LV Pt Two

A feminine voice cut through the silence of the room, interrupting Owen's response and Jordan turned his head toward the entrance of the basement when he heard the clicks of heels tapping against the floor.

A blonde woman came into Jordan's view just as several masked men shuffled into the room, taking up one side of the basement, surrounding the woman, while his own men took the other side and surrounded him and Owen, their stances rigidly alert.

Frowning deeply at the new and unfamiliar intruder in the room, Jordan stood to his feet, pulling Owen with him before facing the unknown woman. His eyes remained glued to her face as he tried to shuffle through his memories for recognition of her while the woman was busy ogling his body, visibly undressing him with her gaze as she licked her lips.

He had never seen or heard of her before, Jordan concluded, and not having the patience to deal with an evidently horny stranger as Emerald's safety was his top priority, Jordan quickly spoke.

“Who are you?” His voice was deep and firm, his tone sharp enough to cut through the woman's horny display and his impatience grew when her eyes met his and a wide grin spread across her face.

Her eyes searched his and when she didn't see an iota of recognition in his eyes like she had hoped, she pouted, her eyebrows drawn together in a mock frown. “You don't remember me,” she stated.

Not bothering to keep the impatience and brimming anger out of his voice, Jordan replied, “I have too many enemies to remember each one.”

The woman hummed, her grin widening as she tapped the barrel of her gun against her cheek. “Fearless. I like that,” she purred, her eyes twinkling.

Clenching his fists tightly, Jordan blew out a heavy breath, expression hardening with each passing second he spent down here instead of upstairs with Emerald, protecting her. “So what is it?” his voice came out snappy and he was unapologetic about it. “Here to destroy me like the others?”

Relishing in Jordan's barely restrained anger, the woman jutted out her hip, a thoughtful expression on her face as she continued tapping her gun against her chin. Choosing not to waste any more time with her, Jordan moved to turn around to head for the stairs, but halted when he heard Owen cock his gun.

He looked back to see why he had done that and his gaze met with the woman, who now had her gun pointed directly at him, specifically aiming for his legs. Narrowing his eyes into a death glare, Jordan remained still, leaving half of his body turned to her while the other half faced the stairs.

“You want to shoot me?” He scoffed, his tone one of mockery.

“Anything to keep you from walking away,” she retorted and Jordan raised an eyebrow.

“Even at the expense of your life?”

Seemingly undeterred by his words, she spoke again. “I am not here to destroy you. At least not exactly. Although since I would be taking away something very important to you, it might destroy you, but I could always fix you in my way,” she tilted her head, her voice seductive as a teasing grin crawled unto her face.

“Let's just say I came to finally eradicate a worthless obstruction in my way.” The disdain echoed audibly in her voice.

With unease blooming in his chest, Jordan shifted slightly to face her again. He had his suspicions but just to make sure, with eerie calmness, he asked, “And I'm that worthless obstruction?”

The woman shook her head, licking her lips as she ran her eyes over his body again. “Far from it actually,” she met his eyes. “You're more of the. . .reason behind the purpose.”

“You shot at me,” Jordan stated blankly.

“Like I said, anything to stop you from going after her. The worthless obstruction.”

With his suspicions finally confirmed, Jordan turned around completely to face her, now taking her as a threat, a threat to Emerald. “Who are you and what do you have against Emerald?” he snapped, his tone laced with unbridled fury.

That god-damned pout crept up on her face again. “We had such a fun night together and you really don't remember me?” she murmured childishly, almost sadly.

Jordan ran his eyes over her frame this time, scrutinizing her before a look of utter distaste shadowed his countenance — one he didn't bother to hide. “I had a fun night with you?” He said the word ‘you’ with a scowl and the woman finally frowned.

“What does that mean?” She asked, an edge to her voice.

“I'm certain my response would shatter your self-esteem,” Jordan muttered in a bored tone, his eyes blank and a gruff laughter suddenly resonated from one corner of the room.

