Chapter Forty Two

Chapter Forty Two
Zen’s POV
I scanned the dark surrounding s of the neighborhood as I took brisk steps towards the safe house. Parked a few more houses down were two black SUV’s with out of state plates. That must be them. How many people did Dan bring with him? I couldn’t shake the feeling of dread climbing my throat and threatening to suffocate me. Something wasn’t right, I just couldn’t place what. I walked through the dry grass on my way to the wooden privacy fence gate. It was eerily quiet, the only noises being the whistling wind in the trees. Rounding the house, my heart jumped to my throat. The cold eyes of killers greeted me in the form of six men, dressed in all black. I recognized all of them, though I could only recall the name of one; Danny. He gave me a chilling smirk, stepping into the light cast by the porch lamp.
“Zen, long time no see, my man. How’s it been?”
“Cut the shit, Dan.” I barked in response, squaring my shoulders and darkening my eyes. He let out a sinister laugh, stepping another step closer to me.
“Always to the point with you. Well, Zen. You’re a smart boy. I’m sure you’ve figured out already that I’m here to make you a deal.” I waited for him to continue, crossing my arms. “Clearly you like the girl. You made that obvious when you fucking shat on the eight years I had given you. But here’s the thing… I don’t want the girl, Zen. I want you. You know that. So let’s stop the running and hiding. No one has to die if you just come along with me willingly.”
“Fuck that. Why would I do that? How do I know you wouldn’t kill Elizabeth as soon as I left with you?” He tsked in response.
“Now, Zen. You know I’m a man of my word. Come with us, and I swear, we will never go near your ‘Princess’ ever again. Surely you aren’t selfish enough to risk her life just so you could stay by her side, right?” It sounded too good to be true. They would leave Elizabeth alone if I came along with them? It seemed too easy.
“What about her hit?” I asked. He shrugged.
“As far as the payer knows, she’s already dead. Her daddy reporting her missing helped with that. To be honest, I don’t give a fuck about the bitch. I just want you.” He said, shrugging his shoulders again. I wished I could put a fucking bullet in his head for talking about Elizabeth like that, but the more I showed her importance to me, the more he would exploit it.
“Okay, fine. We have a deal.” I answered, making his smile grow ominously.
“Smart boy. Disarm yourself. Drop your weapons in the hot tub and we will be on our way.” I clenched my jaw, leaning down to unfasten my knife, then reaching back for my pistol and tossing them both into the rolling water beside me. With that, I spread out all of my limbs so that one of his men could check me. As soon as some bastard named Nate patted me down, I heard a woman’s muffled screaming from behind me. I turned to see who it was, but was quickly knocked to the ground by Nate, my hands restrained behind my back with zip ties.
“Dan, found this woman listening in from the gate.” Came a voice from a seventh person.
“Oh, dear Janice. I warned you to stay away from him, sweetie. Looks like you won’t get your paycheck after all.” I glanced up just in time to see the blood pouring and sputtering from her neck. “Too bad. Looks like your pretty face costed yet another life, Zen.” He taunted, making my eyes grow. My surprise didn’t last long, because seconds later I felt a needle pierce the skin of my upper arm.
As my vision turned black, I heard someone say, “He has her. Sounds like he’s having fun.”
Then, it all went dark.