Ava
My heart bangsviolently against my ribcage. So hard I’m certain it must be about to falter and stop for good.
I watch the red glow of the taillights as he pulls away, and before I even know what I am doing, I’m running after him, screaming for him to come back. My feet pound over the pavement with such force it shoots daggers up my shins.
Here I am, set free right in front of my parents’ house, but instead of running toward the safety of that house—all I want is the safety that I found in him. His taillights disappear and I’m left, out of breath, in the middle of this dark road. My lungs burn from the cold air I’m sucking back, my cheeks sting, and my heart is shattered. Crying, I turn and head toward the entrance of the driveway, and for a moment I think maybe I should just lie down on this road and let it all go. At this moment, death—the very thing I wanted to escape—well, to my broken heart and wounded spirit, death seems peaceful.
Headlights shine across the highway as a car turns out of my driveway. The bright lights cause me to squint. The brakes screech to a halt and the driver’s side door flies open, my mother clamoring out, her hand plastered to her mouth. She rounds the front of the car and stops, leaning over and bracing her hands on the hood while tears stream down her face.
“Ava…” she sobs. “Please, God. I’m not losing my mind.” Her eyes narrow and I take off in a sprint toward her, my legs weak with fear at what I’ve lost, at who I’ve now become. “Ava!” she screams, her cries echoing into the cold night.
Colliding with each other, we wrap our arms around one another. She grabs onto me, holding me so tight I can’t pull in a full breath. She kisses my forehead, my cheeks, thanking a God she doesn’t even believe in for bringing me home as she breaks down. I rest my head against her shoulder and stare into the headlights of the stopped car. I’ve been set free, but what good is freedom to a bird who has no wings?
32
Ava
Day 7—home
My brother wanted me dead.I let that set in and sink deeper beneath the covers.
And instead of me being the one dead, it’s him. They waited until this morning to tell me, and had I not asked where he was, I don’t know how long they would have waited. He was murdered. He had enough drugs on him to be considered a dealer, so the investigation didn’t go too far. The police chalked it up to a bad deal. But I know better.
I know Max did it, and that proves to me he loved me. Brandon was going to kill them and take the insurance money. Max protected not only me, but my family—my father who killed his family—he saved even my father from death, and what more selfless act is there than protecting your enemy? I think maybe Max knew one day he would let me go and he didn’t want me to suffer the same loss he had.
That. Is. Love.
And it is gone, forever.
There’s a knock on my bedroom door before I hear the doorknob twist; the hinges creak.
“Ava, feetheart?” My father’s deep southern drawl sends a sense of comfort sweeping through me. He steps inside, a sympathetic smile on his rugged face. “You know I love you.”
“Of course.”
“But…”—scratching over his salt and pepper beard, he crosses the room and takes a seat on the edge of my bed—“I’m trying to be understanding, I am, but I need to know who this man was.”
“I don’t know who he was.”
And that’s not a lie. I don’t know who he was outside of that room. Daddy takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. I watch him swallow and exhale.
“Ava. You are doing no favors by not telling me. I will find him.”
I shake my head. “You can’t find a ghost, Daddy.”
His gaze narrows on me, deep wrinkles settling on his forehead. “I have little tolerance for this, Ava.”
“He didn’t hurt me. The men who did—he killed them. He saved me.” I feel my chest tighten, my throat constricting. “He saved me, Daddy.”
My father tosses his head back on a groan and stares at the ceiling for a moment.
“Daddy?” He drops his head and looks at me. “What matters more to you? Me or revenge?”
He grabs my foot and squeezes. “Always you. You and your mother are my world.”
“Then leave him alone. It’d break me to know you killed him. Please, Daddy.”
Closing his eyes, he releases a hard sigh before grabbing me and pulling me to his chest. “You’re asking an awful lot of me.”
