Eliana stared down at her father as blood poured from his head onto the concrete. I aimed and whistled to get her attention.
“Any last words?”
She dropped her gun and threw her hands up pleadingly. “Plea—” I shot her before she could finish.
Through it all, Mian kept her head down, and I knew it wasn’t fear that made her curl into herself. Even now, I could feel her pain. Her shoulders trembled, and I knew when I looked in her eyes there would be tears. I cut through the tape binding her and dropped the knife to pull her into my arms.
“Mian?”
She wobbled when I stood her up so I held her tighter. “Is it true?” Her voice was so small.
Suddenly, I was falling from a cliff and reaching for anything that would keep me from hitting rock bottom.
“Fuck.” My voice was shaking too.“We can’t talk about this here. Let me untie my mom and get you two somewhere safe.” It was hard letting her go, but I managed and turned to remove my mom’s gag when I stopped short. I couldn’t move, speak, or think. My mom’s eyes were open and staring down at the ground as her head hung, but there was no life in them. Blood poured from the side of her head. “Mom?” It was my turn to sound small. I barely recognized my own voice as I called out to her again.
“Victor’s guard killed her,” Mian answered when my mother didn’t. I couldn’t stop staring and waiting for her to move. She couldn’t be dead. “Angel,” Mian called more forcefully. I answered her demand by facing her. Tears poured down her face as she moved into my body, but I couldn’t bring myself to hold her. I was too numb.
“I know how you’re feeling,” she said into my chest. “I know how it feels to lose a mom and even a dad. I know how it feels to lose everything. That’s how you’re feeling, aren’t you?” I didn’t answer. “Everything I had lost was because of you and your family and yourlie.”
A sharp pain in my stomach punctuated her claim. We both stared down, mesmerized by the sight of my knife in my stomach. “That was for my son.” I parted my lips, I heard the words in my head, but nothing came out. “I couldn’t fall out of love with you, Angel. Even when you refused to love me back.” I watched a lone tear trail down her face just as she drove the knife deeper into my gut. I struggled again to speak, but a pain filled gasp was all I could manage. She was tearing me apart inside in more ways than one. “But the man you hate is my father, and since the moment I was born, I also promised him I’d love him.Thisis for him.”
She let go of the knife as if it burned her and stepped back. I tried to keep my eyes from closing so I could see her one last time, but then she turned and ran before I could force more words past my pain.
“Sprite,” I whispered too late.Chapter Sixty-OneYour secrets will eventually betray you.
ANGEL
Three Years AgoI walked intomy parent’s home and caught the weight of my mother after she flew into my chest and broke down. “I killed him. Oh, God. I killed your father, Angel.”
My father told me the day might one day come when I’d have to avenge his death. He even prepared me for it. He just hadn’t prepared me for my mother being the one to off him.
“Where is he?”
“Upstairs.” She hiccupped and burrowed her face back in my chest. I wanted to console my mother, but I needed answers. I knew I wouldn’t get any from her so I picked her up and carried her into the living room where I laid her down on the couch. She curled into the cushions and repeated, “I killed him.” Her eyes were empty as she stared up at me.
I forced my feet to move and headed for the stairs with heavy steps. For the first time in my life, I would meet death. I knew this wouldn’t be the last it came for me.