XXXVI
Bruised my knees getting down to pray.
Won't repent 'til my judgement day.
It's a mean world that I've known.
Never got no good doing what I'm told.
It's a mean world that I've known.
Now you'll find me where the devil don't go. - Elle King, Where the Devil Won't Go
"Well?" Bird asked, as she nervously sat on the edge of the chair and fidgeted with the sleeve of her jacket, "What do you think?"
"I think…" Harvey breathed resting his elbows on his desk and rubbing his eyes, "That right now I wish I was one of those lawyers who kept a bottle in their desk drawer."
Her eyes fell to all of the final will and estate documents on his desk and with an apologetic look she said, "I know this isn't what you wanted to spend your lunch break doing, but I had all of these papers drawn up and I wanted you to look over them –you're the only one I trust."
"I can't do this." He finally sighed, tucking the documents back into the thick navy blue folder and roughly closing it.
"I need you to-"
"I have court in less than an hour. I need to be able to focus during the trail and not sitting there paralyzed from the thoughts of losing you." He argued.
"I'm sorry." She apologized, "It's just that my dad had everything all in order, you know? He'd made plans and took steps to make sure everything was done just as he wanted and I'm trying to follow his footsteps. I need to know if everything on these papers are exactly how I want, so that I can leave them with Alfred." Her eyes dropped to the floor as she said, "Just a side note; I told him if something happened to me that you've got copies of the papers for my shares in my father's company to go to my brother."
When he sat completely silent and didn't say anything or even make a movement, she asked, "Harvey?"
"What the hell happened?" He demanded to know, "Last week you were asking me to trust you and saying things were going to get worse, but that in the end it would all be okay –and now you show up here with estate planning papers and talking to me about this like we're discussing where to have dinner!"
"Nothing happened." Bird exclaimed, "I just… I'll be able to sleep a lot better knowing everything is in order."
"Yeah, well, you'll be the only one able to sleep." He muttered.
"Once I know everything is okay and these papers are filed away, we never have to talk about it again –I promise and then things can go back to normal." She was too quick to say, and he asked, "Normal? Starling, I don't even know what normal is anymore.
"Harvey, please." She whispered, her eyes and tone pleaded with him for both his understanding and help.
Lowering his head he let out a sigh of defeat before opening the folder back up and picking the first few pages up. Trying to pretend like he was examining legal documents for someone he didn't know and dearly love. He read over them and laid them to the side with a nod of approval.
As he picked up the next one his eyebrows lowered and she asked, "What's wrong?"
"Why am I listed on here?" He asked, reading further as he said, "It says you're leaving me –whoa… that is…" His eyes darted back to her, "A lot of money. I think someone made a mistake."
"It's not a mistake." Bird replied, "If something were to happen to me, I want to make sure you're going to be okay. That you can pick up and leave Gotham and start somewhere fresh and not have to worry-"
"I don't want it." He cut her off with a rough voice, "I want you, and I want you alive. So instead of sitting here looking over these papers, let's just get out of Gotham."
"Right now?" She remarked with raised eyebrows.
"Right now." He agreed.
"And what about your court case?" She reminded him, fighting a smile as she spoke.
Standing up he started to gather the papers as he muttered, "Screw the case."
"Harvey!" Bird exclaimed, as she got up from her seat and walked around the desk, grabbing onto his hands to stop him as she said, "You're over-reacting… and besides leaving won't change anything. I have to be here, I have to see this through."
"I'm not over-reacting, I don't want this!" He yelled holding the folder up in the air, "If I lost you, no amount of money on this earth would help me."
"Why are you yelling at me?" Her own voice was raised, but nowhere near the level to which his had reached, "Because you're standing here talking to me like your fate has already been sealed and that you're somehow perfectly fine with that when to me it feels like the end of the goddamn world."
Bird opened her mouth to tell him how she wasn't nearly as fine with it all as she seemed, but before she got the chance there was a brief knock on his closed office door as one of his co-workers opened it and said, "Sorry to interrupt, Dent… but do you have those case files on-"
"Not now!" He yelled, seeing the look of alarm on the man's face, Harvey took a shallow breath and lowered his volume; though his tone didn't get any friendlier, he added, "I'm in the middle of something right now."
