Bounty Hunter [REWRITTEN VERSION]

Chapter 63: It's Over

MAIZE

Maize stared up at the tall creaking building in front of her. Looking at it more closely, she figured it once used to be a storehouse, probably belonging to one of the top shipping companies—she guessed—based on the half faded logo resting on the side. But the place had fallen into a disarrayed state. The gray walls were chipped, the windows to each of the three floors had been either cracked or shattered, and the hinges of the metal door screeched with protest as Maize pushed it open—a sign that it had been sitting closed collecting rust for quite some time. However, none of that mattered to her. It wouldn't matter what the place had looked like. Not after she was done with it.

Maize quickly checked the sleek black watch on her wrist—another thing she had 'borrowed' from Ryder when she left. In truth, if he knew exactly what she had taken from him, he would save Azeal the trouble and come kill her himself. But Maize wouldn't worry about that now, she only had one thing set in her mind.

The digital time flashed 11:52 PM.

She walked in. And she walked in alone.

She did what she had to. At least that was what she told herself to ease the nagging in her mind. She did what she needed to do to make sure things went according to plan.

Her plan.

Alec will get over it, she unconvincingly told herself.

Right. The chances of him throwing anything short of a hissy-fit about it once this was over were slim. Very slim.

Maize sighed and stopped in the centre of the wide room. One thing at a time. Deal with one thing at a time...

She checked her wristwatch routinely in the following minutes that passed. Each one felt like double the last. She was not impatient, yet, but she was anxious. She knew better than to plan for flawless execution of how she wanted things to play out, but still, waiting was hell.

Footsteps caught her attention some few minutes later. Calm and slow as they ascended the stone steps that lead to the front door.

Azeal's sole figure came striding in, hands shoved in the pockets of his coat. His body language was guarded as he walked forth. She could see even from where she stood the flicker of clear surprise on his face at seeing her before him before it quickly turned to something like dry amusement. He stopped just a few meters across from her, meeting her eyes with a calculated look.

"And here I half expected you to be hiding in the ceiling ready to sent a knife in my back the moment I turned," he drawled with a slow smile spread of anything but friendliness.

Maize, arms crossed, waited for him to finish his set of opening jabs until the question she was waiting for surfaced as she expected.

"So what's your plan here? Ambush? Hidden explosives?" He mused with a twisted flash of a smile. "Will you take us both down together in a blaze of glory?"

She watched him while taking a slow drawing breath from her slightly parted lips as she forced herself to appear as relaxed as possible—which she found was much harder to do under the piercing stare of someone she had once cared so much about turned against her.

"I wanted to apologize," she said. There was a long stretch of silence.

Then Azeal laughed.

"Apologize?" He repeated like the word should have been a foreign concept to her. Or a joke. His scarred eye closed as the other gave her a tantalizing stare of focus. "You'll have to be more specific," he told her.