Leilani’s POV

This wasn’t an ideal situation to be in. I was backed into a corner, and I was tied to a chair. No literally, I was tied to a chair. I couldn’t move my hands, and my legs were being tied to a chair by a man in a suit.

They felt like the henchman that a villain would have. All they seemed to me were just nameless faces. I was in one of the guest rooms, and along the way, I accidentally got separated from everybody. They were mere whispers, but I'm pretty sure they had already signaled that I had been caught, so it was likely mere seconds before the family would come through the door.

Without missing a beat, the door burst open, but instead of the entire family being there, it was only two people. Richard, who was first through the door, angrily stomped towards me, pulling out his gun and pointing it towards me. It was strange, common knowledge would indicate that I should be at least a little scared, nervous, or feel some kind of rush. My heart and mind should be racing right now, but I cannot figure out why it’s not for the life of me. Was it a side effect of whatever was going on with the train? Well, there wasn’t any way to be sure of that.

“Ricard, calm down,”

Jackson was the second person to enter the room. His face was the same, angry, but his body language on the other hand was slightly different. When he entered, the men in the suits immediately left, shutting the door behind him. But before I could look at him anymore, I felt the pressure on my head even more than before as Ricard pressed down harder.

“Who are you people,” He said.

“Based on this reaction, it’s pretty obvious that you knew about those transactions,”

I said it bluntly and straight to the point, which seemed to rile him up even more, which was good, that was what I was aiming for.

“Who are you!” He repeated the question, only louder.

“Tone it down Richard, people will hear,” Jackson said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He quickly swiped it away, turning around to face him.

“Do you understand the situation? If this gets out, do you know how many lawsuits we’ll be piled up in? You might get away scot-free, but as his accountant, I would be facing jail time!”

“Scott free? Do you know how many legal fees we would need to pay? We’d go bankrupt within a year!” Jackson fired back. Their arguing went on for a little longer, maybe a minute or so, it felt way longer than it should have.

“Hey, are you two idiots done?” I said.

Both of them turned to me.

“Take off my restraints,” I demanded. They both looked at me like I was a walking corpse. They didn’t know what to say, likely due to the fact that I was making demands while tied up. Honestly, though, I couldn’t listen to these two argue any longer.

“Who are you to make demands?” Richard said.

“That brings us back to our question, who are you?” Jackson followed up.

“Listen, by now my group will have likely gone home,” I said.

“Right, like we would believe that. They wouldn’t just leave you here” Jackson said.

“You don’t know them, they have the information. Sure, they will come back, but not after they deliver the evidence. We took a copy and downloaded it onto a flash drive, which is on them currently. You aren’t getting out of this without any sort of damage, I can help you weasel your way out of this situation. My people have connections with the law, there will be damages, but not as much,”

It was completely a lie, connections with the law? My people? I tried to act like we were some kind of third party. It was hard to convince them as a teenager. But they were desperate, it was in their eyes, that desperation was something that could bring anyone down. It seemed it worked, because they were silent, contemplating it.

“I’m not going to run, and I can’t fight back, just look at me,” I reasoned. After a little while, Richard went behind the chair and untied my hands, while Jackson did the same with my legs. I stood up and stretched, man that felt good, I was starting to lose the feeling in my arms and legs.

“Right, now that I’m free, I’ll break the news. You’re going to report all of Joseph Donners illegal activity.”

“Report it, are you insane! You know what that will do to me!” Jackson shouted.

“To you! I’m the one going to jail!” Richard shouted back. His eyes shifted to a tone of suspicion. I picked up on it as well. It was time to throw a curveball, and while it might be a slight guess, on the off chance I'm right…

“You killed him Jackson, didn’t you,”

The room fell silent, Richard looked over in his direction, waiting for an answer. And when there was a lack of one, we had it.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“You…. It was you who killed him! Why! Was it because of the money? Did he not give you enough!”

“It wasn’t because of the money! You know that Richard!”

“Then why did you kill him? What the actual- Do you know how much deep shit you are in! You’re going to prison!”

“I had to! He murdered mom!”

I was right, which wasn’t exactly planned. I didn’t know for sure, but after learning of his embezzlement, it had to be someone close to him. No one here really knew him all that well. I didn’t even know his wife's name, the people in the crowd merely referred to her as “his wife”, or by her last name. When Cade mentioned he was a detective, Jackson’s face looked a little different from the rest, like he was worried. It was the same as Richards, but I could not find any motive for him to kill him. This entire guess was on a basis that stood on the sand, but I was right.

“He murdered her? What do you mean?” Richard asked genuinely curious.