"Oh, uhh… okay." He stammered, stepping back and closing the door as he left.
Leaning down Harvey rested his hands against the desk and tried to get a grip on his anger, and Bird looked down placing a hand on top of his as she said in a calm voice, "It does bother me, okay? The idea of it all scares me and it's not like I'm giving in or giving up, but knowing that the things are in order for the people I love the most just makes me feel better."
"I know this is hard and I'm sorry… you're the only one who's word I trust when it comes to legality matters, but I understand. This is a lot to ask and really hard on you, so it's alright. I'll find someone else to go over it with me."
Leaning over she kissed his cheek and picked the folder up from the desk, as she turned to leave he took hold of her hand and pulled her back to him. With an apologetic look on his face he pulled the folder from her hand and laid it back down on his desk.
"You don't have to-" Bird started to say.
"I want to." Harvey cut her off, before he took a ragged breath and rested his forehead against hers. "Actually, I don't want to… but I will, for you."
Raising back up he caught the fearful look in her eyes she'd been trying to hide; now he could see it really wasn't nearly as easy for her as she pretending it was. She was trying to be strong and the least he could do was be there; be strong with her. He pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close to him.
~()~
"What happened?" Oswald asked, watching as Bird turned to shut her apartment door behind him.
"You didn't hear?" She questioned, with raised eyebrows and a disbelieving expression.
When he continued to stare at her, his eyes looking over her injured, but healing face; she didn't dwell on the last week and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to bring you this, in person." He answered, somehow managing to pull his eyes from her wounded state and placed an invitation for the opening night of the club in her hand.
Looking down she ran her fingers over the black card, it was simple and elegant. The expensive paper had a nice weight to it with a glossy sheen over the silver color script that read Oswald's.
Opening the card up she saw it was an announcement for the club's reopening under his care.
"Congratulations." She said with a soft smile, as she folded it shut and crossed the room, propping it open on the top shelf of her bookcase.
Walking over to her, he saw she'd placed it next to a framed picture of her and Harvey and on the other side of it was a wilted and dying purple flower.
"You'll be in attendance?" Oswald asked, trying to look at her, but his eyes kept being pulled back to the photo of the couple.
"I'll try." She nodded, "I may have to work that night, I'm not sure yet."
"Work?" He questioned, his head cocking to the side as he questioned, "What work?"
"You really have no idea do you?" She realized, her head lowering as she pulled in a breath and looked back to him, "The morning after I dropped you off at Falcone's mansion when Maroni had tried to killed you –the old man brought me back in. He decided the crime family needed growing numbers apparently… he's making me work with Victor."
"Zsasz?" Oswald nearly shouted at her, unable to stand still anymore he seemed unsteady on his feet from the newly learned news. He was well aware of Victor Zsasz's well-earned reputation and in the few encounters he'd had with him, had spent every second all too aware of how dangerous the assassin was.
"Yeah." Bird nodded, shrugging and trying to make herself feel better as she said, "It's not so bad I guess. Victor just creeps me out sometimes. Somedays he won't speak to me and other times he seems… I can't even explain it, he's the strangest man I've ever met."
With a shrug she thought back to her fight with him and working at his side as she conceded, "He's skilled though, no wonder Falcone keeps him so close."
Oswald stared back at her with his mouth agape, he wasn't sure what was more shocking –knowing that Falcone was trying to convert Bird into an assassin, or the fact that she thought working with Zsasz wasn't so bad.
"I'll try to make it to the opening night though-"
"I will fix this, Bird." He cut her off, "I will speak to Don Falcone myself and let him how much of an asset you were at the nightclub-" He promised, getting cut off when she shook her head back and forth, "It won't make a difference. He's punishing me for the Liza situation, and he knows we're close –forcing me to work with a friend wouldn't be punishment."
