Until We Fly (Beautifully Broken 4)

Nora keeps the gun on William’s chest, but she looks at me, her eyes big and blue.

And cold.

“Brand, you don’t understand,” she says simply. “I can’t get away from them. William will ruin you. He knows about your past… about assaulting your father and how the judge made you join the Army. He’s going to use that to bankrupt your company—because he knows people in Washington. And my father…”

I speak up, trying as best I can to stay calm, to dissuade her. “Nora, they can’t ruin me. I was always going to be a Ranger. It was my dream from the time I was a kid. I wanted to protect people from evil like my father. The judge knew that. The judge saw the situation for what it was and gave me a break. Nora, they can’t hurt me.”

But she’s unmoved and her voice is filled with contempt.

“Don’t you see? It doesn’t matter what the truth is. William has connections in the pentagon who will believe whatever he tells them to. If he wants to ruin you, he’ll ruin you. And that’s not all. I signed a contract that ties me to my father for twenty years. I can’t do that. I just can’t. I’ve got to end it today, Brand. It ends today.”

Her voice is so resigned that it sends my heart pounding into my throat, especially when I see her hand shaking. She means to do it.

She means it. I want to lunge and grab the gun from her, but I’m too afraid she’ll hurt herself with it in the struggle. I can’t risk it.

I eye her carefully, thinking through my options, but then Camille steps forward, her shocked and frozen face finally moving to speak.

“My baby,” she croons, edging toward the bed. “There’s so much that you need to know. Please… put down the gun. They can’t hurt you now. They can’t.”

Nora shakes her head. “Step back, maman.”

But Camille refuses. “Nora, you need to know something… something I’ve never been strong enough to tell you. Look at me.”

Nora pauses, but doesn’t look at her mother. She keeps the gun trained on William. “Just tell me.”

Camille’s tone is blunt. “Nora, you’re not Maxwell’s daughter. Your contract will be void, not that it ever mattered anyway.”

This stops Nora cold, something that finally breaks through her concentration. She stares at her mother in confusion.

“Not his?” She looks at the two bloody men. “What do you mean?”

There’s the smallest tone of hope hidden among her confusion.

Camille stares at her, with love and fear and apprehension.

“You aren’t a Greene. Maxwell Greene is not your father. That means that the contract you signed, which named you as his daughter, isn’t valid. He can’t keep you with him. He can’t force you to do anything ever again.”

Nora’s eyes fill and her lips shakes. “That’s impossible. How…”

Camille shakes her head. “We’ll talk about it more after you put the gun down, my love. Please. Just give Brand the gun. Everything is going to be ok. I promise. It will be okay. “

Each second seems to last a year as I watch Nora’s hand shake while she clenches the gun, as she finally turns her gaze toward her mother. The cold, blank expression is gone, and instead, her eyes are filled with hope.

“If you’re telling the truth… then…they aren’t… William isn’t…my uncle and….”

A tear breaks rank and slides down her cheek.

“I’m not…”

I speak up. “You’re not used, Nora,” I tell her quietly. “You never have been. What they did to you was sick and wrong. And we’ll send them to prison because that’s where they deserve to rot.”

The gun shakes and drops to her side, and it’s finally safe for me to step forward, closing my hand around the barrel, and easing it out of her hand.

She rests against me, sinking into my arms, her head against my chest.

“I hear your heart,” she says slowly, and I know what she’s doing. I’ve done it a thousand times in combat. She’s removing herself from the situation. It’s something a person does to survive, to block out the ugliness, to keep it from overwhelming them.

“It’s beating for you,” I answer, holding her close. “Only for you.”