Without turning her head, the blonde woman pointed the gun in the direction and shot. Twice. A scream of pain followed by strings of curses escaped from the orange mohawk woman as she slid to the floor, clutching her bleeding legs.

Narrowing his eyes at her action and the look of nonchalance on her face, Jordan studied the blonde woman, who had shot someone without so much as a blink of an eye. He didn't want to imagine what she'd do to Emerald if she got hold of her.

Tightening his fists at his sides, his jaw clenched so hard, it ticked. No, he wouldn't let that happen. He couldn't.

A moment of silence settled in the room against the backdrop of expletives rolling off mohawk woman's tongue before something akin to a screech echoed round the space; the blonde woman was laughing — more like cackling — at Jordan's words. She continued for a few seconds before coming to an abrupt halt, all humour draining from her eyes.

“Believe it or not, sweetheart, there was a night. One night, unfortunately. Remember that night at the club, your club? It was a few months ago, J.K's Niterie, in the posh parts of Manhattan, a lowly waitress who had been put in charge of bartender duty. A victim of circumstance.” She droned on dramatically, making pauses and hand gestures here and there.

“What the fuck are you spouting?” Jordan spat, already on his last nerve.

“The brunette at the club? The one you mercilessly dragged into your room? The one you unleashed your fury upon? Or rather, into.” She bit her bottom lip, her gaze lingering on Jordan's crotch area.

Jordan's brows were set in a firm, hard frown as he filtered through his memories  before his eyes suddenly snapped up to hers, realization flashing across his orbs. He remembered now. He remembered how he had been clouded by immense fury and jealousy that had pushed him into acting so blindly that night.

Still staring at her, Jordan took in her appearance. He could only remember her face vaguely but he had remembered her having brunette hair, however the woman currently standing before him had blonde hair, one she currently held up in a tight ponytail.

She grinned broadly, looking nothing less than a Cheshire cat. “Remember me now?”

Frowning even more deeply, Jordan gestured towards her hair. “Brunette,” he murmured.

“Dyed it blonde, had a few piercings and tattoos done in places I'm sure you'd absolutely love to tast—”

“Look,” he interrupted, “I'm really sorry about that night. I wasn't thinking straight, in fact, I wasn't thinking at all, but no excuse is enough for you to pardon my behavior.” His face was shadowed by heavy remorse as he apologized. “If there's anything you want — I really am sorry. I regret it. I regret it immens—”

“No, no, no, don't apologise,” she quickly cut him off, taking a step forward but immediately halting when Owen raised his gun. “Don't apologise. You need not have any regrets either. I actually enjoyed that night,” her voice turned sultry as she bit her lower lip.

Frowning, Jordan asked, “What?”

“Yeah, I really did enjoy it,” she smiled widely. “Since that night, no one has been able to sate my sexual needs, J.K. You were so rough, so strong, so hard as you yanked on my hair while you pounded into me from beh—”

“So what are you doing here?” Jordan cut her off, his stomach churning in disgust at her words and the crazed look in her eyes. “And the goons,” he continued, not giving her time to talk as he referred to the masked men surrounding her. “Did you hire them? ’Cause last I remember, you were a lowly waitress.”

Jordan spoke harshly, wanting to neutralize any interest she appeared to have in him. He didn't want her to think he wanted to have anything to do with her. He only wanted Emerald. Only her.

The woman scowled, finally showing an expression other than a teasing grin. “Wouldn't you like to know,” she said through gritted teeth before her scowl quickly dissolved into a grin, excitement brimming in her eyes and surprising Jordan with her sudden mood swings.

“We could get a table set up with some scented candles and I could tell you all about it over dinner an—”

“Look,” Jordan interrupted sharply, “I don't have time for this. If you have a score to settle with me, we can do that later, but for now, I have more pressing matters to attend to.” He dismissed her before quickly turning toward the stairs again, but this time, more than ten gun cocks stopped him from proceeding.

Facing the blonde woman again, he saw that alongside her, all her men also had their guns directed at them, but his own men weren't slacking off either as they were already in position. He was the only one without a gun in hand, but that didn't mean he was unarmed or powerless.

