Broken Innocence

Ch. XXIII

“W-What?” I stare at them in confusion. Watching as Mrs. Pierce placed her hands on her hips and glare at Devin as he stared down at the knife in his hand. “What are you talking about? What is going on?” I push, trying to get answers.

Mrs. Pierce finally looked at me, shaking her head as she stared at me in disgust. “You just couldn’t heave my warning, could you? You just had to make things difficult. I tried telling you over and over again to stay away from Michael. To just stay away. I tried telling you for your own good, but you were too damn stupid to listen.” She stated, shaking her head and leaned back against the desk, rubbing her temples. “And to top it all off, this idiot couldn’t even do a simple task..” She then looked up at Mr. Brown. “Looks like we have to do it ourselves.” She said, moving to push herself from her desk, and reached over to a drawer and opened it, taking out a knife.

My breath caught in my throat, but when Devin stood between her and myself, I quickly looked up at him, seeing him pointing his own knife at her. “No way! You said I could kill her. You said I could have my fun and kill her.”

“Yes! I said that in hopes you would get it over and done with!” She snapped, not even seeming to be afraid of the knife. “The girl is weak, she shouldn’t have been this hard to kill! I practically handed her to you on a silver platter, and you managed to fuck it all up.” She then stepped up to Devin, pointing her own knife to him. “Move.”

“Fuck you. I’m not moving.” Devin glared. “She’s mine to kill. Look at her, she’s bleeding to death already.” Mrs. Pierce looked at me, watching as I tried to use my other hand to put pressure on my wrist to stop the bleeding. “I promise you that I will get it done. Just give me a chance.”

“We have given you a chance many of times and you managed to mess up.”

“Because Michael was in the way!” Devin finally shouted, his voice echoing. “I’ll kill her before the night is over! I promise.”

Mrs. Pierce studied him before putting her knife down on her desk. “You better. Terence will not be happy if he finds out she’s still alive.”

Terence? 

I look between all of them. I had no idea what was going on other than the fact that they so desperately wanted me dead. 

Mrs. Pierce looked back at me, flashing her coffee stained smile at me. “Ari...this is all your doing. If you were just a good little girl, everything would have been fine. I thought you were going to be of some help when you helped Michael figure out where his sister was, but...” She shook her head, her smile fading slowly. “When I realized you two were basically falling head over heels for one another, I knew you would be a serious problem.”

I grew flustered, exhaling shakily as I looked between them and then back at Mrs. Pierce. “Y-You knew-”

“Yes, I knew you were helping Michael get the file. Before then, I was trying to get you to leave him alone...for your own safety but when I found out you were helping him learn his sister’s whereabouts, I figured I would step back and let you. And you were great help with that. I thank you for that. But now you must die.”

“Why?” I asked, trying to keep the sound of plea from my tone. “Because I befriended him? What’s so bad about me becoming his friend?”

“He can’t have friends!” She snapped. Mr. Brown sat in a seat closest to me, and Devin leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, knife still in hand. “He can’t have a weakness!”

“Why not!?”

“Because of the plan!” 

“Ana-” Mr. Brown started.