“That’s the least of your worries right now.” He moved his fingers and cocked the gun.
Annabella was still in the living room, and when she realized what was happening, she gasped. “Liam, what the hell are you doing?”
The terror in her voice made me turn around.
Liam glanced at his former wife, then turned back to me, raising the gun a little higher. “I told you not to move, asshole.”
I should shit my pants right now, but I wasn’t afraid. In the most dangerous situations, I was oddly calm. Whereas the same thing scared most people. “You’re going to shoot me anyway.” Shirtless and in just my sweatpants, I had nothing to protect me from the bullet that was about to puncture my heart. My mortality wasn’t important right now. The only thing I cared about was the frantic woman watching her greatest nightmare take place.
“Good point,” he said. “Final words?”
I should resent Annabella right now. I was about to die because she wouldn’t allow me to do what was necessary. But instead of feeling anger or pain, I felt something else entirely. “Yeah.” I turned my gaze to Annabella, who was already crying. “I love you.” I turned my gaze back to him. “Now, do it.”
The gun started to shake in his grasp because of the rage heavy in his veins. Now, he wanted me dead more than before, and I only had a few seconds before I turned to worm food.
“Liam.” Annabella slowly moved closer to him, standing in the area between us, being balanced and diplomatic. “Look at me.”
His face was red with rage, and a bead of sweat started to form on his forehead. But her voice was enough for him to turn his gaze back to her.
“You were right.” Tears still welled up in her eyes, and the tears that had already fallen reflected like shiny rivers down her cheeks. She was only wearing one of my shirts, long enough to cover her body to her knees. “It’s my fault that our marriage didn’t work. I was in love with somebody else, and that wasn’t fair to you. The person you should punish is me, not him.”
Liam lowered the gun slightly. “You mean that?”
“Yes.” Her breathing started to slow once Liam began to calm down. “And I’m so sorry for hurting you. You and I can work on this. Let’s go somewhere quiet and talk. Just don’t kill Damien.”
The last thing I wanted was for Annabella to do something she didn’t want to do, especially on my account. She only offered him that to spare my life, but I’d rather die than let her be forced to do something against her will.
Liam lowered the gun altogether. “That’s what I wanted from the beginning.”
I considered rushing him and knocking him to the ground, but I couldn’t risk accidental casualties. There was only one life in the room that mattered, and I couldn’t risk it for anything. So I’d have to keep being patient and wait for a better opportunity.
“Then, let’s go.” Once Annabella successfully calmed Liam, the tears stopped altogether and her shoulders weren’t so tight. She stood in just her underwear and my t-shirt, but she didn’t seem uncomfortable in a provocative outfit, even though it implied we’d just been screwing.
“Sure.” Liam raised the barrel and pointed the gun at me again. “I’ll just kill him first.”
“Liam, no! I said I would come with you.”
“I already gave you the opportunity to spare his life, and you refused.” He placed his forefinger over the trigger. “My generosity has expired.”
My heart started to race once I reached death’s doorstep. There was nothing I could do to stop the bullet when it left the barrel. I was cornered near the back wall, so there was nowhere to run. I’d have to take death like a man and accept it.
He pulled the trigger.
My eyes immediately closed as I prepared for the pain. I’d been shot before, but the adrenaline usually masked the immediate agony. I didn’t feel it now because my body was in survival mode. I kept my pulse slow so I wouldn’t lose all my blood too soon.
“Anna!”
I opened my eyes and grabbed at my chest. There was no drop of blood, no sign of red. My fingers felt my perfectly healthy body, and I didn’t feel the intrusion of a bullet. My eyes moved over to the floor, and that was when I saw my white shirt covered in red blood.
Now, I panicked.
Now, the pain hit me hard.
Now, something worse than death had happened.
She was still, her eyes open as she stared at the floor beside her. She breathed hard as she processed the bullet that had just hit her in the gut, and she was clearly in shock based on the emptiness in her gaze.
I didn’t have the luxury of getting upset. I couldn’t fall to my knees and sob at the sight before me. I couldn’t pull out my gun and shoot Liam for what he’d just done. There was still time to save her, and I needed it to haul ass to make that happen. Vengeance would come later.