Chapter 4: Officially Dead

The first gunshot rang out.

Vivienne flinched.

Silas reacted before she could draw a breath.

One moment he was across from her, eyes calm and unreadable. The next his hand was around her wrist, dragging her backwards and behind the black sedan.

"Down," he ordered.

Vivienne landed hard on her knees.

Mara was already crouched behind the opposite side of the car, a gun in her hand. Her face was pale, but her grip steady.

"Two at the ramp," she said. "Three moving left."

"Six total," Silas said.

Vivienne stared at him.

"You counted?"

Another shot rang out, above her head. The glass in the car exploded across the floor of the garage.

Silas's body kept Vivienne's covered.

"Yes."

The words fell from his mouth easily, a calm note of something akin to amusement in his voice.

She pressed a palm to her bleeding hand. "Who are they?"

"Private security," Mara said.

"Not police," Vivienne clarified.

"That wasn't my question."

Silas looked down at her. For the first time something sharp enough to wound was visible in his carefully schooled expression.

“Your father sent men after you,” he said. "Does it matter what names they use?"

It did.

It mattered, because speaking it made it real.

Lucien Laurent hadn't simply watched Vivienne get arrested, he'd had to have it done.

A shadow shifted at the far end of the garage.

Mara fired once, the man dropped behind a column.

Vivienne's heart pounded against her sternum when she realized something.

"I can't do this," she whispered.

Silas's gaze snapped back to hers, "Yes, you can."

"You don't know me,"

"No," he said, "but I know exactly what they want you to believe."

Another shot skated past her ear, chips of concrete flying past her cheek.

Silas had Vivienne's shoulders. "They want you to be frightened. Confused. They want you to believe no one will care if you disappear."

A hand tightened around her wrist. "Do not give them that."

Something deep and steady inside Vivienne responded to the force of his words, pushing away the growing panic.

"What do I do?" she asked.

"Go," Silas said, looking towards Mara. "Mara. West exit?"

"Blocked." Mara's response was clipped.

"Service lift?"

"Possibly," Mara replied.

"Possibly?" Vivienne echoed.

Mara looked up at her. "Would you prefer certainty? Because I can offer you a gun fight."

Silas got to his knees, peered over the top of the car before sliding his hand insidehis jacket. He pulled out something small and black.

"What is this?"

"Emergency alarm,"

"It looks like a key fob."

"It'll unlock the side door," he said. "Once we reach it."

"And if it doesn't?"

Silas met her gaze. "We improvise."

Another gunshot rang through the garage. Vivienne's heart pounded in her ears when she heard the click of Silas's gun being fired.

"When I say to run, don't look back,"

"I'm not leaving you."

His expression changed, becoming almost frightening.

"You do not know what you're promising,"

Before Vivienne could object Silas rose from behind the car and fired twice. The garage exploded to gunfire. First Mara and then Silas raced around the car, Vivienne stumbling after Silas.

Her heels skidded on an oil slick and Vivienne's lungs burned but she kept running. The sound of gunfire was so loud Vivienne had no idea how far away the shooters were.

A bullet thudded against the wall, mere inches from her head.

She screamed. Silas shoved her into a side room, throwing the door open behind her. "Go!"

Vivienne stumbled into a stairwell as the door behind her was slammed shut. Silas fumbled with the deadbolt, and then tossed her something else. A black rectangle.

"Press that red button I tell you to."

"What is this thing?" She asked.

"Buy us time," Silence answered.

"No,"

Silas grabbed a bar off the wall, shoving it into the door handles.

Vivienne stared up at him. "You said not to leave you."

"I said not to look back,"

The last word was drawn out and dark as he stared her in the eye.

"You do not know what you are promising," she echoed.

Silas rose from behind the door when he heard footsteps approaching. He fired twice, and turned to Vivienne.

"Come on. I'm getting tired of waiting."

Vivienne was right behind him as the two of them ran down the stairs.