Walking past him back across her living room, Bird thought out loud, "Hardly seems fair, right? You've been manipulating the hell out of everyone and you wind up with a shiny new club. One of my betrayals comes to light and I have to work with Victor."
Running a hand through her hair she sighed with a shrug, "Nature of the beast, I suppose."
"If you'll just allow me to speak with-" Oswald tried to persuade her, but Bird shook her head back and forth.
"We'll stick to the plan. Start a gang war in Gotham and let Maroni and Falcone fight it out lose a lot of their men in the process, their numbers dwindle and funds run low –the citizens will start turning against them and then we'll strike at the right moment and pull the city out from under them." Bird said, a confidence in her tone and a fire of determination in her eyes –something he hadn't seen for quite a while.
"Yes." He agreed, pointed smile spreading over his lips, "Yes, we will."
~( A few days later)~
After ignoring a phone call from her younger brother, Bird was sitting on her couch alone in her apartment. She was supposed to see Harvey that night, but ended up having to cancel on him when orders came down from Falcone that she and Victor had a job that evening.
Picking up the bottle of pain pills from her coffee table she poured several out into her hand, before popping them into her mouth and chasing them down with the last of her bottle of beer.
Adding the bottle to the steadily growing collection on top of, and on the floor beside her coffee table, she stood up and started to head for the kitchen to grab another –until there was a knock at her door.
Letting out a sigh she, turned and headed over to see who it was, crossing her fingers at her side and hoping it wasn't Harvey as she went.
She'd tried to just send him a text to say she couldn't see him that night, but he'd immediately called her after she'd sent it. From the moment she said hello, he was worried by her tone of voice, he'd started asking questions that she couldn't –or more so wouldn't answer.
After looking through her peephole, she paused for a moment before finally opening the door and greeting in a flat tone, "Jim?"
"Bird." He greeted back, waiting for her to invite him, but instead she turned and walked over to sit on her couch –leaving her door open.
Shaking his head Jim walked in and closed the door behind him, as he turned back to explain why he was there, the sight he was met with stopped him in his tracks.
There were empty beer bottles everywhere, her coffee table was littered with take-out trash and weapons, not to mention some bottles of pills sitting out in plain sight.
Bird was dressed in a pair of pajama pants and a dark hooded sweat shirt that was clearly a few sizes too big on her. Her hair was down and didn't appear to have been brushed that day.
"What do you want?" She asked when he stopped short of giving an explanation for his visit, "Let me guess, you need a favor?"
"No." Jim gruffly answered. Clearing his throat, and finding a friendlier tone of voice he asked, "How are you?"
With a shrug being the only answer he got from her, he walked over and moved a gun out of one of her chairs so that he could sit down and laid it down on the coffee table and commented, "That's quite a bit of firepower you've got there." He eyed her for a bit before guessing, "This have anything to do with Falcone bringing you back in?"
"Oh, I don't know Jim… are you asking as a friend or Gotham's Hero Cop?"
When she saw his forehead line and a genuine look of confusion fall over his face, she pulled in a breath and added, "I know you probably think because I came to you for help before, that I owe you some sort of explanation –but I think with all the times I saved your life, we can just call it even, right?"
"Nygma told me you came by the station looking for me yesterday. Said you seemed pretty out of it." Jim finally said, but before he could get much else out, Bird's expression changed and she questioned, "No… wasn't I there today?"
Rubbing her forehead she realized she'd lost some time again, though at the current moment she was too exhausted to be distressed from the news.
"No… it was yesterday." He stated, before giving her a harsh look and commenting, "Might be easier to keep your days straight if everything wasn't a blur." He motioned to the alcohol bottles as he spoke and started to reach out to see exactly what kind of pills she'd been taking, but even in her hazy state her reflexes were unmatched and she slapped his hand away in midair.
"Don't you dare judge me, Jim Gordon." Bird snapped, overcome with anger. Closing her eyes and pulling in a breath, she arched a brow, "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, and you're not near as perfect as you get everyone to think you are."
"I'm not judging." Jim argued, holding his hands up in surrender and knowing that if she stayed mad it would be impossible to talk to her and he had a feeling something must be really wrong for her to have showed up at his work.