“Do not belittle me because I am a woman, J.K. I am as much of a threat to you as Carl Johansson is.” She spat, anger etched on her countenance.

“I do not belittle you because you are a woman, Miss. It's because a certain someone needs me right now, and that certain someone is more important to me than anything and anyone else in the entire universe. She is even more important to me than my life is and there is nobody, no fucking person that could stop me from going to her. Not. Even. You.” Jordan spoke, a resolute and valiant glint gleaming in his chocolate orbs.

The woman's eyes flashed with fury, the visible veins in her temples throbbing anomalously. “Bridget. My name is Bridget, and you will not go to her,” she said through gritted teeth, her hands shaking around her gun. “Not when I'm alive, you won't!” she yelled, thick veins prominent around her neck.

She suddenly chuckled, malicious intent shimmering in her eyes as she gripped tightly onto her gun. “I want you, Jordan Kale, I want you all for myself! And if I can't have you, no one can.”

Narrowing his eyes at her index finger wrapping around the trigger, Jordan discreetly reached for one of his daggers from its sheath. Curling his hand around the hilt, Jordan watched on silently, well aware of the tension in the room as his men faced off with hers and he against her.

After a moment of absolute stillness, the calm before the storm, all hell broke loose.

▬▬▬▬▬

Following the echoing sounds of grunts and whimpers filling the dark space, Emerald mindlessly made her way through the dilapidated old house with only one purpose in mind — to make sure her sister was safe. Using her hands to aid her eyesight which was poor against the murk of the house, she finally stumbled upon a flight of stairs.

Craning her neck upwards to behold the ostensibly endless stretch of nothingness above, Emerald stilled, trying to pick up more sounds and she didn't have to strain her ears much before she heard the continuous grunts and groans, alongside the receding thuds headed above; she soon began climbing — half crawling, half climbing as she made her way up the metallic spiral staircase.

The steps were so thin and sharp that Emerald found herself slipping a couple times, as well as, incurring cuts and slits on her palms and knees. After climbing for what seemed to be an eternity, Emerald arrived at a set of double doors, whose metals were wearing away from rust.

Still on her hands and knees, she panted heavily, beads of sweat trickling down the sides of her face and back as she shut her eyes, trying to quell the nausea and dizziness that had overwhelmed her. Some moments later, when she was certain that images had stopped dancing in blurry movements across her eyesight, she stood to her feet and pushed open the doors, a sudden gust of wind hitting her in the face as she stumbled forward.

The spiral stairs had led her to an open rooftop, which was high enough to see the expanse of forest floor covered in dried leaves below them but still low enough to have the tall trees tower over them above. The house was situated in the centre of some sort of clearing and Emerald could see the silver moon lighting up the sky, the lucent orb bright against the back drop of scintillating stars on a dark endless canvas.

However, before she could bask in the view of Mother nature's beauty at best, a sound akin to a muffled scream caused her to jolt and quickly whip her head around to see Carl still with Armani in his arms, but this time, he had his gun pointed at her, a menacing smirk playing on his lips.

“Now, I have you exactly where I want you. Alone, powerless and vulnerable, just like all those years ago,” he grinned before a thoughtful frown slipped onto his countenance. “But,” he tilted his head, “there is still one more thing missing. Defeat. The look of defeat that never seemed to leave those dead eyes of yours; it's no longer there.

The aura of being completely broken which always used to radiate so palpably from you; I miss it all. Should we, perhaps, bring it back?”

Before Emerald could utter a word, a gunshot suddenly rang out and she felt searing pain shoot up and down her left arm when Carl's bullet grazed her skin, drawing blood and eliciting pain without embedding itself in her arm.

Stifling a hiss through gritted teeth, Emerald held her right palm over the bleeding cut, a harsh glare on her face as she refused to back down; she refused to give him the benefit of seeing her defeated or in pain. So when Carl shifted his gun to aim at her right arm this time, Emerald continued to glare daggers at him with nothing but murderous intent beneath her gaze as she stood unfazed by him.

