“Good night,” Taylor murmured, irritated.

Without saying anything, Bruce hung up.

Taylor sighed as she slumped back into her bed. She didn’t know what to feel. Angry? Frustrated? Annoyed? It wasn’t her fault that Mr. Ethan made her the boss of his company. She thought that Bruce would be happy for her. Instead, he demotivated her from going to the office and suggested that he’d take her place instead.

Bruce was Taylor’s childhood friend and Mr. Ethan’s most loyal man in the company. He was a nice guy, but he did have a temper. He always used to be supportive, though. What happened now?

Maybe he didn’t like the fact that Mr. Ethan had chosen her over him; after all, he’d been working in the company more she did. In fact, she herself never knew why Mr. Ethan chose her. She was nothing compared to Bruce, the star of the company. So why her?

She closed her eyes, feeling sleepy…

Bang!

Taylor almost jumped out of her skin. Where did that come from? She got out of her bed and was about to go to the dining room when she heard another gunshot and a scream.

The color drained from her face. It was her sister’s scream.

Someone banged on the door, and shouted, “Come out or else we’ll kill her.”

It wasn’t someone she knew. Sweating, she unlocked the door and faced 2 men, their faces covered in black masks. They both wore badges with a weird initial on: B.H.C in a stylish format. Person A held her unconscious sister, Hannah, whose head was bleeding. Person B dug a gun in Taylor’s back, forcing her to follow them.

“Can I just check my sister?” she pleaded.

They only let her for 10 seconds. She knelt, tore a part of her sleeve and dabbed Hannah’s wound. She moaned in pain and opened her fist that had been closed for this much time.

Taylor’s eyes widened. It was the bullets. Taylor didn’t know how but she had somehow stolen the bullets of the gun. That meant the gun was empty right now.

Taylor took the risk. As she rose up, she kicked Person A in the stomach and he doubled over, half in pain and in surprise. As Person B behind her helplessly tried to shoot her with no bullets, she took the wooden tray that was on the dinner table next to her and banged it on Person A’s head, who fell flat on his face on the floor and didn’t move.

Next second, pain exploded in the back of her head and there was a crash; Person B had thrown a vase at her. Gritting her teeth, she took a half-empty wine bottle from the dinner table and smashed it on his head. It broke into pieces, but he didn’t seem fazed, and grabbed her throat tightly for a long time. She struggled to breath, but then an idea struck her. She pretended to be dead.

Few seconds passed, and the man finally let her drop to the ground. She heard his footsteps, then a ringtone. He answered, “Yes, boss?”

As he spoke with his back turned towards her, she crept to Hannah, inserted the bullets into the empty gun that had been lying on the ground. She wanted to shoot the guy, but looking at Hannah’s state, she decided otherwise. She got up, hid the gun, carried Hannah and quickly tip-toed outside through the back door. When she reached the road, she ran. She could hear shouting behind her, but she didn’t stop. Thankfully the hospital was near.

Her friend, Dr. Catherine, immediately admitted Hannah to the emergency ward. Taylor crashed on the chair, her arms and legs feeling like jelly.  What happened back there?

Taylor frowned as Bruce running to her.

“Hey,” he panted. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Wait, how did you find me here?”

“Saw you running with your sister in your arms. What happened?”

“Long story.” She walked to the room where her sister was kept. Catherine had allowed her and Bruce to meet her sister. The medical objects and machines almost covering her made Taylor’s heart sink. She held her hand, praying for her speed recovery.

As Bruce raised his hand to scratch his head, she noticed a black patch on his arm. “Hey, is that a tattoo?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I see it?”

He showed her his tattoo. Her mind went blank.

On his arm, the initials B.H.C was tattooed on his arm with the same stylish format on those men’s badges.

B.H.C.

Bruce Hunt Collins.

She took a step back, her blood beginning to boil. “You.”

“What?”

“You sent those 2 men after us.”

“What-?”

“Don’t lie,” she whispered, deadly calm. “You were jealous of me. You wanted that CEO position, so you tried to kill me. It all makes sense.”

 He said nothing for a while. Then he smirked as he took out his gun.

Anger rose inside her. She took out her gun too. They stood there, with guns pointing at each other’s head, tension and silence crept in between them.

Suddenly, Catherine ran inside the room, saying, “Okay, you guys-” She froze. “What -?”

Before she could do anything, there was a gunshot; Bruce had shot Catherine. She dropped on the floor.

Taylor let out a growl. She pushed the heartbeat-detecting machine to him, taking him in surprise. He doubled over, dropping the gun.  She quickly picked it up and pointed the two guns at him.

Bruce backed against a wall, his face white. “No, Taylor. Don’t -”

 “Good night,” she murmured and shot him with his own gun.