“She knew! She knew about everything he’s done! The people he’s hired, the accidental deaths everything!”

Most of this was new information to me, but it didn’t matter anymore, it wasn’t needed to win, to get out of here alive.

“He killed her when he found out she was going to the police! He killed her with his own hands! Then he married that wretched whore! I hated him, every single day that worthless bastard of a father. It would narrow the search towards us if it was done on any other day, but since all these people were here, then…”

“You could get away with it,” Richard said, taking a step back.

“Yes!”

“Jackson I don’t- Ah shit shit shit! You’ve put me in so much more trouble now! What the hell were you thinking? I get you hated him but this goes far past embezzlement now! What am I gonna do what am I gonna do!” Richard paced around the room. He dug his nails into his head, pulling his hair back slightly. He was angry, scared, desperate…

“It’s fine! We can cover it up! That’s why I didn’t want police snooping around here, they’ll find my DNA all over him! We’ll have to kill her though, she knows too much!”

“I’m not killing anybody!”

“Then I will!” Jackson shouted.

“I had a way to get you out, turn yourself in Richard. Now that you know who killed him, you can get your sentence reduced, or maybe none at all. You can get away scot-free if you tell them all you know,” I said.

Jackson's eyes widened, turning over to Richard, whose face was perplexed. He figured out what I was getting out. He looked down at the red carpet below, thinking.

“It’s over Jackson, I’m turning you in,” He swiftly brought his gun out, pointing it towards him.

“You fool! We can still get away with this!”

“I’m not the one with blood on my hands,”

Jackson gritted his teeth, and suddenly lunged towards him, aiming for the gun. Richard punched him in the jaw, a tooth flying out, you could see the blood start oozing in his mouth.

Bang

A small hole in Jackson's suit was visible from where I was standing. He missed his vitals. His suit was stained, and that shot was definitely heard by people. Jackson lunged once more, this time forcing the gun from Richards's hand.

Bang

Richard slumped to the ground, nothing dramatic, it was instant. A shot straight to his heart, killing him instantly. I would have run away during the fight, but I fear that they would have focused on me instead. But after two shots, I could start hearing commotion outside, people heard, which meant his actions would need to be fast.

He was disheveled, and his voice was slightly off-pitch, catching his breath he turned the gun towards me. The game should have ended now, right? Why wouldn't it, I solved the murder, so why would we not return? But there was no time to think about that right now.

The chair they sat me in was light enough to carry, I wasn’t that strong, so I had to use what I could. I dove, dodging the first shot, grabbing the chair by its legs and swinging it, hitting his arm, and subsequently knocking the gun out of his hand. I dropped the chair and grabbed it, jumping back slightly and pointing it towards him.

“Let me go,” I said.

“Are you insane, that’s two on my hands, at this point, one more won’t matter,”

“I’m the one with the gun here,” My voice was shaky, and my eyes shifted to the left. A small smirk appeared on his face, taking a step towards me.

“You're just a girl, a kid at that, you don’t have the guts to kill someone.” He took another step forward.

“Just give me the gun, you won’t have any blood on your hands,” Another step.

“I promise, I won’t kill you,”

He was right in front of me now. I stopped my fake nervousness and voice, the tears that had begun welling up in my eyes halted.

“Give it-” The swift motion of his hand halted instantly. I wasn’t afraid, I wasn’t nervous. His overconfidence was his end. A bullet, right between the eyes. I shot the gun, killing him instantly. His lifeless body slumped to the ground.

I wasn’t afraid of shooting, or killing him. I merely didn’t have the confidence that I would hit him from where he was, I just needed him closer, that was all.

It was strange, My heart never raced, I never was afraid, I never feared for my life. This was abnormal, no, I was abnormal. Two lifeless bodies stood before me, and I couldn’t muster any ounce of sympathy. They were in my way, a threat to me, so I had to do it, that was at least normal right?

Yeah, that’s what it was, I wasn’t abnormal at all. I was merely just doing what I had to do to survive. That’s a human instinct right? To survive at all costs? I’m sure the adrenaline would wear off. I’m not a terrible person, but they were, that had to be why I was feeling this way. I think I’m starting to feel a faster heart rate anyway.

The sound of people coming towards the door finally rushed into my ears. It was a little hard to see.

“Ah, there's blood on my glasses, that's kind of annoying,” I said wiping it off.

I could see now that the door was opening, but right as it did, I heard a familiar ding, one exactly like the trains.

Congratulations, you have completed Stop one

Just like that, the red carpet, the bedroom, the party, my dress, it was all gone. There I stood, back on the train.