Chapter 48

Chase's eyes widened the second those words left my mouth, and he reached forward to grab my arm, only to be yanked back by Victor. Victor quickly restrained his arms behind his back and kicked the back of his knees, forcing him onto the floor.

Chase grunted in discomfort and I looked around for something to tie his arms with for the meantime. My searching was cut short when a man stepped beside Victor with a thick rope in hand, immediately helping him tie Chase up.

"What are you doing, Amelia?" Chase hissed.

I ignored him and grabbed a piece of cloth from the floor. He continued to struggle against the men as I wrapped the cloth over his mouth and tied it behind his neck. I didn't miss the explicit words that left his mouth before I shut him up completely.

"Take him to the meeting room," I instructed Victor, then turned to the other man. "You, whatever your name is, I want you to go to wherever Steven is being held and also take him to the meeting room as well. You've got five minutes."

More noises were heard from Chase, but I just turned around to not look at his face.

Once the noise died down, I threw on my leather jacket and changed into some dark jeans, along with my combat boots. I headed downstairs and made it to the room with some other people. I noticed some recognizable faces—though their names didn't pop up inside my head. There were about ten people already inside, chatting among themselves.

My head turned backwards once a string of curse words left the mouth of a certain green-eyed man. I smirked once Steven was pushed inside the room, making him lose his footing momentarily in an ungraceful way. -He immediately glared at me when he saw me standing only a few feet away from him.

"You know, you wrinkling your face like that won't make you look any younger," I taunted, and he scoffed.

"Go to hell." He sneered, and I chuckled then walked away.

I stood in the middle of the room while people started pooling in. I ignored the grunts of protest coming from Chase, who struggled against the restraints by my side. I avoided all kinds of contact with him, kept a stoic face and stared at one spot on the wall across the room. Chatter filled the room as more people kept walking in and taking seats on the many plastic chairs around the room.

I glanced at my wristwatch and saw that it was already five minutes after four.

I made eye contact with Victor from across the room and motioned him to come to where I was standing. He complied and made his way to me, and once he was in front of me, I said, "Take someone with you and check out the whole place. I want you to make sure all the rooms and hallways are empty and that everyone is here. Once you're done, come back here immediately."

He didn't question my commands and walked away, taking a woman with him.

Soon enough, most of the chairs were occupied, and Victor--along with the woman--walked back into the room, giving me a nod. Victor stood by my side and I glared at everyone, bringing the chatter to a stop occasionally.

At one far end of the room stood Steven, his hands tied securely on his back. He was being held by two guards—with a third one pointing a gun at the back of his head.

"You might be wondering why I gathered you all here today," I spoke loud enough for everyone in the room to hear me. "I have very important matters to discuss, and the faster I get through them, the better."

People in the room exchanged glances while others just sat there in plain boredom.

I simply tucked my hands inside my pockets and looked at Steven. "I believe that you all know by now that your former boss over there"--I pointed to him--"calls himself my father."

"I could never call myself the father of such a disgusting person like you," he spat, and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm glad to know that we both think the same way." I rolled my eyes. "I could never call myself the daughter of such an egoistic and self-centered man such as yourself. Who leaves all the dirty work to his slaves and doesn't care for anyone who gets killed along the way."

"Like you and I were any different." He smirked.

"Oh, but we are... and on so many levels." I scoffed. The room was quiet during our exchange and I turned back to them. "Most of you must also know his plans of revenge, along with many other juicy details. Anyways, we'll leave that for another time. Right now, I would like for all of you to get to know me well. So if there are any questions you'd like to ask, then I'm all ears."

At first, everyone looked at each other with quizzical gazes, until slowly one by one started raising their hands.

I wanted to chuckle at the elementary school formality, but instead I started pointing to each individual, answering their questions. Most of them were silly ones, like how old I was, where did I learn to fight so well, and even what my favorite color was. I couldn't help but laugh at that particular one.

A few minutes passed by, and I managed to make conversation with them all, making everyone laugh every now and then with my sarcastic comments and snarky remarks. Steven scoffed and rolled his eyes most of the time, and Chase somehow stopped struggling and just stared at the ground. I had to ignore every pang of pain and guilt that overwhelmed my heart every time I spared a glance at him.

He was sitting there, hunched forward with his head hung low. I could see the ropes holding his hands behind his back in an uncomfortable way, and I wanted nothing more than just rip them off him and set him free. But I couldn't do that, not yet. He might come to hate me for betraying him like this—for ­using him like this, but I preferred him hating me than him having to endure the consequences of my plan.

He got caught in the middle of this mess, and I couldn't let him get dragged further into it.

"Why is he tied up?" a woman I came to know as Julie asked.

