628: [Bonus chapter] Even if it kills me

[Bonus chapter] Even if it kills me

[Emergency stairs]2

"Where are you taking me?" Ivy asked as she looked back at Silas.

"Does it matter?" Silas hissed, tugging her wrist forward. "Just keep going!" 

Ivy bit her lips out of habit. She already ate her lipstick after biting it over and over until she felt like her lips were growing numb already. Just as instructed, Ivy kept going up the stairs. Silas would once in a while shoot over the railing while he was arguing with Dominic. 

"Silas!" Again, Dominic's voice echoed through the emergency staircase. "Don't you dare do anything to her!" 

"Then stop coming after me!" Silas yelled back, pushing Ivy to move faster. 

This had been their situation since Silas took her captive. Silas and Dominic would shout at each other and then Silas would open fire to stall time. Dominic never fired back. 

"Why are you so stubborn?! You're so annoying, Dom!" Silas's voice thundered once again after firing over the railing a couple of times. "I'm not going to kill Ivy! She's a friend!"

"Do you think I will believe you?! You can kill your own blood and flesh. What makes you think I'll believe that you won't hurt a friend?" 

"Then, don't! I don't care about you!" Silas hissed through his gritted teeth. He then glared at Ivy, snapping his tongue at her. "Why are you so damn slow?!"

"My wrist hurts!" 

"Then do you want it not to hurt anymore?" Silas twisted her wrist even more, making her wince in pain. At the same time, he pointed the rifle at her back, making her feel the heat of the muzzle through the fabric.

"Shame on you," she scowled, picking up her pace with a heavy heart. "Silas Zhu, I really hate you."

"Do you think I care about that?"

"After all that I've done to support you…" Ivy clenched her teeth as she glanced up the stairs. A thin layer of tears coated her eyes as they felt hot, recalling everything she had done to him. "I never asked anything in return. All I wanted was for you to be okay and happy. That one day, you will realize how wrong it is to use your cousin's name and tarnish it. And learn from it."

Silas hissed once again, laughing through his gritted teeth while they treaded through the steps carefully. "I'm sick and tired of hearing about people's reputation and what they do to protect it. You know nothing, Ivy Wei. That's why you don't understand."

"Yes, you're right," she breathed out as a tear rolled down her cheeks, enduring the pain in her wrist as she took the stairs. "I don't know anything, and I will never understand this hatred in your heart. But what I do know is that I spent years helping you, only for you to sell me to a gang as repayment for your loans."

Ivy hissed as she looked back at him with deep hatred. "I never forgave you that time, but I was lenient. I didn't tell a soul about it, thinking maybe, just maybe, my silence will help you. Grandma Zhu will never forgive you if I snitched on you, and that will surely take away your chance to change. Oh, just how stupid and naive I was to think you'd change."

"So what? Hmm?" Silas snickered. "I used you, and what do you expect? I'd feel bad about it? Ivy Wei, I've always known you're only helping because I'm a Zhu and you're a Wei. You just want to maintain a good relationship between the two families. You're not fooling anyone here."

Her lips parted to argue, but her voice didn't come out of her throat. Only a scoff successfully escaped her mouth, and that was it. Nothing more. There was no point, she thought. No matter what she said, Silas would believe what he wanted to believe. 

"Ivy! Are you alright!"

Ivy paused for a moment, only to get pushed by Silas to keep moving. So, as she took the step up, she yelled back.

"I'm okay, Dom!" she yelled back with all the strength she had. "Are you okay!?" 

"Yes!"

Ivy took a deep breath as she looked back at Silas. "Don't shoot! Please! He got me at gunpoint!" 

Silence was the only response she got, but she already knew Dominic got the message. Even though Dominic never fired back since Silas used her as his hostage.

"Silas, there's no point arguing with you." She looked back at Silas once again before snapping her eyes ahead. There were only a few steps before reaching another stair landing where a similar door was at. "You already believe the truth you twisted to your own advantage. However…"

Ivy took a deep breath as she calmed her heart. She closed her eyes for a moment, but when she reopened them, a glint of determination flickered across them. She continued when she stepped onto the stair landing.

"However, you already used — exploited me in the past. I won't let you use me again, even if it kills me." 

The moment those words rolled out of her tongue, Ivy risked it to turn around. Her wrist twisted until she felt it break, but that didn't stop her from swinging her arm aggressively to free herself. Since she was on the stair landing and Silas was standing on the step below, he easily lost balance when she kicked his knee. 

"Get away!" A yell escaped her mouth as she freed herself. "Dom, I'm running away! He's all yours!"

Ivy didn't think twice as she turned on her heel. She sprinted toward the door, holding her broken wrist, only to release it to open the knob with her other hand. She didn't even look back at Silas to find out if he fell down the stairs or didn't. All she had in mind was that Dominic wouldn't be able to deal with him properly if she were with him. 

****

[ROOFTOP]

Heaven held her breath as she watched a person step inside the rooftop. Her eyes were wide open, not blinking ever since she caught the person coming in.

'Grandma,' she whispered, watching Grandma Zhu take little steps with great difficulty. Her eyes then veered a little to the side, watching a pistol pressed on the back of Grandma Zhu's head. She slowly followed the pistol until she caught the hand holding it, and then revealing the person's side profile. 

"Primo Rossi," she called under her breath, aiming the pistol at the man. "You are a really cunning motherfucker."

Primo smirked as he slid his eyes to the corner, cocking his head back to see her. "It's nice to see you too, Miss Liu."

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