I Want to Die, But I Am Immortal-Chapter 86: Police (2)

Adam’s eyes fluttered open. He stared at Anastasia his mind reeling. How could she have known he was awake? He had been so careful.

"I knew you were awake the moment I walked in," she said her voice soft and steady despite the tears that still clung to her eyelashes. "And I know why you’re doing this."

Adam’s heart skipped a beat. A cold dread washed over him. Did she know? Did she somehow know that he was the one who had killed her brother?

"I know what you’re going through," she continued her voice filled with a deep empathy that twisted the knife of guilt in his gut. "First your parents. And now both of your best friends."

The words hit him with the force of a physical blow. But they also brought a strange sense of relief. She did not know the truth. She thought he was a victim just like her. She thought he was grieving just like her.

"And you have no one," she said her voice breaking. "We should be there for you. We should be helping you. But my mother is blaming you for all of this. I can’t even imagine the pain you’re in."

Adam just stared at her. He could not find the words to speak. He was a murderer and she was comforting him. The irony was a bitter pill to swallow.

Anastasia started to cry again her composure finally breaking. "I’ve been so worried these past few days," she sobbed. "My father ordered us not to see you. He forbade me and Joseph from talking to you. That’s why I haven’t been to school. I don’t understand why he’s doing this. But he was so angry."

Her words sparked a thought in Adam’s mind. Her father knew. He must have known about the bounty on his head. That was why he had tried to keep his children away from him. He was trying to protect them. The realization brought a cold clarity to Adam’s thoughts. If he did not find a way out of this situation soon he would be the prime suspect. The police the bounty hunters everyone would be after him.

But then another thought occurred to him. If Joseph’s father knew about the bounty then he could use that. He could use that information to his advantage. It could make his job easier.

He looked at Anastasia his expression shifting from one of cold detachment to one of feigned confusion and fear. He had to play the part of the victim. He had to sell the lie.

"Joseph and Eric took me there," he said his voice hoarse and weak. "I told them I didn’t want to go. But they wouldn’t listen to me."

Anastasia listened intently her brow furrowed with concern.

"I didn’t understand what was happening," Adam continued his voice trembling slightly. He was a master of deception now a seasoned actor in the theater of his own tragic life. "When we got there we were in a club room. There were so many men there. As soon as Joseph and Eric brought me inside they attacked me."

He painted a picture of betrayal and violence a carefully constructed narrative that cast him as the innocent victim caught in a web of someone else’s making. He was planting the seeds of a new story a story that would lead him down a different path a path that might just keep him alive.

Anastasia listened to Adam’s story her expression serious and thoughtful. A seed of doubt was growing in her mind. She remembered a day a few weeks ago when Adam’s parents were still alive.

She had overheard a heated argument between Joseph and their father. Joseph had yelled that he did not consider Adam a friend anymore. The words had stuck with her. She knew her brother was not as simple as he appeared.

He kept secrets from everyone from their father from their mother and especially from her. They were siblings but they were not close. They moved in the same social circle with Adam but there was always a distance between them.

She remembered how easily Joseph had agreed when their father forbade them from seeing Adam. Anastasia had fought back. She had argued that Adam was their friend that they could not just abandon him.

But Joseph had just shrugged and said it was for the best. He had continued to go to school but Anastasia had stayed home out of anger and frustration. She could not understand why her brother was so quick to turn his back on his friend.

Now hearing Adam’s story the pieces started to click into place. But it still did not make sense. Why would Joseph and Eric take Adam to a place like that? What was their motive?

Adam saw the doubt in her eyes. He took a deep breath as if steeling himself for a difficult confession. "I had decided not to tell you this," he said his voice low and solemn. "But seeing how much you trust me I think you deserve to know the truth."

His words made Anastasia lean forward her attention fully focused on him.

"They were planning to hand me over to those men," Adam said his voice barely a whisper. "For one million dollars."

The words hit Anastasia like a physical blow. She gasped her eyes wide with shock. She shot up from her chair her body trembling. "One million dollars?" she repeated her voice a stunned whisper. "But why? Why would anyone pay that much money for you?"

"There have been a lot of attacks on me these past few days," Adam explained his voice filled with a carefully crafted weariness. "When I tried to find out why I discovered there’s a bounty on my head. I don’t know how much it is but someone wants me dead. Joseph and Eric found out about it. And they decided to sell me out for a million dollars."