I didn't look at her when she asked the question, but spared another glance to the brunette boy beside me instead. At this question, he lifted his head a little. His brown eyes found mine under his messy locks, holding such vulnerability that almost made me sick to the stomach.

He didn't deserve this.

"I have my own personal reasons," was my vague answer.

From a distance, I could hear the familiar noise of helicopters. There were at least three, from what I could hear. I smirked slightly at this, and some people eyed me curiously.

"I'm sure you can hear those helicopters. Shouldn't we prepare ourselves, in case it's an attack?" someone called from the back.

"Oh, those? Don't worry, they're actually my friends. They like to make a dramatic entrance sometimes," I said dismissively.

As if on cue, Wesley and Lindsey came inside the room, all geared up. They both had bulletproof vests on top of their thick uniforms and their steps could be heard, thanks to their heavy boots. They each held an M-15 and they had a belt around their waists, holding a handgun, pocket knives, a taser gun, and whatever else they needed.

I grinned at them and they looked around the room. Lindsey's lips were down in a frown while Wesley's were tugged up in a smirk as I spoke again.

"Everyone, meet my good friends. Their names? They don't matter. Want to know what matters?"

Curious and quizzical eyes met my green ones.

"What matters is that my work here is mostly done." I turned to Steven. "And I can finally bring this man down, along with all of his bitches."

After those words left my mouth, an uproar filled the entire room. People shot up from their seats, demanding answers and glaring daggers at me.

I didn't let any of it faze me, though. I just stood there, cool as a cucumber.

Some tried to leave the room, but were held back by Wes and Lindsey. Once a few shares of footsteps were heard heading our way, the chaos began.

Many people in CIA uniforms barged inside the room, all of them with their weapons raised and ready to shoot. People from the gang started fighting against them, some of them taking out their guns and shooting.

Breath was knocked out of me as I was tackled to the ground. I looked up to see that it was Julie. I immediately rolled my head to the side to avoid her upcoming fist, making it collide with the ground and earned a loud grunt from her part. I pushed her off me and avoided someone else's fist as soon as I got to my feet.

A yelp escaped my lips when Victor pulled at my hair harshly. I grabbed onto his wrist with my left hand and elbowed him continuously on the stomach with my right arm. His hold on my hair only loosened slightly, but I took that as my chance to turn around and knee him where the sun didn't shine. He immediately kneeled on the ground and let go of my hair completely, causing me to smirk.

My victory was—unfortunately—short lived as I was kicked at the back of my legs, making me stumble down to the floor. I grunted a little as my back connected with the hard surface. Julie punched me straight on the nose, making my head bounce off the ground a little.

I didn't have time to focus on the pain as I saw her taking hold of the gun on her waistband and aimed it at me. My hands shot forward before she could pull the trigger, and I swiftly managed to knock the gun out of her hold. The weapon clattered somewhere beside us, and I struggled to push her off me again. I decided to use a throat punch to take her breath away, literally.

She wrapped her hands around her throat and gagged as she fought for air. I used it as an advantage and rolled us over. Grabbing the gun from the floor, I knocked her out without hesitation. She lay there unconscious as I inhaled deeply while standing up slowly.

I looked around to see people still fighting with the CIA members, but most of them were already out cold and being handcuffed. My eyes darted around, looking for Chase among the mess. It wasn't difficult to spot his tousled hair in the corner. His eyes were flashing around the scenario in complete shock and fear.

I approached him, gun in hand, and stood right in front of him. His eyes immediately met mine, and I crouched down to untie the cloth around his mouth. His mouth opened and closed like a fish, fighting to come up with something. This caused me to smile a little, and I raised my gun. He started shouting; my name echoed through the walls as his gaze never left mine.

I then felt the coldness of a gun at the back of my head, and about three members of the CIA aimed those at me.

"Drop the weapon, now!" one of them exclaimed, and I slowly lowered the gun I was directing at Chase's forehead. I unwrapped my fingers from the weapon and let it drop to the ground with a clatter. I was harshly pushed to the floor; my arms being pulled behind my back and my face being pressed down on the ground. My gaze, however, never left Chase's horrified one.

Many emotions swirled within his brown eyes, and all I could do was smile at him.

The last thing I could see flash through his eyes before I was dragged away was realization. His eyes widened as he stumbled forward to reach me while screaming my name hysterically.

I forced myself to look away from him, letting the men drag me away and drown out Chase's desperate calls.

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[Edited: September 23rd, 2020 by michh_44]

Honestly, this chapter is one of my favorites. The way Amelia's plan unraveled and how everything went down is kind of satisfying to me. What did you think of it? Please let me know in the comments and leave a lovely vote if you wish. Lots of love xx