His hit made my ears ring, and his hands closed around my throat, cutting off my air. I smacked his face over and over, but his hold didn’t ease. My lungs begged for air as I fanned my arms out, sliding them on the floor. My fingers brushed against something, and after fumbling, I was able to get a hold of the scissors I had dropped.
I could feel my strength leaving me as I stared into his eyes. He was looking at me with complete hatred as he continued to keep my air cut off. Forcing my arm up, I went for the most fragile part of him I could reach.
I stabbed the scissors into the side of his neck as hard as I could. His eyes bulged as I yanked them back out. Blood spurted out, covering me as he finally released me. I gulped in air, not moving as he fell to the floor next to me, trying to stop his bleeding. Turning my head, I met his gaze as his movement slowed.
Even though it was most likely less than a minute, it felt like an eternity until he took his last gurgling breath. I stared at his lifeless eyes, bile rising in my throat. Getting to my hands and knees, I inched away from him, dry heaving with each breath. My throat burned with pain as I threw up everything that had been in my stomach.
I’d killed him. When I wanted revenge for my sister, I never thought it would be with my bare hands. My body shook violently as I brought my shirt up and tried wiping his blood off my face. Tears mixed with the blood as I rubbed my face again and again. The blood seemed endless. Climbing to my feet, I stumbled to the sink.
I turned the water on full blast and stuck my head under, not caring that it was ice cold. Pink water swirled down the drain as Geo’s last breaths haunted me. I didn’t move even when the water ran clear.
A hand touched my back, and a scream scorched my already sore throat as I whipped my head up from the sink. Spinning around, I sagged in relief to see Niko. Until I remembered what I’d done. To me, Geo was a monster. But to Niko, he was his brother. His twin.
“I’m sorry,” I sobbed, my voice hoarse. “I didn’t have a choice—”
“Sage. Calm down.” His voice was soft, but the pain in his eyes was all I could focus on. “You did what you needed to survive.”
“I didn’t want to kill him,” I choked out as he wrapped his arms around me. “He’s your brother—”
He pulled away from me, gently gripping my chin with his fingers. My breathing was climbing out of control as we locked eyes.
“He wasn’t going to let you live, Sage.” He sounded so sure, but sadness was etched on his face. “It was always going to come down to you or him. I came here knowing that. And I would have chosen you.”
“Niko—”
His phone went off, and he pulled away as he put it to his ear.
“No, he hasn’t called me,” Niko grated out, turning away from me. “When will you be back at the house?”
I was guessing he was talking to Alex. I crossed my arms, holding myself as chills ripped through my body. Water from my hair dripped down my clothes as I froze in place when Niko slowly walked toward Geo’s body. He stopped a couple of feet away, and his whole body moved when he inhaled a deep breath.
Guilt I never thought I’d feel about Geo’s death squeezed my heart. After a few moments, Niko reached down and grabbed Geo’s phone from the pocket of his jeans. He finished his call and faced me.
“We need to go,” he said, coming back into the kitchen.
“Where?”
He lifted me in his arms before heading toward the garage. “I’ll take care of everything. You just need to relax, okay? We need to get back to the house before Alex does.”
I nodded, having no energy to question what he meant. The large garage door was open, and my car sat in the driveway. He set me in the passenger seat and went back to close the garage door.
My gaze stayed on him, wondering what was going to happen now. This changed everything.