Prologue
Liesel
I’ve always wondered what my fate would be.
Would I someday fall in love or would my life be filled with hating enemies?
Would I spend my life alone or with a group of close friends to call family?
Would I marry or enjoy the single life?
Would I have kids or be focused on my career?
Would I find someone to love or spend my life regretting having loved and lost?
Would I live long or die quick?
After living as long as I have, my fate isn’t rosy. I’m destined to suffer every agony life has to offer—to die young.
For a long time, I thought I could change my fate. That I could take on the world and win.
I know better now. My fate is not to love. It’s not even to survive. My fate is to protect him…
1
Langston
I’ve seen death so many times that it’s as routine as breathing for me. Usually, death occurs at my hand.
Not this time.
This time it’s happening at the hand of a woman I thought would never see murder. I thought if I did the killing, it would keep her pure, innocent, and intact.
I was wrong.
Liesel Dunn is just as savage as I am. She can kill in cold blood as easily as I can, and that’s terrifying. There is no stopping her now. Now she’ll come for every single one of us.
Liesel pulls the trigger, and my world stops.
I didn’t think she had it in her. I really didn’t think she did. But the tears, combined with her pulling the trigger on one of my best friends, one of the only people I love, has me convinced.
Fuck…
Everything happens in slow motion and at double speed.
My lungs and heart slow down so much that my body is basically a standing corpse, not getting enough oxygen or blood. While Siren falling to the ground happens so fast that I don’t even notice where the bullet hits her.
Siren can’t be dead.
No.
There is no way I’ll believe it. I’ve seen death. I’ve seen close friends ‘die,’ but they turned out to be fine. So even though I’m watching Siren drop with my own eyes, it doesn’t mean she’s dead.
I drag my eyes to Siren’s chest. Her chest is rising. She’s still alive—for now.
I want to run to Siren. To stop her suffering, to help her stay alive, but Maxwell still has a gun pointed at me. Liesel still has a gun on Siren. If she hasn’t already killed her, another shot could. I have to make my next move carefully.
It’s impossible to think, though. All I can feel is Liesel’s pain. Unbearable, devastating, just lost the love of her life kind of pain.
She really did love Waylon.
That suffocates me. My own airway begins to strangle me with her tears, her agony pulsing off her in waves. It’s the purest thing I’ve ever felt.
How could she have loved him? It doesn’t make sense to me. Nothing I noticed between her and Waylon told me she loved him.
Except she fucked him like she loved him. She was going to marry him. She wouldn’t take his money. She wanted to be his equal. Maybe I was very wrong about her and Waylon’s relationship? Maybe he didn’t hurt her? Maybe he was trying to protect her from me?
I can’t process it. I’m overwhelmed by her pain and mine. We are two broken hearts who just lost the love of our lives.
No—I didn’t lose Siren, not yet. I can still save her.
Zeke has the exact same idea and is hopping in his chair with his legs still tied together, but his arms free toward Siren and Liesel.
I take the moment to disarm Maxwell as Zeke tackles Liesel and wrestles the gun away from her. She doesn’t put up much of a fight. She’s too broken—completely heartbroken.
The threat is over. Zeke and I both have the guns.
I return my gaze to Liesel as Zeke aims the gun at her.
“This is for Siren,” Zeke says.
My heart stops.
Zeke should get to kill Liesel for what she just did to Siren. Whether or not Siren dies, Liesel deserves it—not to mention her other crime…