Happiness is a Myth

“You’re doing what?!” Miles shouted, making all of us flinch. Erik shifted slightly next to me, risking a glance back at Emma, James and Sonya. I didn’t dare break eye contact with Miles. If theres one thing I learned about him, it’s that he likes scaring people and killing them. Mostly killing, but I tried not to think of that right now.

“I - we - are going after the people who took my parents,” I said calmly while trying to go for the ‘I-really-don’t-give-a-damn’ look. Something told me that it wasn’t really working.

“The hell you are!” Miles shouted, slamming his crystal coffee mug down onto his desk.

“Listen, Miles,” Erik said, taking a step towards the desk.

“Shut it, Maltini!” Miles growled at him before turning his hateful glare back to me. “You already have an assassin after you, you have the FBI after you - and they won’t be those dumb-ass flunks at that fake headquarters Voleikov brought you to.”

“Well that’s really no - wait, that was fake?” I risked a quick glance at Erik before turning back.

“Of course they were! Why the hell did you think that you could get away so easily? And why the hell would they put a headquarters out in the middle of nowhere?”

“Well, I, uh, just thought - “

“And did you really think that a school full of preppy, idiotic, rich bastards would hire agents to babysit?!” Miles let out an exasperated sigh. “They aren’t even looking for you! They see you as a white collar criminal, not some high class murderer slash robber. You’re at the bottom of their list.”

“They... they aren’t looking for me?” I asked, my lip quivering slightly.

“No,” Miles picked up a piece of paper and looked at it. “They’re more interested in this Neal guy.” He put the paper back down and looked at me, a slightly smug smile on his lips.

“They don’t even know me...” I looked at Erik. “I’m at the bottom of the list.”

“Aw Zoya,” Erik lightly touched my arm. “I’m so sorry.”

I looked down at my feet. “This is... this is...” I looked back at Miles, a wide smile spreading on my face, “amazing!! Oh man, we can go where ever the hell we want and we won’t be tracked! Woo!!” I threw my arms up and hugged Erik. “We can take an airplane!!”

Erik hugged me back. “Thanks Miles for the good news.” he winked.

“Let’s go!” I said to everyone as I turned to leave the office.

“Zoya,” Miles growled, his voice freezing me in place. “You leave, and I’ll have you killed. My men won’t stop until you utter your last word, until your heart stops beating, until I have your cold, hard, lifeless body right here in this room.”

I turned slightly, looking over my shoulder, grinning. “Bring it on, bitch.” I smiled at him one last time before walking out of his office. I chuckled under my breath as we made our way out of Miles’s estate, only thinking of four words:

Here we go again.

~~Sequel to Life ain't a Fairy Tale~~