“Why?”
“Wasn’t exactly the goal to kill her. Just wanted to fuck her up a little bit but I gave her too much. She overdosed. Not like Miley didn’t deserve it too. She went along with Melanie’s lies. Both of those girls were fuck-ups. So goddamn selfish and ruthless.”
“But you have to know you won’t win,” I said.
“Won’t win what?” he snapped.
“In the end. You have to know you won’t win.”
“What the fuck are you talking about—”
Before Calvin could finish his sentence, my husband charged forward and tackled him to the ground.
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
The gun went off as they both went down and I dropped to the ground, covering my head. I heard punches being thrown, bones crunching from the blows, both of them grunting.
I crawled away, pressing my back to the thick trunk of a tree. Roland was on top of Calvin, gripping the gun and turning it sideways so it wasn’t pointing at him.
“Don’t fuck with my wife!” Roland snarled.
“I already fucked one. Maybe I’ll fuck another!” Calvin shot back.
That pissed Roland off. He freed one hand to punch Calvin in the face, but it was like Calvin had taken many punches to the face, and after being in prison, maybe he had. He hardly reacted to the blows. He ate them and didn’t let go of the gun during it—not until someone else showed up.
Dylan rushed up to them, kicking Calvin square in the face. Calvin grunted and blood went flying out of his mouth and Roland got ahold of the gun and started to stand, but Calvin was back up again, tackling him back to the ground.
They both fell and I wailed for Roland. The gun flew across the ground and they both clambered over each other to get to it, punching and kicking and shoving their elbows into each other’s faces, but before either of them could grab it, I picked up the gun and stood.
My hands were shaking as I pointed it down at Calvin. He and Roland peered up at me, then Roland moved away while Calvin pressed up weakly on one hand, raising the other one in the air.
“Samira,” Roland called, stepping toward me. “Don’t.”
“Listen to him, Samira.” Dylan was on the other side of me. “You do this, and you’ll have to live with it for the rest of your life. It’ll haunt you until the day you die.”
“He was going to kill me!” I screamed hysterically. “He was going to kill all of us! He killed Melanie, Roland! He killed Miley too!”
Roland was quiet. “Samira. It’s okay. I love you and I don’t want you to live with this. Hand me the gun and I’ll take care of it.”
Calvin laughed after spitting blood. “Listen to your husband, Samira. Hand the pretty boy the gun.”
My hands shook and Roland came closer to me. When he wrapped his hands around it, his eyes found mine, and there was safety in them—a safety I hadn’t felt in a long, long time. His stare was both apologetic and sincere, as if he was saying he was sorry for everything—as if he’d put me through this, but he hadn’t. I led us to Calvin. This was all my fault. We almost died because I was stupid and reckless and decided to confront a predator. But I did it for them. For the twins. For Roland. I finished something for once in my life, despite coming so close to death.
I released the gun and Roland took it, but as he did, I saw Calvin rise and leap forward with his hands out, shoving Roland facedown to the ground. I grunted and fell with him and saw the gun land at Dylan’s feet. He picked it up, and just when Calvin flipped Roland over and brought his arm up, about to punch my husband yet again, Dylan raised the gun and it went off.
A bullet went into Calvin’s back, the gunshot echoing through the woods.
Blood dripped from Calvin’s lips and Roland shoved him away. Calvin landed on his back, eyes wide open, staring up at the sky, and I couldn’t believe it, but he was smiling. His blood stained his teeth and he choked and gurgled on some of it, but he didn’t stop smiling.
Roland crawled to me and pulled me into a tight embrace, bringing my face to his chest and forcing me to look away.
But I didn’t have to look away to know Calvin was dead, and that all of this with Melanie, Miley, and the journals, was finally over.
CHAPTER SEVENTY
A lot happened after Calvin died.
We called the cops first thing and they showed up and found Melanie’s body in the freezer. She was chopped to pieces, according to what one of the detectives told Roland. We went back home after three long days of being questioned, writing testimonies, and speaking to lawyers.