Break All Ties

Chapter Thirty-Eight

By the time Ida had her knife up at my throat, Lorenzo had his gun pointed at her, ready to shoot. He wasn't hesitating. He was wary. In the time it would take for that bullet to get to her, she could easily slice my throat open, taking us both down.

It was evident there was no scenario in which she'd be getting out of this room alive. Not anymore. Lorenzo wouldn't let her.

She'd milk her last minutes for everything they were worth.

"It's a pity," She said, tall enough to see easily over my shoulder as I tried my hardest not to freak out. Tonight, I'd had enough with dealing with Columbos.

If it wasn't one trying to rape me, then it was the other one trying to kill me.

Seriously, what was their problem with me?

"It's sad, because I can see you really do love her." I was sure she was smirking right now. "I wasn't so sure at first. I'd obviously heard about your bullshit rules. Everyone heard about those. But I wasn't sure when I saw you both in the casino. You wouldn't even look at each other. It looked more like you hated each other."

His fingers flexed around his gun. That was a sign. A sign he was getting angrier. He'd done this same thing when Reese was in my kitchen.

"We had a disagreement," He said simply. "They happen sometimes."

I could hear her smirk this time.

"It was when I saw you both in the lobby that I knew. She'd been blabbering on and on and on about you all night. In the end, I was so close to throttling her. But she wasn't aware of it. She was drunk- speaking her thoughts aloud. I let it slide. But when she said she thought you'd kill her and I saw your face, I knew then and there that you love her." I felt the edge of that knife graze my skin. "There's no faking a look of anguish like that. Like you'd failed her or something."

My heart gave an answering pang. It'd been difficult from the start for the two of us together, but I felt like we were really getting somewhere. Like we were working through this difficulty.

"So it's sad," She finished. "The fact that you both really love each other. That's a hard thing to find in our world, isn't it?"

"Let her go Ida, and I'll contemplate letting you live."

Unfortunately, she wasn't stupid. She'd grown up in this world and knew her way around it. She knew what strings to pull if it was fight or die.

"By the time you've shot me, I'll have slit Charlie's throat open." The way she said it gave me trust issues. Was I ever going to make a friend? A genuine friend that wasn't out to stab me in the back? "I assume you don't want that, since she's pretty much the only thing you live for."

He didn't deny it.

"It must suck balls not being on the winning side for a change, ay Assante?"

He breathed out through his nose, still flexing his fingers around his gun.

"What do you want Ida?"

"Show me that you want her to live."

"Just leave," I said softly, lifting my neck in the hopes to avoid that blade. "It's not your fault."

"You should listen to her Lorenzo. Your little wife wants you to leave her for dead. To save your own skin. You would've too if she were anyone else."

"Please."

"No, Charlie." He met my eyes and threw his gun to the floor between the three of us. Slowly, he lowered himself until his knees met with the floor. He lifted his hands but never met Ida's eyes. He was still looking at me.