Page 127 of Contract of a Billionaire

“Stay back, woman. Or you’re next.” The man with a thick accent shifted his attention to Autumn, his gun now pointed at her slim frame. I watched as more guns shifted her way - from both sides. The U.S. military behind her and the local rebel forces in front of her.

Through the fog, I could hear gasps in the office. Mrs. Corbin’s whimpers. Kol calling for his maman.

Amidst all the death and chaos on screen and muttering in my office, the only thing I could focus on was my woman. She was a light among the blackness of the world. Whoever was recording the whole scene zoomed in on the gun and my heart froze. It fucking froze right in my chest.

Those were my guns. The symbol of the letter ‘A’ with the skull.

I closed my eyes, hoping I was seeing it wrong. It couldn’t be. My own guns. I knew they were going to Afghanistan. I didn’t care.

Until now.

And for the first time in my whole fucked up life, I prayed.

Chapter41

Autumn

Ihadn’t imagined in a million years that I’d be staring at the barrel of a gun.

And true to the phrase, my life flashed right in front of my eyes. The first day I saw Alessio. The image of me staring at him upside down. First time he drove me home and we never made it to my parents’ house. Instead, we spent the wildest night of my life in his penthouse. The days and nights we spent together all over the world. The birth of our son. That feeling of loneliness as I held Kol for the first time and the regret of not sharing it with Alessio. All the way to the last morning when I left without seeing him, three days ago.

Three days of one disaster after next. My phone was stolen. Then the flight dropped us off at the wrong airport. We were supposed to be dropped off at Bagram. We were dropped off in Kabul. The center of the disaster.

The AK-47 pointed at me. My heart hammered against my ribs.Click. Click.

My eyes locked on the end of the gun. It felt like staring at the dark tunnel and there was no light at the end of this road. I held my breath.

Alessio. Kol. My happily-ever-after. My parents.

I wasn’t ready to die. I couldn’t die.

My hands shot up into the air.

“Don’t shoot,” I yelled. “Please, don’t shoot.” My voice shook, sounding far away to my own ears. Like I was underwater and there was all this commotion going on around me.

I blinked, then blinked again. The crying baby and whimpering voice of a mother registered behind me. Shouting in the distance. Begging. I heard soldiers, from both sides, shouting for the other to lower the guns. Neither did.

I glanced over my shoulder to the crying mother. A very young mother.

“Shhh. It’s going to be okay.” Every single word scraped through my chest, tangling with a fear that made it hard to breathe.

I had no idea if the woman understood me. I had no fucking idea if we would be okay. But I had to believe it. It was the only thing keeping me on my feet right now while my knees trembled.

But I stood firm. I met the dark eyes of the soldier who trained his gun on me. One of Alessio’s guns. He was young, even younger than me. And yet, all I saw was hate in his eyes. My heart clenched.

I wanted to beg him to spare us. I wanted to tell him I had a family to go back home to. But the words got stuck in my throat. I didn’t think it would have worked anyhow. The bitterness in those dark eyes was too deep.

And still I wondered what drove this man here. To point a gun at a mere stranger. In my entire life, I had never physically hurt another being. I never understood how one human could hurt another. And yet, at this moment, I wondered. If it came down to him or us, could I kill him? Could I pull the trigger if I had a gun?

The answer was terrifying. It was self-preservation mode that made the world turn. We all wanted to survive, one way or another. But some humans were just crueler than others. Like this guy who had no issues shooting a woman with a small child nor me, for that matter.

“You don’t want to do that.” I found my voice. Maybe the right words. “The camera is still rolling.” I flicked my eyes at the cameramen that were situated behind the wall that meant safety. Just one wall dividing chaos from some semblance of safety. “Let us go.”

I couldn’t die. Not like this. Not by the gun stamped with Alessio’s symbol.

Destiny wouldn’t be so cruel to let me die by the very same gun that Alessio sold. Right? Though if I made it back, I’d have a heart-to-heart with him. My frustration and fear mounted by the second.

His finger tightened on the trigger and I held my breath. This was it.