A loud ring echoed in my ears as I stared at Tony. The door banged loudly, Tara pushing her weight against it.
"Mia, open the door!" she twisted the knob.
I clocked the gun again, my finger on the trigger as I pointed it at him. Tony held his ear and stared at the blood on his fingers. I peered at the bullet sized hole on the wall behind him.
His lips perked up as he rubbed the spot the bullet grazed him.
"You never miss," he said.
My aim wasn't his head. Not yet.
He sat on his desk and folded his arms, his gaze on me.
I needed to find out why he did that to Lily.
"Why?" I asked, my chest heaved as I stared at him.
Lily's dead body haunted my mind, as well as Damon's broken expression as he rocked her gently in his arms.
My finger inched dangerously closer to the trigger. "Why did you do that?!"
"To speed things up," he shrugged nonchalantly.
I blinked in disbelief. "What?"
"She was going to die anyway, I just made it quicker," he said.
I took a step back in shock. Had he always been like that?
"She had months to live!" I yelled.
Lily's face; her warmth and laughter sieved through my mind. Damon could have spent several good months with Lily. They could have been happy and shared more memories together.
"Three months--now--, there isn't really much difference. She was always meant to die."
I walked closer to him and pointed the gun to his head. "She was innocent! She had nothing to do with this!"
"She was not innocent!" he yelled.
"Her family killed my boy; they are all guilty of Wes' death. She deserved to die!" he exhaled loudly.
"No, she didn't," I lowered the gun.
"Do you have any idea how difficult it was for her to escape Alan's claws? How many years she had to live in fear with her son?"
I pointed the gun to his chest. "She was not guilty of Alan's sin, neither is Damon!"
I paused.
His eyes searched mine slowly, and I gasped lowly. I lowered the gun and took a step back.
"You knew."
All this time...
He knew.
He walked back to his desk and grabbed an envelope.
"At first, I didn't want to believe it," he closed the drawer.
"It seemed almost impossible, that you, my protégé and my only family would betray me," he flung the envelope on the floor, and I stared at the pictures that spilled out of it.
I stepped back, staring at the pictures in shock. Pictures of Damon and I kissing in the parking lot, pictures of me laughing as Damon hugged me, it was the day we prepared cake for Lily and pictures of me smiling at what Lily said as we took a walk in the hospital.
He was the one in the car from the hospital. He had watched me lie to him.
How long had he been stalking me?
"But I was wrong," Tony said.
It was always him.
"H-how--." I grabbed a picture.
"How long have you known?" I asked.
He folded his arms. "For a while now."
"I kept wondering why things kept going wrong. It wasn't even the hardest mission you've been on, but somehow, you just can't seem to do anything right," he walked towards a picture on the wall.
He pressed a button on the side of the picture, and it moved, revealing a safe.
"That was the first flag," he typed in the code and opened the safe.
He brought out a coin and a dagger.
"So, I kept a closer look just in case," he closed the safe and turned. "And then, what do I see? You kissing him right there in the open, without a care in the world."
I squeezed the pictures, my heart beating quickening.
"Tony, I-."
He held up a finger. "But then, I thought it was all part of the mission, after all--," he paused and gave me a onceover.
"Seduction's all part of the allure."
He brandished the knife slowly, and my fingers tightened around the gun. I had a higher chance of doing more damage if push came to shove.
"But some things just didn't add up. The rebelling, the lying, you thinking, rather than following orders," he placed the knife and coin on the desk and turned to me.
"So, I decided to test you, to see it once and for all."
I raised my eyebrows. "The dinner."
It was a trap.
"Was that why you invited him?" I asked.
He nodded. "It wasn't surprising to see your target fall for you, I've seen it happen many times before."
He paused. "It was however, the first time I saw you reciprocate the feelings."
"What?"
"You fell in love with your target, Mia. You love the man I sent you to kill."