“See?” I told him. “No gun, no threats, nothing. Vera isn’t going to do anything either. She follows my orders, and I will order her to silence. I swear it.”
Jon didn’t need to know that I hadn’t been given the right by Gavril to do so or that Vera probably wouldn’t listen to me. I hoped that if I could get her out of this, she would go and find Gavril immediately.
Jon chuckled, shaking his head. “Do you think I’m fucking stupid, Naomi? Do you really think that I’m willing to let her go?”
“Please,” I begged again. Jon always liked when I begged him, and back then, I thought it was just him wanting me to play a role. Little did I know that the role would expand to real life. “I did what you asked.”
He seemed to think about it, likely weighing what he really wanted and what he could give up for the sake of having me. Up here, there was no escape. I knew what lay beyond my balcony, and I would likely kill myself by jumping. Even if I could get some sort of hold on the balcony and climb down, it was a long way down to the ground and Jon would likely have me in his grasp before my feet could hit the grass below.
I was trapped, and the only way I was going to get out of here alive was to keep my wits and outwit him once more.
“Do it for me,” I added softly, hoping that my voice would sway him in the direction I needed him to go. “I will do anything if you let her go.”
“You see?” Jon replied as he started to release Vera from his grasp. “All I ask is that you do exactly what I fucking want you to do, Naomi, and things go your way.” His expression darkened. “But you don’t, do you? You are always trying my patience, and because you always push my buttons, I have to do things like this.”
Before I could cry out, the gunshot filled the air and I turned away, my stomach heaving at the sight. He had shot Vera point blank, the sound of her body falling to the floor with a thud something I wasn’t going to be able to forget anytime soon.
He had killed her.
I barely had time to even process what was going on, but I shook out of the shock, knowing that my life depended on every move I made. And when I turned back, Jon was already on the stairs, making his way toward me.