After walking in on this bloody mess I completely forgot that I haven’t found Thea.
“I don’t know,” she sobs. “She told me to run, so I did. I messed up again. I’m a bad mom. I never do the right thing. I should’ve protected her. I should’ve—” She buries her face in her hands and sobs and anything said after that becomes gibberish.
I give up trying to get Lauren out of the laundry room and my sole mission becomes finding Thea.
I drop the gun on the kitchen table and head upstairs, straight to her room.
The door is locked.
“Thea?” I bang on it, shaking the knob.
No sound.
Oh, God.
I feel like I might be sick, but I have to keep my head on straight. I go to my room, and the door is open, so is the one to the bathroom. I head straight through and grab the knob of the one leading into Thea’s room. If she was smart she locked this one too.
But the knob twists beneath my hand and I open the door to find Thea lying on the floor.
I rush to her, expecting to find her covered in blood, but she’s surprisingly unscathed.
I shake her slightly and her eyes flutter open. She doesn’t realize it’s me at first and screams, trying to get away from me.
“Thea,” I whisper her name, and she recognizes my voice. “Everything’s okay.”
All the fight goes out of her and she breaks down crying, crawling into my arms and wrapping her arms around me.
“I thought I was going to die,” she confesses against my neck and my heart stops.
Hearing the person you love say they thought they were going to die feels like a kick to the gut, coupled with the fact that she could have. I hope she knows I’m not letting her leave my sight ever again.
I wrap my arms around her and inhale the scent of her shampoo.
“I almost lost you,” I mumble. Tears burn my eyes. I can’t even remember the last time I cried, but if there was any moment that warranted tears it’s this one.
“I heard a gunshot,” she says. “And I thought this was it. I thought he was coming for me next and I was going to die and kept thinking about how much I love you and how this wasn’t enough time and how I do want to have your baby.”
I laugh and pull her back so I can see her face. “Faced with death, you think about a baby?”
“Well, yeah. I might not want one now, but someday, and I thought I was going to be robbed of that experience. What happened?”
I shake my head. “All I know is your mom shot your dad, but I don’t know the details.”
“Wow,” she whispers. “I didn’t know she had it in her.”
“Me either,” I agree, brushing my fingers through her hair. I don’t want to stop looking at her or touching her. It reminds me that she’s here and she’s safe.
“I love you,” I tell her.
“I love you too.” Her eyes fill with tears and she kisses me. Our tears mingle together, but neither of us mind. She’s okay—she’s safe, and that’s all that matters.
Downstairs, I hear Cade and I call to him that we’re up here.
His feet pound loudly on the steps and then he curses when he tries to open the door and can’t.
“Open the door,” he yells.
“Go through my room.”