Her heels slithered across the oil slick. Again and again, Vivienne's chest heaved against her ribs. Her lungs burned as she dodged from side to side. Gunshots rang out, but in the chaos she had no idea how close the men were.

She screamed when a bullet tore a hole in the wall next to her head. Silas slid around a corner and rammed her through a metal door. "Get in!"

Vivienne stumbled into the stairwell as doors slammed behind them. Her fingers tightened around a small black device in her hands.

"Wait,"

Silas pressed himself against the wall, listening. "Someone is still down here. If I have to open the door again get ready to run."

The doors in the narrow stairwell shook from the force of someone outside trying to open them. Vivienne's fingers curled around the small black device.

"It opens the side door," she said.

"We might need it to get out as well,"Silas said, eyeing the device. "It's supposed to unlock it."

"That's not helpful,"

"You want it to be?"

He sounded a bit more dangerous. "Then survive."

The door in front of the stairwell opened. First came Mara, then Vivienne and finally the man chasing them, Vivienne's heart pounding against her ribs. He aimed his gun at them.

Silas shoved Vivienne towards the doors as they began to close. "Hold on to that!" He tossed the device into her hands.

The lights above them in the stairwell went out. The walls exploded with metal in Vivienne's ears and the floor pitched beneath her.

The doors shut when another shot had been fired. Vivienne's eyes widened when they saw Silas's figure on the other side of the doors. A gun in his hand.

"No!" She yelled and hit the doors open button. "Silas!"

The elevator had started to descend. "I need answers,"

"Later,"

"Later?" Vivienne turned to Mara. "Did you know?"

"Know what?" Vivienne demanded.

Mara turned her back. "It doesn't matter anymore. I've got him." As she spoke, the doors behind them shook, metal groaning.

"That doesn't mean I can't kill him!"

"He's not in danger,"

Vivienne blinked.

"He's in a perfect location to pick us off."

That meant the doors weren't actually closing.

"This is ridiculous," Vivienne said and shoved the button to open the elevator. "Silas!"

The doors jolted open and Vivienne pushed in.

"Thank you,"

"Wait!"

Silas's hand closed around her wrist, dragging Vivienne into the elevator.

"Now we can discuss your actions." He smiled. "You seem very willing to ignore my safety."

"Actions?"

She looked at her hands in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I believe you had a choice. You could have left me behind."

Vivienne's eyes grew wide. "I didn't know you were there."

"I believed you saw me fall."

"But I saw you take a bullet."

"It's all the same thing," He shrugged. "That makes us even."

Vivienne frowned.

"This isn't fair."

"It never is,"

She looked up at the ceiling and shook her head. That was the most ridiculous answer she had heard in her life.

"What's the point of this conversation?" Her question was sincere.

"Did you come here to discuss ethics?" He looked genuinely surprised. "That is very noble of you."

"But what's next?"

The elevator doors opened onto another section of the garage.

"Did you hear any of this? Did you hear what I said!" He demanded.

"I heard everything."

"No you didn't. You heard what was convenient for you. You heard something that reassured you." He turned to glare at her. "You heard what I wanted you to hear."

She looked back at him, unsure what to say. For some strange reason she believed he really wanted the conversation to continue.

"It's not your fault." She said softly.

"It is. It always is." He looked back at the doors. A gun barrel was peering out from the space between the elevator and the wall.

"Who fired the first shot?" Vivienne asked.

"Both of us." Silas answered with a small smile.

"Your father tried to kill me," Vivienne said. "My fiancé tried to kill me, and I was arrested for a crime I didn't commit, kidnapped by fake police, and dragged down parking garages with bullets fired at me." Her voice trembled but she forced herself to continue. "I am not getting into another car until someone gives me answers."

Mara turned to Vivienne. "What do you want."

"Private answers.

"I can give you that after we stop being hunted by armed men."

"My father tried to kill me," Vivienne said. "My fiancé betrayed me. I was arrested for a crime I didn't commit, kidnapped by fake police, and dragged down parking garages with bullets fired at me." Her voice shook, but she kept it steady. "I am not getting into another car until someone tells me the truth."

