Last Vow By My Assassin

"No no no. My money.... it's gone" Panic rushes through Boris Ivanov's whole body as the realization hits him, leaving him frozen in his place.

"My $500 MILLION DOLLARS and GOLD BARS!" He stared at the empty vault in front of him and then back to the man standing next to him, shaking with anger.

"You have 5 seconds to tell me what the hell happened here Stefan or I'm gonna empty all the bullets in your head. Boris demanded.

"Sir we believe that it was someone related to James. He..." Stefan hesitated, "Let his guard down and might have let someone enter the property without letting anyone know"

Boris grabbed Stefan's collar,

"AND YOU'RE TELLING ME ALL THIS NOW RIGHT NOW!?"

Just then, The door burst open and the man in question enters the room and falls to the ground on his knees.

"James! What have you done!?" Boris clenches his fist.

"I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I was blinded and manipulated." He was sobbing miserably.

"Answer my question James,WHO. WAS. HE?" Boris question echoed.

Silence filled the room as Stefan and James shared knowing glances with each other silently. But they knew better than anyone that Boris Ivanov won't tolerate any more delay so Stefan was the one who answered.

"She sir, it was a woman."

Bingo!

"YOU GOT CONNED BY A WOMAN?"

Rude.

"It was love at first sight. I truly believed Katherine was my soulmate," James explanation was useless which Boris ignored and stared at Stefan for further explanation because clearly, James wasn't in his right mind.

"She used him to enter the property sir. And the rest we don't know how she managed to get into this wing, this room and the vault. Nobody knows where she went, she disappeared into the thin air but I believe that if it happened not more then an hour ago, the chances are she's still somewhere here in the property."

Once again, Bingo!

"Go! Find her at all cost, Dead or alive.I don't care." Boris shouted at top of his lungs. Stefan rushed out of the room immediately leaving Boris fuming in anger and a broken hearted James to cry.

Bold of him to assume that I can be found. I mean how can they even find me? They can't. Because I'm right here, in front of them. They just don't know it yet because I'm above them. And by that I mean literally.

I'm Aria Blackwell, who made it inside the vent, just in time before Boris and his man bursted in this room to find an empty vault due to James negligence . Ofcourse I was no Katherine or any kind of soulmate. It was just one of the hundreds of fake names I had. Sometimes it's Katherine other times it's Amelia, Elara, Lidia and so on but never my real name. Nobody knows my real name except for a few. Which reminds me why I'm here, stuck in this vent.

"Ari can you hear me?" The voice in my air buds speaks again and snaps me back to reality.

I made a very faint sound to let him know that I'm in a position where I can't afford to make a noise by speaking loudly.

"Finally Ari you scared me. I thought I lost you, after all it was such a close call," He sighed.

I'm expert in this field and nobody knows it better then Ethan Ravenwood. But still it doesn't stop him from being anxious and worried all the time when we are carrying out missions like that. That's probably because he's young and baby of the group.

"Ok Ari I need you to press the button under your watch for the camera to be activated and then I can give you the directions of the exit. You'll find Xavier there." He explained and I followed his introduction immediately.

Xavier should have sent our trucks away by now, so he better be standing at the point where we decided to meet earlier.

"Turn right, then left and then straight. And then exit the vent."

I'm pretty sure whatever Ethan was saying is correct. Because he's the only person who knows about this vent and Xavier ofcourse. After all, They were the ones who built this vent secretly without anyone knowing. It's almost laughable how Xavier managed to built something like that under Boris's 24/7 surveillance team.

I crawled my way through the vent, following whatever instructions Ethan was giving and finally reached the end of the vent.

"Can you check the cameras for me Ethan?" I finally spoke when I was sure nobody can hear me now.

"On it already." Few seconds later he spoke again, "It's clear. Just be careful when you jump down."

