Then, I remembered the business card Javier gave me. I had one more chance.
I swallowed hard and looked up at Derek with pitiful eyes.
“Please let me go.”
He shook his head. “I can’t.”
“You have to.”
“I will protect you to the every end … Alana, I’d lay down my life for you.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling sorrow and hatred and bitterness choke out whatever love I might have felt. I had to snuff it out before it hurt me. Love was only dangerous now. Love would get me killed. “Your life means nothing to me,” I told him.
He looked like I slapped him. I felt like I slapped myself too.
But he had to let go of me.
“Let me get away, Derek. If you care about me at all, you’ll let me get away.”
“I can’t do that. Please. I have to save you.”
I let out a sour laugh. “Save me? I think you’re still waiting to pull that trigger. Now, let me go or I will scream so loud. And if you try and stop me, I will make you hurt me. You say you don’t want to but I you will if you don’t let me walk out this door right now.”
“If you walk, you’re as good as dead,” he said but there was a resignation coming over his brow. I was wearing him down, ruining him as he once wanted to ruin me.
“Then let me die by choice and let me die alone,” I said. He relented and I managed to quickly slip out from under him. Actually I was surprised that he let me go so easily. Perhaps he had been telling the truth all along.
I stood there, breathing hard and watching him on the bed. For once he looked absolutely fragile, this big beast of a man who seemed seconds from breaking down.
But I couldn’t care about that. He was an assassin, a liar and it didn’t matter if he had kept me alive this long. I would have to figure out the rest on my own, with someone I could trust.
I grabbed my duffel bag that had fallen off the bed then quickly reached into his bag, taking out a small handgun. I aimed it at him. “You know I can shoot this thing now.”
He swallowed thickly but nodded.
“Let me leave as is and I won’t pull the trigger. I won’t scream. I won’t get you locked away. I know that even though you were hired to kill me, that you have protected me so far. You’ve at least kept me alive.” At that my voice started to shake. So did my hand. I took in a deep breath to steady myself, blinking fast. “I don’t wish you any harm.” Now my lower lip was trembling. Damn it. “I don’t wish you any harm, but I can’t be with you anymore. I can’t trust you. I’m sorry.”
Derek slowly shook his head. “Please, Alana. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
And, oh god, I could see that he was. Tears spilled down my cheeks. “Let me get away.”
He stared at me, his jaw clenched, his whole body tense. Then he nodded. “Okay. Okay. Keep the gun. Use it well, all right? If you can go to –”
“No,” I said quickly. “Don’t tell me anything. Let me do this on my own. You stay in here for twenty minutes. Don’t come out or I will go straight to security, you understand.”
“Yes.”
“Good-bye Derrin. Good-bye Derek.”
He didn’t say anything back, he just stared at me like he was watching me die. I suppose he was.
With the gun still on him, I left the room. The door shut behind me with a heavy click and I was out in the hallway. I waited by the door for a moment, prepared for him to come straight after me. But he didn’t. Not yet, anyway.
I couldn’t chance it. I hurried to the elevator and once inside, stuck the gun in my bag. Once I hit the lobby, I glanced around for anyone suspicious, anyone who could have sent the photographs, and when I didn’t see anyone, I ran over to a courtesy phone by a bunch of couches.
I picked it up and fished the business card out of my jeans. I dialed the number on it as per Javier’s instructions and then I waited.
“Hello,” a man answered. He sounded kind of young. “Who is this?”
“Who is this?” I hoped I didn’t have to get sucked into another one of these stupid games over the phone. There was absolutely no time for that.
“Juanito,” the guy said and I sighed with relief.
“Juanito, this is Alana Bernal.”
“Ah, Alana,” Juanito said. “Oh Javier will be happy, he was very worried about you. He thought you were going to call last week.”
“Something came up. I need to see him now.”
“I will go tell him, can you hold?”
“Yes.”
I waited about two nerve-wracking minutes while Juanito was gone. I kept looking around the lobby, staring at everyone. People were staring right back at me, probably because I looked scared shitless and my eyes were puffy from crying. But those were just ordinary people. They weren’t assassins. And they weren’t Derek.