“How did Gerardo know I remembered what he did? You told him?”
I mean, it wouldn’t even be the worst thing he’s done.
“Nah.” He throws a hand in the air. “I didn’t tell him shit. Your therapist, Margo, did.”
“What?” I stumble back a step. “I don’t understand.”
Margo? The one I confided in? Trusted? The one I went back to after I hurt myself?
Oh God… I’m gonna be sick.
He raises a brow, his expression almost amused. “He’s banging her. That’s why he sent you to her. He sends everyone to her because she spills everything. She sent you to the other one she knows, that hypnotherapist, to get information for Gerardo.”
“Oh my God.” The room spins, but I force myself to stay upright.
“I’m sorry, Em,” Nate says, his tone quieter now. “You know I love you. But I need back in. Showing them that I can take care of a threat, no matter who it is, is how I do it. This is how I survive.”
The words hammer through me, digging deeper than anything he’s ever said before.
“You’re really going to kill me?” A part of me still hopes that maybe, somehow, this isn’t real. That I’m dreaming.
Konstantin groans, words still rough and groggy. “Shoot him, Emilia. Do it.”
He mutters something in Russian, but I barely hear it, the sound lost in the deafening rush of blood in my ears.
“I have to, Em,” Nate says, his voice thick with something like resignation as he points the gun at me. “It’s what has to happen. It’s what they want.”
“Sh-shoot him, Emilia,” Konstantin cuts in, trying to take the gun from me, but I don’t let him.
“Turn around, Em.”
Aching emotions continue to pound through me, my heart literally ripping in two. I love him. I’ve always loved him. But this isn’t him anymore. This is the monster Gerardo created. And I can’t save him from that.
I almost pity him. But it doesn’t change anything.
“No, Nate.” I stand straighter, curling an arm around my belly. “You will look me in the eyes as you pull the trigger.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose, his shoulders rising and falling with slow, shaky breaths. I witness the conflict in his eyes as he raiseshis weapon. But it doesn’t matter. I won’t turn away. He needs to face this.
As his gun lifts higher, as he’s about to pull the trigger, I aim at his center.
And fire.
But it’s not the shot that knocks the breath from me. It’s the fierce instinct to protect my baby, something my mother never did for me.
Then I see Nate hit the ground, and everything inside me stops.
“NATE!” I sob when blood leaks from his stomach and he staggers back, his eyes widening.
And in that same instant, Nate’s bullet finds its mark, tearing into my arm. Pain erupts like fire, but I rush toward him just as Konstantin screams.
“Emilia!” He forces himself to his feet, tripping back while I run toward my brother, dropping to my knees in front of him, tears pounding behind my eyes.
“Nate!” A sob breaks free as he lies there, blood spilling from his mouth as he tries to speak.
And all I see now is the young boy he once was, the one who protected me.
“Oh God, Nate!” I cry, my tears falling freely for the first time in what feels like forever. “I love you. I’ll always love you.”