Ethan didn't had to say it twice and I was already making my way out of the vent. I jumped out of the ceiling and landed with a thud on the roof of one of the Mai's parked black truck. Definitely a wrong day to wear my favorite black combat boots because I can already hear the hushed voices from inside. I think I might have made a sound loud enough for them to hear from that far away. If that wasn't enough, the sound of garage opening slowly added salt to injury.

"Oops" Ethan was as surprised as I was, "Nobody told me that it makes that much noise."

"Good job Ethan." I added sarcastically before jumping down from the roof of truck.

Then I did what I was good at, running. But I guess the luck wasn't on my side today because as soon as I left the garage, and entered the large empty lot, there he was standing right in front of me. Even in the dark I could see his ugly moustache and creepy smile.

"James,"

"James?" Ethan repeated after me, "Like that fat creepy moustache James who thought that a girl half his age can be his soulmate James."

That's right. The James who was crying few minutes ago from the betrayal I gave him. The pervert James whom I conned very easily because lust blinded him. The very own James who lead me inside this Private property of Boris Ivanov. According to him he wanted to "Explore me completely privately" and I used it for my advantage and manipulated him into bringing me here. And that James was standing right in front of me, with a gun in his hand that was pointed at me.

"Katherine my love, where were you gone? I missed you."

"If you miss me why do you have gun pointed at me?" I spoke in the soft tone he knew.

"Because I don't want you to leave me ever again. You know I trust you right?"

His eyes, something about them was extremely psychotic that gave me goosebumps.

"Ok James if you put that gun down I promise I'll come back to you," I tried getting closer.

"No step back." James eyes screamed bloody murder.

I knew better than anyone that how sensitive he was that's why I had to do whatever he wanted, at least for now. I think I can easily get out of this situation by distracting him. Yes exactly! a distraction, that is precisely what I need right now.

"I didn't betray you James. Who told you that?" I softened my voice again and used my doe eyes to gain sympathy. "I can't believe you think that I've betrayed you."

"You didn't?" I think I was getting to him.

"Ofcourse not. I went out for fresh air. You know how much I love you right?"

"If you do then prove it to me?"

"Prove how James. Tell me,

A wry smirk crossed his face as an evil thought might have crossed his mind.

"Kiss me. I'll believe you if you do that."

HECK NO! NEVER. This bastard can go to hell and die but no way I'm going to kiss him even if my life is on the line. All the mask of softness that I had plastered over my face was slowly slipping away and replacing with disgust. He was just a pawn in my game which I used but I would never stoop this low and kiss him right now.

"Ari you don't have to at all. Just take his gun, throw it far away and jump over the fence. I've coordinated with Xavier and instead of the origin point, you can go through the woods and you'll find Him there. Please Avery do something and run." Ethan was practically screaming in my ears and begging me to leave but I was standing still at my place. And So was James.

"James only if you can put your gun down for me" I calmly said.

"Ari what are you doing?" Ethan screamed again.

"No I won't. First you come here,"

Suddenly he lunged forwards towards me and I pushed him with all the force. James stumbled back and then his eyes met mine and their was nothing but anger in his eyes. And then it all happened in the flash of light. James all of a sudden fired the gun, Something in me already knew what's going to happen so I ducked, Ethan didn't knew that, that's why he screamed in my ear.

James was caught off guard and was staring at somewhere behind me. I took this as an opportunity and kicked his hand while I was still ducking. His gun fell to the ground and I immediately grabbed it and started running towards the fence as Ethan suggested. I never looked back and judging by the fact that their was no one chasing me or screaming my name, James was still standing in his place , completely frozen.

But curiosity got the best out of me and as I climbed the fence, I couldn't help but looking back at where I was standing a few seconds ago. And then I saw it. I saw the reason why James was still stuck in his place. I got to the other side of the fence but it took me a few moments to register what I just witnessed. My heart raced as I accepted the reality of what I just saw.

It was Blood and lots of blood and next to it was a lifeless body of an unknown man which James just shot.

Xx__xX