Fair Trade

As soon as Sei heard Giulio’s voice, her guesses were confirmed. Under the stairs, above, in the direction of the lift, and from inside the house, Giulio’s men appeared silently and had her surrounded.

“You’d better go in. Giulio is very upset, Rose.”

Romano’s face was a mess. Still, Romano showed her no hostility. The only thing in his eyes at this time was pity.

Sei opened the broken door and stepped inside. Compared to the messy front door, the inside of the house was in pristine condition. She turned to the kitchen where she found Giulio sitting at a table checking the expiration date of the milk carton.

“Why don’t you throw away the things that are past the expiry date?”

Sei glared daggers at the pistol next to him and went to the refrigerator to get some fresh milk. Then she handed it over to Giulio.

“Take this.”

He raised his head and smiled at the milk.

Giulio pulled her hand suddenly.

“I thought you didn’t have any friends? The food at that friend’s restaurant was of high quality.”

“The work isn’t over yet. Giulio, I…”

“Kais Miller was Yuri Petrov. Ha, I was so stupid. I thought he was with the FBI or the CIA. But Yuri Petrov… Ha, that pale and blue-eyed kid…?”

Sei listened to him talk quietly. He was a man who had lost his comrades overnight. Whether he was evil or good, he was a man too. Apart from being afraid of him, she couldn’t help but pity him as well.

“However… Why did he let you live? Was it the same reason as me? Tell me, Rose. What were you called by him? Was it Rose or Sei? I’m curious about that.”

Sei flinched and took a step back without even realizing it. Giulio then picked up the gun and pressed it near her heart. Sei was so nervous that she couldn’t even breathe. She didn’t take her eyes off Giulio’s eyes, not even once. Emotions like anger and despair, betrayal and excitement were swirling in his eyes.

“Giulio, I have no idea what you’re talking about…”

If you wanted to live, you’d live. That was the matter when both her legs were free. But even if he did let her go, she wouldn’t be able to run away. Since she knew her legs would cave in as soon as she was freed.

“At that time, I should have killed you.”

“You were the one who recognized my usefulness.”

“You’re very smart. Even now, you know I won’t be able to kill you.”

Sei waited for his words to continue. But he had nothing else to say. This would be a betrayal to him, but for Sei, it was a struggle to live and a choice for a better situation.

Her choice was Yuri Petrov.

But it’s changed now. So let me take care of you.

Recalling her last conversation with him, she realized the existence of the necklace fastened around her neck.

It was hidden in her shirt, so it couldn’t function as a camera, but the sound would have been transmitted to Yuri.

As soon as she finished thinking, a red laser point was fired at Giulio’s forehead. There was a flash of red in her eyes.

“Run away, Giulio.”

“What?”

“Run away.”

He snorted when he also found the laser point reflected in Sei’s eyes.

Giulio’s pupils fluttered wildly. After swearing in a barely audible voice, he spotted the sniper through the window.

“Damn it…”

“If you’re going to die, go somewhere else and die. Don’t die in front of me. Hurry up!”

Sei grabbed the gun aimed at her heart and placed it at her head. Then she turned around and raised both of her hands.

“What are you doing?”

“You saved my life once. I’m paying off the debt. So that I can… never think of you again.”

Giulio, who was breathing heavily with a grim face, hugged her with one arm and applied force to the gun pointed at her temple.

“No, you’ll have to think about me for a long time.”

Sei felt the eerie feeling of metal against her skin.

She left the house with Giulio nearly dragging her away. It was a situation where he could pull the trigger at any given time. The fact that she was safe meant that the sniper was Yuri’s person.

Or Gavin’s man.

Giulio’s men guarding the corridor gave way to Sei as she was being dragged out as a hostage.

“Since there’s a sniper, we’ll be going to go to the car like this.”

Curses and sighs erupted from everywhere. Sei closed her eyes. Her body stiffened with goosebumps popping up everywhere. She gripped Giulio’s arm even harder.

“Survive to the end, Rose. You can’t die without my permission.”

His voice was filled with thick murky darkness. He pushed her aside as hard as he could before getting into the car.

As she was pushed away, she closed her eyes and rolled on the hard ground. At the same time, a bullet flew into the car’s trunk. The car carrying Giulio drove out of the front of the apartment building. Sei, who had been pushed to the corner of her front door, stood up calmly and brushed the dust off her body.

She lowered her head and looked up in the direction the bullet had just come from. But all she could see were old buildings shrouded in absolute darkness.

There was no way of knowing where the bullet had come from those numerous windows.

The sudden realization made her laugh out loud.

Ha, I’m still alive…

She climbed the stairs one by one to go back to her home, but her eyes were wet with tears.

Why did I do that? I could have… I could have just let him die.