"Liar." She mumbled under her breath.
Blowing out an annoyed breath, he asked, "What did you come by the station for?"
Running her tongue over her bottom lip, Bird avoided his eyes and started to pick at the sleeve over her hoodie.
When she didn't answer, Jim added, "I saw you coming out of a building just outside of the narrows with Victor Zsasz earlier this week."
"So?"
"So…" He sighed, "Wasn't it just a couple weeks that he tried to kill you?"
"He wasn't trying to kill me, he was just supposed to bring me to Falcone." She reminded him.
"Either way, why were you with him?" Jim pried. The night she'd ended up in his apartment scared to death was still fresh in his mind, and he recalled exactly how distressed she seemed by the news that Falcone was bringing her back in.
Now, after seeing her with Zsasz, Jim started to wonder exactly what sort of work she'd been brought back into the crime family for.
"Maybe he's a friend." She stubbornly shrugged, not making eye contact with him as she spoke.
"All your friends beat you to a blood pulp?" His tongue sharply carved every word of the question.
It was obvious that she was lying about so many things to him now, something that easily got under his skin. As if that wasn't insulting enough –she wasn't even trying to hide it.
"You'd really be surprised, Jim."
"What is that supposed to mean?" He questioned.
"Nothing." She waved a dismissive hand through the air, "I went to the station to talk to you, I'm trying to get things in order and-"
"In order for what?"
"For when I die."
The pair stared at each other for several seconds, until he opened his mouth, but knowing what he was about to say, Bird cut him off.
"It's not like I'm expecting to be killed tomorrow or anything, but we both know the kind of life I live and I've screwed a lot of people over and burnt a lot of bridges and... I just think it's good to be prepared, you know –just in case."
"I think there's a lot more that you're not telling me." He commented, "But, go on."
Swallowing hard she somehow managed a smile and softly said, "My brother is this amazing person, you know? He's so mature for his age and annoyingly smart, he's such a genuine person –genuinely nice and caring and it's honestly a little tragic, because people are often unkind to him. He just… he's not like other kids his age and even being such a great person, he has a lot of trouble relating to other people. He doesn't really have any friends –in fact, all he has is me and Alfred."
"And me." Jim added.
"I know that you've got your own life and you're busy and under no obligation to do so, but If something happens to me. Maybe you could make it a point to stop by Wayne Manor more, you know… just sort of keep an eye on him –without him knowing that's what you're doing?"
Slowly Jim nodded, "That goes without asking." He assured her.
"Thanks." She whispered, "I thought you would, it's just that hearing you say it makes me feel a little better."
The room fell silent and he made sure she wasn't getting ready to ask anything else before he pointed out, "Actions have consequences, Bird. And the longer you stay in the life you're living –the more you're going to put yourself and the people you love in danger."
"So I should what? Get out and now and don't look back?"
"Something like that."
Bird looked over at him and he could see her eyes glistening in the lighting of the room, and for a moment he thought maybe something he'd said had gotten through.
That was until she started laughing.
"I don't think any of this is funny." Jim loudly said, making sure she could hear him.
"It is though!" She argued back, as she fought to top laughing.
Clearing her throat, Bird added, "It's hilarious actually."
"No-" He started to argue, but she cut him off.
"Oh, it is. It's pretty damn funny that you still don't understand how things work in Gotham. That after everything you've seen, and knowing everything you know, that you somehow still think that walking away from something like this is even possible." Her voice had a near hiss to it.
"I understand." He tried to argue, "You feel trapped and you're scared, but you have options and what I don't understand is why you can't see that and why you keep making bad choices –keep putting yourself and everyone around you in more peril. You need to realize that enough is enough, before it is too late."
"You don't understand." She repeated, standing up and throwing her arms out to the sides in frustration as she yelled, "But I guess it's pretty easy to look down on everyone else from that pedestal you've put yourself on. You can't understand how trapped I am in this, because you're not down in the trenches with the rest of us here. You got in trouble with Falcone and I called in a favor to keep you alive, you didn't have to pay for what you did, because you had someone willing to go to bat for you-"
"I never asked for your help-" He angrily yelled back, as he stood up from the chair he'd been sitting in.
