Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

Sergei pulled her closer and closer.

"Help!" Sergei croaked. "Help me!"

His grip was like a vice. She could see the freezing water getting closer as he thrashed with his free arm. In

seconds he was going to pull her down with him. They were both going to die.

"Sergei, no! "Ariana choked. Fear honed her senses, and suddenly everything around her came into sharp

focus. She reached down to her ankle and grabbed his hand, her fingers digging into his ashen skin. His face

twisted in fear and pain.

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"Please," he gasped, thrashing in the water. "Help me! I don't swim!"

His voice echoed in the silent clearing. The color was slipping rapidly from his cheeks. He couldn't survive

for more than a few minutes in the icy lake, and she wasn't sure that she was strong enough to pull him to

safety. She grabbed his forearm with her other hand and pulled as hard as she could.

"Hold on," she groaned, leaning back with all her weight. She couldn't silence the sound of her heart

pounding in her chest. The sound of Sergei, screaming for help. The warmth in her mother's voice that

surfaced every time she mentioned Daniel. Thomas's breath on her skin, the soft sound of him whispering her

name while they lay in bed. The voices echoed in her mind, getting louder and louder. Closing in. Suffocating

her.

You never know what people are capable of until they're pushed to their edge, Ariana."Ariana!" Sergei

begged.

"Shut up!" she screamed. The images he'd taken of her and Thomas flashed in mind. It was all too much. Too

chaotic. She needed silence, time to think. Sergei's grip loosened slightly, and she looked down at him. A

bluish-gray tint had crept into his skin. He mumbled something about his photographs, looking up at her with

wide, pleading eyes. A gnawing sensation at the back of her mind told her that it wasn't too late to help him.

To save him.

But those pictures. Why had he taken them? What did he want for his silence? What would he make her do to

keep quiet? Her life was on the line here. He'd backed her into a corner.

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"Please." Sergei's voice was a whimper now.

She locked eyes with him. And suddenly everything became clear.

Slowly, deliberately, Ariana released her grip on his arm. Sergei's eyes went wide as she placed her hand on