Armani, on the other hand, was filled to the brim with panic and worry when the man holding her shot at Emerald's right arm, grazing her flesh with his bullet again. She watched as her older sister staggered a bit, but she continued to glare at the man, showing no hints of weakness even though her jaw was tightly clenched together in obvious pain.

Seeing as her sister was risking her life to save her, even quickly coming after her without waiting for Jordan, Armani was suddenly filled with determination. All she had done all day was remain docile and weak in this man's arms, not even doing anything to help Jordan and Emerald.

Her eyes flitted quickly over what she could see on the rooftop. The entire place was bare and dirty, save for the logs of cut up wooden rods piled on top of each other in one corner of the rooftop, few feet from Emerald.

Armani stared at the pile of rods helplessly, they looked small enough to hold but big and heavy enough to do a bit of damage to the enemy's head. She looked at Emerald, who was still facing off with Carl. The man had his eagle eyes set on her sister and Armani knew he wouldn't hesitate to shoot her if she tried to move towards the pile, and the same thing applied to her as well, especially since she was farther away from it.

Armani continued to ponder hard on what she could possibly do to help when she saw the man raise his arm, readying to shoot at her sister again. With ten times more panic flooding her senses, Armani quickly began to twist frantically in his arms, hoping to deflect the aim of his gun.

When she suddenly jerked toward the right, her back hit hard against him and suddenly the man yelled out a curse before his grip on her loosened immediately. Not having the time to think, Armani quickly turned around to sprint towards her sister just as Emerald appeared beside her with one of the wooden rods in her hands.

Carl, who had his back to them still letting out strings of curses as he appeared busy with something, was suddenly brought to his knees when Emerald swung the rod at his head, using every bit of her strength. When she saw that he remained on his knees, panting and muttering profanities, Emerald raised her hands and brought the rod down against his back two more times, stopping when he fell flat against the ground, motionless.

Poking him with the wood from where she stood, Emerald's eyes remained keenly on his unmoving frame as she took a step toward him and bent down to place her index finger beneath his nose. She finally released a breath, her entire body sagging with relief when she felt his labored breaths against her finger; he was still alive so, she was relieved because she had only intended to knock him out until Jordan and his men came to retrieve him.

Still crouching, Emerald turned her head around to notice her sister's frozen state, her eyes wide, shaky hands held out in front of her body; she hadn't removed the handkerchief covering her mouth yet. Immediately standing to her feet, Emerald dashed towards her sister just as Armani also opened her arms and pulled her into an embrace.

Both sisters held each other tightly, Emerald running her hand through Armani's hair to calm her trembling figure while Armani just dug her face digger into her older sister's chest, trying to keep her streaming tears at bay. The relief which flooded her was so immense, it had her sobbing.

“Oh, Armi,” Emerald mumbled into her sister's hair. “You did good, lil sis. I'm so proud of you.” She felt Armani shake her head against her chest before pulling away slightly, their arms still around each other.

She shook her head again and Emerald reached for the handkerchief around Armani's mouth, loosening the knot before discarding the fabric. Armani finally spoke, “No, I didn't do anything. You saved me.”

“No, Armi, you were the one who saved me. If it weren't for you, I probably would have been dead by now.” Emerald said, pulling Armani back into her arms.

“I don't even know what I did,” she mumbled into Emerald's shoulder.

“The dagger in his side, he hadn't removed it yet so, when you hit your back into him forcefully, you must have driven the dagger further into him, which was more than enough of a distraction to knock him out. So you see? You saved us.”

A peaceful silence dwelled momentarily between both sisters before Emerald pulled away, allowing her eyes to analyze Armani's frame. Tears welled in her eyes when she properly took in her sister's appearance.

“I'm so sorry, Armi. If it weren't for me, none of this would have happened to you. You went through all of this because of me. I'm so sorry.”

“No, Mera, none of this was your fault. We only have that vile man to blame for everything, okay? So don't beat yourself up for nothing, please.”

