Page 78 of Pushed

Reaching around my back, I felt the gun I had tucked into my waist earlier. Stepping back a few feet, I counted inside my head.One, two, three!

Throwing my foot up, I lurched forward and kicked the door with everything I had. Wood cracked and splintered into thin fragments, metal snapped and shot off like a bomb filled with nails.

“Machi! What the hell are you doing?” Ethan asked as he pushed himself up from off the floor and yanked a gun out from the holder on his ankle. Pointing it in my direction, he took a few steps backwards, and glared at me. “Go, go now. Don't be stupid, I don't want to kill you.”

“Oh no? Are you sure about that?”

“Let me rephrase that, I don't want to kill youyet.”

“Where's Sylvan?” I asked, taking a long step into the middle of the room.

“He doesn't want to see you, if he did, he would've asked you to come.”

“I don't really give a shit what he wants, I want to see him.” Stalking closer, I kept my arms by my sides. “He doesn't have a choice in the matter. Where is he?”

Ethan clicked the hammer, aiming the gun at the center of my forehead. “I told you to leave, this is your last warning.”

When you know you're going to die, when you've already written your life off as a justifiable loss, a gun in the face meant nothing.

I had planned on dying the night I decided to enter the lion's den, my mind had accepted it, my heart and soul had spoken a silent prayer, hoping I wouldn't die in vain.

This was a choice.

I chose to give myself in exchange for justice. I chose to forgive myself for the deaths I caused because those beings weren't men. . . They were critters spreading a disease of ill-will and greed, formulated from the possession of another.

I wasn't afraid of Ethan pulling the trigger, but I was afraid he'd pull it before I even had the chance to get at Sylvan.

Whipping my hand around my back, I yanked out my gun and pointed it even with his. “Go ahead, put a bullet between my eyes—if you can.”

Ethan's lip curled up as he growled. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means, you better hope to hell that your aim is good, if you miss, then you'll really have a problem.”

“Machi, is this really what you want? Do you really want to die tonight?”

“I'm here aren't I?”

His finger shook around the trigger, gingerly stroking the small metal tab. “I know why you're here you stupid fuck. We've all known who are for a little while now.”

Cocking my head, I eyed him. “If you knew, why am I still alive?”

Sighing, Ethan rattled the gun in a small circle. “Hans was the one to point it out, you know that, obviously, you killed him for it. But we were planning something special for you, you deserve that at least, Machi. Don't you think?” His lips arched, smiling like a gremlin.

“Who bought Megan, Ethan, tell me who she was sold to. I'll kill you quickly if you're just honest, I won't let you suffer.”

“Do you really think I'm afraid of you?” Stepping forward, his arm went stiff. “You can't possibly be so fucking ignorant, Machi.”

My insides shredded, carving out a hole in my gut. There was no word that could explain how angry I felt right then. The cold metal burned my skin, taunting me to just yank out my weapon and kill him right there.

“I'm stopping this, it all ends today, right now. Get me Sylvan.”

Chuckling, Ethan gripped the gun with two hands, spreading his feet into a firm stance. “You're not ending anything.”

I heard the shot, the loud bang ricocheted around inside my skull, drowning out the crowd from below and replacing it with a high pitched buzzing.

Rocking my jaw back and forth, I watched a thin trickle of smoke spill out from the end of my gun. Looking at the floor, Ethan had fallen back, his legs bent unnaturally as the weight of his body buckled.

A single gunshot wound to the head, that was all it took.

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