He was past being sick and tired of her holding that over his head, but he didn't get to argue his point, when Bird yelled over him.
"Yeah, you never asked for me to put my neck on the line for you, but I did it anyways and you're alive today because of that. And the truth is, you have no idea how much of a miracle that is. There's probably less a handful of people that Falcone actually would do a favor for, and I was one of them! You have no idea the things I had to do to get to that point." Her hands clenched into tight fists down at her sides, and she felt like there wasn't enough oxygen in the room anymore.
"I put in the time and the hard work to get to where I'd gotten. You couldn't stomach half the things I've seen happen around here, the things I've had to do to prove my loyalty. And when I stepped out of line, Fish would have the crap kicked out of me to teach me a lesson. I've paid my pound of flesh over and over again and now look where I am!"
Jim's eyes cut down to the coffee table between them, back to the various weapons scattered among the trash and for a moment wasn't sure if she was in control enough to not violently lash out at him.
Bird's face was bright red as she yelled at him, her hands still tightly clenched into fists, her small frame was trembling as she stared him down and he was sure the unhinged look she had was the exact reason Bullock usually referred to her as crazy eyes.
"I put in the footwork, had my ass kicked so many times. I was even asked to help frame Pepper for my parents' murder, because the wide-spread panic was bad for business. I hated myself for it, but I did every single thing asked of me. Fish had complete trust in me, hell even Falcone trusted and respected me and then look at where I am now –forced to work with Victor Zsasz, while Oswald gets to run a club. A club that he doesn't even know how to run, by the way, I was the one who did all the work there and at the end of the day that club should be mine and not Oswald's-"
Immediately she stopped yelling, and her eyes grew wide as she realized what she'd just said out loud.
"This is about Oswald, he's the one you're mad at." Jim realized out loud that even though he was the one she'd been screaming at –it actually didn't have anything to do with him.
"It's just not right." She breathed as she tucked her hair behind her ears.
It wasn't as if she didn't believe Oswald didn't deserve to be standing where he was, she knew better than anyone how much he'd risked to get there. It just didn't feel right to her that he was reaping the rewards from both of their hard work, while she was being punished.
She wanted her best friend to have everything he'd dreamed of, it's just that she thought they'd be standing there together when all the smoke cleared. Instead, not he was getting a pat on the back and she owed a debt to Falcone for her betrayals.
As much as she tried to be happy for her best friend, there was a small part of her that was bitter over how things turned out -perhaps even a little worried that if it came down to it, that Oswald would throw her under a bus on his climb to the top.
"Look…" Jim breathed, rubbing a hand over his hair, he cleared his throat and asked, "How long have you been involved with the Falcone Crime Family?"
"Like four years, why?" She admitted, with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Because all I was trying to say, is that the only thing worse than being in organized crime for four years –is to be in organized for for four years and a day." He pointed out with raised brows, "You keep talking like it's impossible for you to walk away today, but sometimes today is all you've got and what you do right now affects whether you've actually got a tomorrow. You get what I'm saying?"
"I hear you." Bird nodded, with a weak smile as she dropped her arms back down at her sides and sighed, "But I guess this is the part where I pretend it went in on ear and out of the other, and just keep making those wrong choices. Because from where I'm standing, there is one way out right now and that's sure as hell not walking away."
When she saw a defeated look on his face and he glanced over towards her door, Bird called out, "There's something else, I needed to talk to you about."
"Okay?" He looked back to her as he spoke.
"I told you I was getting some things in order in case something happens to me. I've been doing some investigating of my own and digging into what happened to my parents-"
Nodding he said, "I remember you saying you were going to help Bruce."
"Bruce doesn't know about what I've found." Bird said, stepping closer and lowering her voice as she explained, "My brother says he wants justice for what happened, but the truth is –he wants revenge. And because of that right now he's focused on who actually killed them and not why they were killed. Which is a good thing, because I'm pretty damn sure that whoever actually pulled the trigger is a lot less dangerous than what's really going on."
