CHAPTER 9 ~ TWO BULLETS, NO REGRETS

SALLY’S POV

I sat there for a full minute, half-naked in a room scented with candles and betrayal, before I finally moved.

I couldn't believe he left me like that, used me, took my father’s key and walked out of the dining room like I was nothing more than a pawn that had finally served her purpose.

Shame clung to my skin like fire, hotter than the lingerie I still wore. I grabbed my robe, wrapped it tightly around me, and stormed back to my room. My pulse throbbed in my ears, my father had given me that necklace on my eighteenth birthday, he never mentioned a key or explained what it was for and I never questioned him. I wore it daily, thinking it was a sentimental gift, a memory, a connection.

And yet, Doom had been after it all along.

He kept me here, played hero, made me fall deeper, made me hope and all this time, it was just about the key.

I changed quickly, jeans, black top, sneakers and slipped the pistol he gave me into the back waistband of my jeans. I needed to breathe, I needed space but more than that, I needed answers.

The estate was quiet and vast as I walked, every step echoing in my head like a countdown, like a clock ticking toward explosion.

"I can't believe he played me, just like others."

Why would my father give me a key and never explain? What did it open? What was Doom trying to unlock?

Then... movement caught my eye, two shadows in the distance, huddled near one of the garden’s stone fences.

I squinted… then froze. My breath hitched when I recognized them.

"What the fuck?" It was Frank, alive and talking to Kelvin. "Last I checked, he was dead... I killed him, right?"

My heart stuttered, my skin went cold. It was like my body didn’t know how to process what it was seeing.

The man I thought I killed, the reason I had been running. The reason Doom had stepped in to "save me." He was alive?

And talking to my ex like they were old friends catching up at a bar? "What the hell is their connection?" I murmured to myself.

I crouched, staying hidden behind one of the stone pillars as I listened.

"I can’t wait for this drama to end." Frank said, stretching like someone on vacation. “Playing dead’s exhausting, I just hope doom called me here to put an end to all this."

"Count yourself lucky." Kelvin muttered. "All you had to do was lay low and keep your mouth shut. Me? I am a fucking walking corpse, all because I dated Sally."

Frank chuckled. "You are saying you are working for Doom now? I thought it was a one time thing."

"Working for him?" Kelvin scoffed. "Try surviving him. He made me break up with Sally the minute he found out we were dating. I didn’t care, I mean I was already screwing Pamela behind her back."

My blood boiled.

"But then he asked me to help set her up, have you lure her in, drug her, scare her. She was supposed to call him for help, and he would come to her rescue, become her savior. I thought it wasn't going to work but I guess he knew her too well, everything happened the way he wanted. She called him for help and now she's indebted to him but I thought she killed you… How the hell are you still breathing again?" Kelvin asked curiously and I was curious as well.

Everything they were saying made my ears bleed, I had heard enough. I stood up and stepped out of the shadows with the gun already aimed.

'Yeah, Frank." I said, voice steady but sharp. "That’s a great question, how the hell are you still alive?"

They froze, hands up instantly, panic spreading across their faces like a virus.

"Shit." Frank whispered. "Sally..."

"Answer the question frank, how are you still breathing?" I asked again.

"I can't say anything, if you have questions, talk to Doom. He will kill me if he finds out you saw me or that we even spoke." He said, obviously scared.

"I am the one you should be afraid of right now." I said, dead calm. "I already tried to kill you once. This time, I won’t miss."

Frank stammered. "I am sorry, I was just following orders. Doom told me to flirt with you, get you on a date, act like I was dead. He said if you thought you killed me, you would need him, call him, and trust him. It was all part of his plan."

Every word was another knife, another betrayal from the man I loved, from my best friend and now, from the only person I thought I could trust.

I looked at Kelvin. "And you? Did he also ask you to screw Pamela in the hospital room while I was unconscious?"

His face paled. "That was me, I am sorry. I... Sally, I messed up. It wasn’t Doom, I cheated and I am sorry."

I almost laughed. A raw, broken sound.

"I was fooled." I whispered. "Played, I fell for all of it. Big time."

I cocked the gun and faced it at Frank.

He started to beg, but I didn’t care. "You wanted to play dead?" I said, stepping closer. "Let me help you stay that way."

Bang.

Frank crumpled to the ground, a perfect bullet hole through his skull... My first kill.

The sound echoed through the estate.

Kelvin screamed, backing into the hedge. "Please. Please don’t." He cried.

"I loved you." I whispered. "I gave you everything and you used me, you laughed at me. You fucked her in front of me, thinking I was dying. I hated you… but now I pity you.” I raised the gun.

"And guess what? You are next."

Bang.

Blood sprayed onto the grass, two bodies now. Silent and still.

My hands trembled, but my face didn’t show it... I held it together, barely. Inside, I was crumbling but on the surface?

I was queen, bold and confident.

"Doom wants war?" I muttered. "I will give him one."

The guards ran toward the noise, questions flying but I walked past them like I hadn’t just killed two men, like I didn’t feel like puking and screaming.

The gun stayed tucked in my jeans as I stormed up the stairs. Heading straight to his room and there he was, sitting calmly on the edge of the bed, back straight, chest bare, and the coffee table pulled in front of him.

A small chest sat on it. Opened, glowing in the soft light.

He didn’t even look up, he didn’t flinch, he didn’t even ask where the gunshots came from.

He just stared... Something in that chest had him enthralled, hungry like a man who had just found salvation or damnation.

I stepped forward, each step shaky but filled with purpose.

"What the hell is in that chest that was worth all this?" I whispered, still no answer.

I moved beside him, then I looked and my eyes went wide. What I saw in the chest left me dazed. My fingers went cold, my breath caught in my throat and I realized...

I didn’t know Doom Castillo at all.