We both take a seat at the table. The woman leaves the room, leaving Liesel and me alone. We both smile at each other, knowing this is almost over.
“Don’t move,” the woman suddenly says.
We both freeze, not sure what the hell is going on.
My eyes scan the room and find the woman has a gun pointed at my head. She’s across the room, so I can’t just yank the gun free from her hand. I have no idea how good her aim is.
“Do you love him?” she asks Liesel.
Liesel is sitting next to me with big eyes. I can hear her heart beating from here. After what I put her through, I know she’s not going to let this woman shoot me without a fight.
“Yes, I love him,” Liesel says.
“Would you die for him?” the woman asks.
“Yes,” Liesel says at the same time I scream, “No!”
The woman turns the gun on Liesel. “If either of you moves, I’ll kill her.”
I freeze, even though I want to protect Liesel with every ounce of my being. I rock my feet under the table, preparing myself to jump on Liesel to protect her from any bullets if I need to.
“Do you love her?” she asks me.
“Yes, with everything I have,” I say.
“Would you die for her?”
“In a heartbeat.”
“No,” Liesel says with tears in her eyes. She quickly wipes them away. I’m guessing the only reason she’s not bawling right now is that she knows she has to remain strong for whatever happens next. She’s going to need her sight to be able to fight or run.
The woman shakes her head at us.
“She loves me, and I love her. If you want us to prove it, we will. You don’t need to kill either of us,” I say.
The woman laughs. “You think you completed the task successfully?”
“Yes, I did what was on the card. I made her fall in love with me. Liesel loves me, and I love her.”
“That was what was on the card, but that was not the actual challenge. Your task was to resist falling in love. You were told years ago what would happen if you fell in love with Liesel, now you will pay the price,” the woman says.
Shit.
“What is she talking about?” Liesel asks.
I should have told Liesel, but I didn’t want her to worry. Her father’s dead; I didn’t think he’d know or have any way to carry out his threat. I guess I was wrong.
“Go on, you can tell her, we have time,” the woman says.
I should be figuring out how to get out of here, not tell Liesel a story about how horrible her father is. She already knows that, so I try my best to search for ways I can get Liesel out of here safely while I tell her the story.
“Your father saw us rip his letter to you in half. He knew you had half the clues, and I had the other half. So he looked me up, found out that I worked for Enzo Black, the son of one of his rivals who betrayed him. He approached me. It took me a minute to realize who he was, or I wouldn’t have taken the meeting. He threatened me.”
Actually, his men beat me to within an inch of my life.
“He told me he’d rather his daughter be dead than loved by a man like me. He saw already how much I wanted you, how I loved you. He made me promise before he’d let me go that I would never fall in love with you or let you fall in love with me. If I did, he’d kill one or both of us. At the time, I knew you hated me and didn’t think you could ever love me, so I didn’t see the problem with making that promise. I fell in love with you, anyway. I’m sorry for the danger it’s put us in.”
Her father was a snake. He set up this game and ensured that we failed. The only way she would have had a chance to