"You found something, didn't you?" He realized, his blue eyes growing wide.
"Wayne Enterprises is so corrupt." Bird admitted, "Like, corruption on a such a large scale that there is no way my father was in the dark about it. And you see, we might not have gotten along very well, but I knew my dad… and I can't imagine him going along with anything like that. So either my parents were killed because of what he knew –or my dad was the biggest hypocrite in the world for all the lectures he gave me about how I needed to clean my act up and live my life right. Either way; I feel like have way less than half of the puzzle pieces and the ones I do have won't fit together."
"What did you uncover?" Jim asked, but instead of a response all he got was a stubborn smile from Bird and he sighed, "Why is it that you're always dangling information in front of me, but never actually sharing it?"
"Because I'm looking at the cop who strolled into Carmine Falcone's mansion in the middle of the day with an assault rifle threatening to arrest him." She pointed out, knowing that most times he was about as subtle as a train wreck and this was a delicate situation. "A day you only walked away from, because of me, by the way."
His jaw tensed and she saw anger flash through his eyes.
"If something happens to me, then I've made some arrangements and when I'm dead, you're going to get a box delivered to your apartment –that box is going to have everything I know about what happened to my parents and all the documents I could get proving corruption in the company. Like I said it's not even nearly half the entire picture, but it's all I've got right now and maybe you can do some good with it." Bird shrugged, again trying to pretend like the idea that her days were numbered wasn't enough to leave her paralyzed inside.
"But if you have information, why not just tell me now? Two sets of eyes are better than one and maybe you've missed something that I-"
"Because as soon as that box is in your hands, you're a dead man, Jim Gordon." Bird cut him off with the grim warning, "And the best we can hope for is that you're able to accomplish something with it before your number's up."
If it was anyone else, he'd have kept up his argument, but he'd gotten to know Bird well enough to know that there was really no arguing with her when her mind was made up. In fact, he had a feeling that arguing with her would end up in him getting the exact opposite of what he'd been fighting for. That she'd purposely withhold the information out of spite.
"You should get going." Bird nodded towards her door as she mumbled, "I have somewhere I need to be tonight."
Nodding, he started for her door, still unsure what to make of the entire encounter. From her showing more of her vulnerable side at first, to screaming at him and playing the blame game –to then apparently trusting him enough to have everything she'd uncovered sent to him if she were to die.
As he reached the door, he turned back and said, "When you do finally decide you've had enough of working for a crime boss –you really do have options… and you're not alone."
Bird raised her head from where she'd been eying a bottle of pills on her coffee table, and stared at him with an unreadable expression on her face as he gave her a small nod before leaving and closing the door to her apartment behind him.
~(That night)~
Bird's eyes were wide as she scanned the carnage left behind, countless dead bodies lay everywhere, all over the floor and draped over tables flush with stacks of cash.
With a stunned expression her gaze fell to where Victor Zsasz was just getting up from off the floor, the blood running profusely from the bullet wound in his shoulder.
Once he was standing, he slowly raised his head and looked at her. His eyes dark with a storm brewing in them, for the first time since she'd started working with him Bird was afraid of him.
As he took a heavy step forward, she instinctively backed up –it felt like she was being preyed on by a rabid animal willing to rip it's own leg off to come at her.
"Get the bags." He ordered, venom in his tone as he pointed with the hand from his good arm towards the door where they'd parked at.
"Victor…" She breathed, taking another step backwards.
"Don Falcone needs to build the cash reserves back up, we won't have long to clear this place out. Now; go…get…the…bags." He instructed, trying to make it as clear as possible that they needed to get out of there.
"Why the hell did you do that?" She questioned, her brown eyes wide.
"Bird-" He growled.
"You just…" Shaking her head back and forth she stammered out, "You just literally took a bullet for me, why the hell would you do that?"
He stood in silence, staring back at her with a slightly strained expression tugging at his features; she wasn't sure if it was from the pain he was in or if he was desperately trying to restrain himself from attacking her.
