CHAPTER 45
LILY’S POV
“No, you’re not,” I ground the words out from my clenched teeth.
With renewed courage, I pulled forward and wrapped my elbow around his neck, caging him and stopping his intended move. I can’t die alone. If I’m going to die then he’ll also die along with me. After all, he instigated this.
While he was taking off his seatbelt, he diverted his attention from the windscreen, causing the vehicle’s speed to reduce slightly. I grabbed the steering wheel and grappled with him, causing the car to screech, swerving right and left uncontrollably.
“You bitch…!” He hurled a million curses at me, thrashing under my grip. I held on tight as if to strangle him, still fumbling with the steering wheel. I wanted to steer the car toward a nearby bush before we reached the edge of the bridge, which was only a short distance away, but he wasn’t making it easy for me. He was strong and I knew I wouldn’t hold on much longer.
His hands shot up wildly, grabbing at the top of my head, pulling and disheveling my hair. I shook my head desperately, trying to shake off his grip as his fingers reached for my eyes, clawing dangerously close.
He must have used that to distract me because I didn’t know when he dug his teeth into the inside of my elbow. I felt a sharp sting and yelped out in pain, my grip around his neck and the steering wheel faltering.
He opened his card door and wanted to dive out but I stubbornly held onto him even with my last strength, clawing my fingernails into the skin of his face. With all the adrenaline surging like fire inside me, I was like a beast unleashed.
“You crazy bitch…!” He groaned out in frustration, trying to set himself free. “Let me go…”
I lurched forward more, using my weight to my advantage. I bit the side of his face, digging my teeth so deep I tore out his flesh and tasted the sickening tang of his blood in my mouth before spitting it out.
He screamed so loud in pain my ears rang from the impact. As he cradled the side of his face to soothe the wound, I seized the moment, grabbing the steering wheel with both hands. Summoning every ounce of strength, I wrenched it to the right. The car veered sharply, skidding into a nearby bush before slamming into a massive tree with a bone-rattling crash.
A wince escaped my lips as I pushed open the car door and clumsily fell on the mossy, leaf-strewn floor of the bush. Every muscle in my body screamed in agony as I crawled toward a nearby tree and leaned onto its base for support.
My entire body felt numb like I had fallen off a cliff and landed on a concrete floor. A crescent-shaped wound with spots of blood marred the inside of my elbow where that man had bitten me. My head throbbed with a painful ache that made my vision difficult, blurring momentarily like a light switch as blood from the side of my head trickled down my cheeks. I knew how bad head injuries can be. I prayed I hadn’t sustained a severe one that would lead to any future complications.
As I tried to steady my uneven breath, looking around in search of help which I didn’t find, I spotted the taxi driver limping towards me with a gun in his hand. He was pointing it at me, directly at the centre of my head. I never knew he had a gun with him all along.
From the way he was limping and standing off-balance, it was obvious he’d broken a leg. A pink layer of blood-streaked flesh covered the side of his face where I had bitten him. That’ll leave a very bad scar which he deserved for trying to kill me for nothing.
“Please don’t…” I begged as I flinched back against the tree, looking away. Tears smeared my eyes and ran down my cheeks, blurring my vision the more. I didn’t want to die like this. I don’t want Liam and Lila to grow up without a mother. I’m all they had. “Don’t kill me, please… I have kids who depend on me. I don’t want them to grow up without a…”
“I don’t give a flying fuck about your kids!” He snapped, his thunderous voice causing me to flinch back in fright as if to fuse with the base of the tree. “You and your fucking kids can fucking go to hell for all I fucking care!!”
“Why are you doing this?” I managed to say, cautiously returning my gaze to him. “As far as I know, I have never met you before in my life. You have no reason to want to kill me. Who sent you? Whatever amount they agreed to pay you I promise to pay double…”
He burst into a hysterically mocking laugh as if what I said was funny. But I really meant it. I’ll do anything to stay alive. If not for me then for the sake of my kids. They are the reason I live and continue pushing no matter how hard it gets.
I searched deep in my mind but still couldn’t figure out who could want me dead like this. What did I ever do to that person? Even though Scarlett was capable of anything and I blame her for everything bad that has happened to me all these years, I don’t think she can go as far as sending a hitman disguised as a taxi driver to kill me this brutally. She only wanted to make me suffer and get as far away as possible from Robert so she could have him for herself and she succeeded.
Robert was the only person I could think of since his cold-blooded threat at the police station and court nine years ago still lingered in my mind and at times, sent shivers down my spine. If he wanted me dead, then he should have grown the balls to come do it himself while looking at me in the eyes. Why did he have to send someone to do the dirty work for him?
“I might have considered your option but you just had to ruin my face and break my leg. For that alone, I’m going to kill you. I want to kill you more than anything right now.” He looked at me with so much disgust and hatred that his eyes could burn me.
Even though I knew was pointless pleading for him to spare my life, I went along with it. He was an eccentric psycho hell-bent on killing me. If he didn’t give in when I begged him to stop the car, what makes me think he’ll know that he had a gun to my face? Robert must hate me with so much passion to want to kill me like this. At this point, I don’t think he was doing it to merely avenge his grandpa. I wondered how much he’d paid this man to finish me off. It must be up to a thousand or even a million dollars.
“After I’m done sending you to hell, I’m going to make sure that bitch triples my pay or else I’ll send her to hell too. Just how the fuck can she send me on a mission like this without letting me know how tough a bitch you are? I mean look at me…” He sulked with a pouted lips. “I’m now a cripple and my face is forever ruined because of you.”
Bitch? That meant whoever sent him to kill me was a woman and not Robert. But I didn’t have enough time to think it through as he limped a step closer and cocked the gun, ready to pull the trigger.
“No, please…” I cried and looked away, squeezing my eyes shut as I didn’t want to witness my own death. That was when I heard a sharp sound and I passed out.