Skye's POV

I awoke from the sofa with an ache running across my neck, the memories of how I had ended up here flooding back. Luckily for me, being pregnant had its perks - like the endless excuse of not drinking. The sofa - or maybe the entire room - smelt like a bar, mixes of Spirits and wines and a heavy smell of cigars.
This was how the group celebrated. This was their time to be free, even if it were only for a night. Drinks, women, cigars and games. Most of the women had left already, not tied down to any man in this room. My boyfriend was just down the hall, in our room. He'd been having a great time until a work call came in. He couldn't ignore it and left to take care of it. I must have fallen asleep before he got back.

I groaned as I shifted my weight and slowly sat myself up, rubbing my neck as if my simple touch was going to cure it. Stretching my neck left and right, I finally took in the sights around me; Brad asleep next to Zee on the other sofa, red cups littering the floor, cigars burning out on the ashtrays placed on the tables, Max holding a gun towards me as he strode my way.

Wait, what?!

I straightened suddenly, my neck pulling to remind me that I hadn't solved my issue yet. Max had already reached me before my brain had a chance to come up with a way to get out of this. He held the barrel of the gun to my head and cocked it. A bead of sweat ran down the side of his head as he confidently held the weapon, without any hesitation or empathy.

"I didn't want to do this, but you brought this on yourself." Max growled at me, his eyes a mix of rage and fury as if I'd killed everyone he'd ever cared about. I thought back. Had I done something to upset him? I was too scared to ever take a wrong step around these men, yet somehow Max was so scorned he was willing to kill.

"M-Max, what are you talking about?" I stammered, hoping and praying the others would wake up before he killed me. That they would somehow be able to talk some sense into him.

"You!" He barked, loudly enough that Brad seemed to startle and wake up. I breathed out a sigh of relief, hoping Max wouldn't notice, and tried to stall for as long as possible. My breathing was erratic as I clutched my hands to my rounded stomach; this baby being clueless to what was happening and why they could sense fear from their mother.

"I've not done anything to you, Max. I thought we were friends!" I let out an uncontrollable sob, fear taking over and sending my senses into overdrive. Brad looked over, his eyes widening in shock as he saw me staring down the barrel of a gun. How was I going to escape this one? My hands were shaking as I held them up as a sign of surrender, hoping Max would come to his senses.

"Woah, Max. Let's all calm down for a second and take a breath." Brad's voice was like music to my ears. He elbowed Zee hard, waking him up too, as he stood up with his hands up, slowly walking over to his fellow gang member.

"Shut it Brad! This has nothing to do with you." Max's gun lowered ever so slightly, now touching my nose, as he looked over to Brad to signal for him to leave. Brad continued towards us.

"It does when you're aiming a gun at the Boss's pregnant girlfriend." Brad reiterated, gesturing towards me whimpering on the sofa.

"It's his fault. I'm doing this because of him." Max yelled. Zee jumped up quickly afterwards, matching Brad's steps until they were shoulder to shoulder with Max. His face seemed to change, drop into a solemn expression for a second before he composed himself again. The gun began to move higher again until it once again rested in the middle of my forehead. I had nothing more I could do other than stare up at him, clutching my stomach in the hope a miracle would happen.

"Whatever it is, you don't need to-" Brad began, grabbing the barrel of the gun and moving it away from me. Once it had passed my head, I let out the breath I had been holding and stood up, ready to run to the safe arms of my boyfriend.

BANG!

The gun fired, my head whipped towards the sound as I saw Brad fall back onto the sofa, his checkered top suddenly staining with crimson blood. He clutched his shoulder, hoping to stop the bleeding as Zee tackled Max to the floor.

"Go, Skye! Run!" He shouted towards me in a panic. I gave an apologetic look to Brad, who nodded in response, before I fled the room and ran down the hallway. The old-fashioned red and gold patterned carpet felt rough under my bare feet, my hands feeling along the textured wallpaper as I rounded the corner to our room, number 215. I banged hard on the door, my body unable to produce sound to warn my boyfriend of what was to come. His friend had turned rogue, he was trying to kill us, he was coming this way.

CLICK

The safety came off of the gun. I turned to face Max, my back pressed against the door as I let out small, erratic breaths in terror. My hands were flat against the door too, feeling weighted and heavy.

"This never would have happened if you'd stayed away from him." Max shouted as he readied the gun.

My breath stopped.

He pulled the trigger.

BANG!