left her body to be bagged and dashed like she was a piece of filth?”

In the dimmed light, with blood oozing out of his wounds, Rowan hesitates for a moment. He doesn’t know who he wants to kill more, but the way his finger is pressing down on the trigger, Brynn is about to meet her death. My laugh stops him from firing the gun.

“What’s so funny?”

“I just remembered something,” I say with a shrug.

Rowan turns his back to her and steps towards me. “Where is her body?”

“You’ll never find her,” I mock. “I’m just too good at what I do.”

Another step closer. “Tell me where her body is and maybe I’ll give you the chance to save your wife.”

My smile unsettles him. “A gun is your weapon of choice. You never miss a shot, but you can’t have always been such a pro.” I nod my head towards Brynn. “Do you know how easy it is to miss shooting someone in the heart by a small margin?”

She’s putting the truth together faster than him. “That’s not possible,” she whispers.

“There was no saving Chase. He bled out before I could even move. But Eliana…”

Rowan stops moving. I can’t even tell if he’s still breathing. “What?”

“You can shoot someone just a millimetre away from their heart and they will survive.” I look away from Brynn to him. “You’ve been asking me the wrong question, Rowan.”

His eyes harden and there’s almost an angry cry in his question. “She’salive?”

I close the distance between us. “AndI’mthe only one who knows where she is. Kill me and she dies, too.”

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