Mara stared at her. For a few seconds there wasn't a sound to be heard besides the distant hum of the garage.

Then a door opened behind them.

Vivienne turned, expecting to see Lucien.

But it was Silas.

The man's coat was torn at the shoulder. Blood darkened one of his sleeves. His face was unreadable.

Relief surged through Vivienne so powerfully that she hated herself for feeling even the smallest of emotions.

"You're hurt," she said.

"It's not serious."

"That is blood."

"It's still not serious."

He walked towards them and Vivienne's stomach twisted.

Mara glanced him over. "Did you lose them?"

"For now."

"For now?" Vivienne echoed the words.

Silas stopped in front of her. "They know you're alive."

Her stomach turned. "What do you mean?"

"They expected to find you in the police vehicle. When that didn't work, they followed you and Mara's car."

"How?"

"Your phone,"

Vivienne went cold.

"My phone was in the first car."

"Yes,"

"Then how did--"

Silas reached into his pocket and pulled out something small. Something familiar.

Her heart pounded against her ribs. Her hand shook as he closed it over Vivienne's.

"You said to forget it,"

"Mara said that."

"You had it?"

"I had someone retrieve it,"

Vivienne stared at him.

"Did you read it?"

Silas didn't answer. The sting of the words flared to life inside of her.

"You read my messages."

"I read the messages that told you not to trust your father's lawyers."

"That was private."

"Private?" Silas's gaze narrowed. "Vivienne, you are not in a private situation. Your father put a target on your back. Every call, every text, every person you trust can be used to find you."

"You don't get to decide what I'm allowed to know."

For the first time, Vivienne saw something almost akin to surprise cross Silas's face. It vanished quickly, replaced with something even colder.

"I decide whether you are still alive long enough to fight."

The words felt like a slap. Vivienne took a step back. Mara's hand shot out to stop Vivienne. Vivienne turned toward Silas, her heart hammering against her ribs.

"I don't need another man to decide what happens to me."

Silas's stare was unreadable. "No. You need one that tells you the truth."

He opened his coat and pulled out a file.

The edges of the paper were worn, the words hastily put together by someone who couldn't be bothered to do the job correctly.

ELISE VALE LAURENT.

Vivienne felt like the floor had dropped beneath her.

Her mother's name.

The file in Silas's shaking hands.

"Your mother did not die of an overdose," Silas said. "She was murdered."

Vivienne's lips parted, but nothing came out.

"Sixteen years ago, she found records about your father's Laurent Atelier," He continued. "Money laundering, illegal production. Payments made through the foundation in your name and mine."

"In my name?"

"You were a child. Your father needed accounts no one would question."

"No," Vivienne shook her head. "No, that's impossible."

"You saw the first part of it tonight."

Vivienne's thoughts were racing. The words she would use to confront Lucien Laurent echoed inside of her head. The accounts. The signitures. The look on his eyes when he told Vivienne she signed something she didn't.

He'd known. It had all been planned for years.

Her knees wavered.

Mara came forward, but Vivienne stopped her with a hand.

"What does this have to do with you?" She asked Silas.

"My mother was investigating Laurent Atelier with yours."

Vivienne stared at him.

"Your mother?"

"She was an accountant. She found irregularities in one of Laurent's overseas factories." His jaw tightened. "Your mother found proof the company had buried more than money."

"What did they bury?"

Silas's gaze didn't move. "People."

Vivienne inhaled sharply. She thought of the glossy campaigns, the charity galas, Lucien's speeches about family and his father's long awaited departure. All the lies were built over something rotten.

She pressed a hand against her mouth.

"My father killed her," she whispered.

"I see,"

A sound came from further down the hallway. The scrape of shoe leather against concrete.

Mara leveled her gun.

"They found us,"

Vivienne's heart began to pound again.

"This time," said Silas. "You get in the car."