“Okay,” Emerald nodded after a moment, giving Armani a little smile before patting her cheeks fondly. “Now, I need you to go downstairs for me. We need to find Jordan. He probably doesn't know where we are, that's why he isn't here yet so, I need you to go find him.”

“Okay, but what about you? I can't leave you here.”

“Yes, you can and you will. I need to be here to monitor this one in case he wakes up,” she jutted her chin in the general direction of where Carl laid unconscious. “He needs his continuous dose of knockouts just until Jordan and the guys get here.” She grinned, attempting to lighten Armani's evident worry, but her sister's frown only went deeper.

“But, Mera—”

“Armi,” Emerald interrupted, cupping Armani's face. “I'll be fine, I promise. I will stay right here and wait for you. You would be doing me, doing us, the greatest favour by finding Jordan and bringing him here, okay?” She waited until Armani nodded finally in agreement.

“Perfect.” She pulled back and bent down to roll up one leg of her trousers, revealing the occupied sheath of a dagger strapped to her calf. Unstrapping the sheath, she handed it to Armani.

“Here, have this. We can't take any more chances, Armi. Promise me you would make use of it if the situation demands it, promise me.”

“I promise,” Armani affirmed with resolution before grabbing the weapon from Emerald and pulling her into another hug. “Please, be safe,” she whispered and pulled away to look into her eyes.

“I will.” Emerald kissed her forehead before lightly pushing her toward the doors. “Go now, Armi.”

Armani walked towards the doors, her movements visibly hesitant as she did. She looked back once again and after sharing one final look with Emerald, she slipped through the heavy metal doors, disappearing from view.

Releasing a breath she hadn't known she was holding, Emerald blinked and turned around to look at Carl's still unmoving body on the floor. She took a few steps forward and stood above him, staring at his weirdly postured figure. He had his back to her so she could only see one side of his wrinkled face under the moonlight.

Feeling the raw hatred surge through her tight chest, Emerald clenched her jaw, tight enough to elicit a slight tick from the bone. She wanted nothing more than to just end his life once and for all. The torment he had brought upon her, upon her mother, upon their entire family, was unforgivable, but Emerald didn't want to take laws into her own hands. She didn't want to kill him, it would only make her as much of a monster as he.

Trying to find a way to release the anger from her system, Emerald flexed her hand which was still around the wooden rod, but when a sudden jolt of pain shot up her arms, she let go of the wood, hearing it make a thump when it collided with the hard rooftop.

Emerald hissed, the sibilant sound escaping her clenched teeth when she looked down at the source of the burning pain. Now that the adrenaline, which had previously filled her, had now dwindled, she could feel the full brunt of the sting accompanying the cuts on both her arms.

She attempted to raise her hands to cover the bleeding wounds, but winced again when she felt several pricks on her palms. Looking down, she groaned at the multiple splinters decorating the skin of her palms. Well, on the bright side of things, at least she wasn't dead. . .yet.

Suddenly hit by immense fatigue and body ache, Emerald slumped to the floor, sitting with her elbows tucked into her inner thighs with her palms open and facing upwards. She continued to stare at the little wooden chips embedded in her flesh, unable to summon the courage to pluck any one out.

Completely occupied with regaining her strength, Emerald had neither heard nor seen the figure which currently approached her, steps slow and quiet. The person had slipped through the metallic doors, managing to enter without making a single noise before going to pick up a wooden rod and making their way towards the seated, oblivious woman.

Emerald raised her eyes from the sight of her palms and when she noticed a figure looming over her from behind, their shadow cast onto the floor by the illuminating moonlight, she quickly whipped her head to look at the person.

But just as she did so, the person swung the rod, hitting her forcefully at the back of her head. Emerald cried out, her hands flying to cradle her head, regardless of the splinters pricking her palms. Without sparing her a moment's rest, the person swung the rod again, hitting her even harsher on her back and Emerald eventually fell against the ground.

Emerald laid completely still, feeling as though she had blacked out for a second and when the person saw that she had successfully rendered her victim immobile, she headed for the metallic doors, bolting the lock behind it before bringing the rod down against the already dangling handles, destroying them completely.