“My darling daughter,” Eleanore says sweetly, “what do you think you’re going to do with that gun? You would never shoot me, the mother who raised you.”
Maniacal laughter bubbles up my throat as I stare at her with wild eyes. “Wouldn’t I?” I challenge. “I hardly think you deserve any semblance of the word mother.”
“Victoria,” Gabriel bellows, his face etched with panic. “Untie me and give me the gun. I will take care of this.”
I glance at him, and my heart squeezes in my chest. Betrayal hot and fierce slices through me all over again as I remember what happened earlier, and I have to tear my gaze away from him.
Eleanore laughs at my reaction. “You see Victoria, admit it. You don’t trust him anymore. And why would you? You can’t trust him or Alanna. I’m the only person you have left in this world. Just put the gun down, and we can forget about all of this. I love you, Victoria. You are my daughter. We can leave here together, finally be a family again.”
Her words feel like acid to the ever-present wound inside of me. I know they aren’t real, but those are the words that I’ve wanted to hear for so long. Needed to hear.
“Victoria,” Gabriel growls. “She’s lying. Untie me, and I can help you.”
Eleanore’s hollow laugh echoes through the room as Alanna starts to whimper beneath me. It’s all too much. Too much noise. I can’t think… I need to think.
“Everyone just shut up!” I scream, waving the gun wildly in my hand. “Just shut up!”
The room goes silent as they all stare at me, waiting for my next move. I use my free hand to rub my swollen eyes, and in that moment of weakness, Eleanore springs on me like a wild animal taking down it’s pray. My back slams into the ground as she launches herself on top of me, trying to wrestle the gun from my grip. The blackness is starting to take over again, and I know I need to make my decision now. Eleanore’s made her choice. She’s chosen to betray me yet again.
My eyes are blurry and unfocused as I squeeze the trigger, a million emotions swirling inside of me as the bullet flies from the cartridge. Nothing seems to happen at first, and it feels like forever before Eleanore doubles over in pain. I manage to scramble back to my feet, keeping my gun and eyes fixed on her.
She’s holding her hip, blood pouring from the open wound as she looks up at me in disbelief. There’s no disguising the pure hatred on her face. This is the real Eleanore. The one that I’ve always known.
“This is why!” she sobs. “Why I could never love you. You’ve destroyed everything… the only man that ever loved me, and you took him away.”
“I didn’t take him from you,” I rasp. “You did that yourself.”
“No!” Eleanore screams defiantly. “He always loved you more. No matter what kind of evil little monster you were, you could do no wrong in his eyes.”
“I was his daughter…”
“Yes, his one and only,” she spits back. “I hated you from the day I met you. All he could talk about was how you looked just like your beautiful mother. You have no idea what it was like for me. I had to live with the constant reminder of the woman he still loved. He wouldn’t even have another child with me, he refused.”
A small pang of unwelcome sympathy slithers into my chest for the pathetic, bawling mad woman in front of me. I had no idea how Eleanore felt before. What her reasons were for acting the way she did. And here she is, pouring her heart out. And for once, it all seems to be completely genuine.
“He would have stayed with you,” I whisper. “He did love you, Eleanore. We both did. We tried to get you help, but you wouldn’t take it.” I pause for a moment, unsure of what I’m about to say next. “It’s not too late, we can still do that.”
Gabriel is shaking his head and trying to talk to me again, but I drown out his voice. This is my decision, and I won’t let anybody take that from me.
At my sympathetic gesture, Eleanore stops sobbing and returns to the stony-faced woman she’s always been. “I don’t want your pity, and I don’t want help. And I can promise you one thing, Victoria, if you let me walk out of here alive, this will never stop. I will find you, and I will kill you. I will never stop my hunt, until you are dead. It’s the only way.”