Victor blew out a heavy breath that turned into a hiss as it spread between his tightly clenched teeth.
"I wouldn't even do that for you!" She yelled, "I have your back when we're fighting and all, but no freaking way would I jump in front of a bullet for you."
"It wasn't my choice." He revealed, his body still positioned in a tense, predatory manner.
"What…" Bird's eyebrows lowered in confusion until it started to dawn on her that he had to have been following orders and the only person who gave Victor Zsasz orders was Don Falcone. "My orders from Falcone are to work beside you –what are your orders regarding me?"
He broke eye contact for a mere second before focusing his fiery gaze back on her and accusing, "Your technique is sloppy, you don't even know what you're doing out here. I'm surprised you've lasted this long-"
"Excuse me?" Bird cut in, but he talked over her as he continued, "Your breath smells of alcohol and you're clearly under the influence of something more. Coming in here was a stupid move –you're as useful to me as a little girl playing with toy guns."
Her mouth hung open before anger clicked inside her and she hissed, "If you think I'm so useless why didn't you bring someone else? More back up than just the two of us for this whole count house full of armed men?"
Wiping the sweat from his eyes, Victor hissed, "I could have taken this entire room out on my own, easily."
Bird's eyes fell to the floor as she tried to keep her anger under control and stay focused on getting an answer to her earlier question, "Did Falcone tell you to protect me when we're in the field?"
His brute silence and hard stare was the only answer she got, but it was enough for her to fit the pieces together.
"He did…" She breathed, understanding that clearly Victor had been told to not let her know about it and he always followed his orders.
Even if that order was to put his own life on the line.
No longer afraid that he'd hurt her, Bird marched back up to him and asked, "Why would he do that, I don't understand what value he thinks my life has." She admitted, thinking to how he'd looked past her betrayals and her eyes widened when she realized that must have also been why Victor hadn't used extreme force to bring her to the mansion the day he'd been sent for her.
He must have been given orders not to severely injure her.
"Why does he want me alive?" She yelled, now just in front of him.
"I don't know." He admitted, looking her over as he said with a flared nostril, "I'm not paid to question my orders."
He wasn't sure if it was a result of the searing pain from his wound, or that he'd even ended up in a position where he had to act on what he'd been told to keep her alive –but he was growing tired of having to tote her around with him.
She was arrogant and from what he could tell, a pain in everyone's ass –yet for some reason his boss wanted her alive.
Though he now had more reasons to make a plea to be allowed to do away with her.
When it was clear she wasn't going to get the bags they needed to round up the money, he angrily stalked by her, roughly bumping into her with his good side and knocking her down hard to floor.
"Get up." He ordered, as he returned to find her still sitting in the spot where he'd knocked her down.
When she didn't respond or make an attempt to get up, he charged for her, grabbing onto her upper arm and jerking her up to her feet.
"Get off me!" She shrieked, ripping her arm away from him with a look of near hatred on her face, before she turned and started towards the exit.
"Where are you going?" He called out after her.
"Away from here and away from you." She yelled back, looking over her shoulder back to him as she continued to put space between them.
With a heavy sigh, he looked towards the ceiling with an expression of pure annoyance on his face.
Not only had she screwed up and nearly gotten herself shot, she was now expecting him to gather all the money up and load it into the car when he was down to one fully functioning arm.
"We aren't done for the day." He reminded her that they still had a few more tasks to complete before they could call it a day, but it did nothing to stop her.
"I'm done." She said, turning in the doorway to face back in his direction.
"Think about what you're doing-" He started to say but stopped when they heard sounds of very close by sirens.
Without another word or argument, she darted from the open doorway and sprinted away from the building –knowing that he wasn't going to come after her and even if he did -he wouldn't be allowed to hurt her.
A/N - Poor Bird, she's really feeling like her days left are numbered. :/
Thanks so much for reading! I especially want to thank Miss E Charlotte, Saskia D. Fox and Love. Fiction. 2016. for reviewing. ^_^
You can always find me on Tumblr (twofacedharveydent).