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“Your husband, Montgomery Strakh, is one of my brothers.”
“No.” Denial bears down on me, knocking me back on my rear. “No. My husband’s name is Monty Novak.”
“He changed it, you stupid little girl.”
“You’re lying. Why would he do that?”
“He’s a cowardly cunt. Took everything from me. So I took more from him.”
“You’re wrong.” I find Kody’s eyes, searching for answers.
He twists his hands in the restraints, his expression as stunned and confused as I feel.
“Monty doesn’t have a brother.” I tighten the tourniquet and try to staunch the blood flow, desperate to keep him breathing, to keep him talking.
“He has two.” He coughs, sinking into the floor, turning white, fading.
“Two brothers?”
“Need you to understand.” Hissing past clenched teeth, he manages a glare. “Montgomery ripped away my life. So I ripped away all of his.”
“Ripped away…? Me? Our unborn child?”
“More…” His eyes lose focus, floating like eggs in a mask of gore.
“More what?” I shake him. “Where’s your other brother? What about the women before me? Their sons? Are they connected to Monty?” Tears spring to my eyes. “Tell me!”
Rousing, he slides his gaze to Kody. “Release him.”
There’s no time. But I do it. I leap up and throw myself at the mess of leather knots, losing precious seconds. When Kody is free, we fall to our knees beside Denver, pressing our hands to his wound.
His breathing is too shallow, petering out with each inhale.
“I took you.” He wheezes, squinting at Kody. “Took you because I hated you. Hated you with every breath. Until I couldn’t. Until I loved you most of all.”
His head lolls, eyes drifting shut.
“No.” I slap his pulpy, ruined face. “I’m taking birth control pills.” I slap him again. “There’s no baby. There will never be a baby!”
His eyes pop open, glaring.
“That’s right, you fuck.” I bend in. “If you die, I win. If you love your sons, you’ll tell us how to restore the power!”
“Beneath its wings…” A gasp bubbles from his lips. “Lie the answers you seek.” He releases a breath. “In a cage of ice and echoes.”
Bending down, I listen, strain my hearing, wait for another word, another sound.
Nothing.
Not even a breath.
I pound his chest, trying to coax another.
No response.
“No!” Refusing to give up, I launch into chest compressions, mouth-to-mouth, counting, resuscitating. I’ve done this countless times with success. “You’re not dead, motherfucker! Tell us about the power!”
He stares at the ceiling with lifeless eyes.
No, no, no!
Unable to accept this, I start again. When Kody tries to pull me away, I drive my elbow into his gut and keep going, propelled by desperation.
Determination tumbles into despair. The realization of what I’ve done, of the deaths that will follow, overwhelms me.
Tears burn my face. My hands ache with fatigue. My chest caves in. Oh, God, it hurts so fucking much.
No power or hot water or food. Even if we survive the winter, we don’t know how to fly the plane.
I did this. I did this to us.
“Stop.” Kody wraps me in a bear hug and drags me away. “That’s enough.”
I bite and claw and try to return to the body. But eventually, my struggle loses steam, and I plunge into hysteric, guilt-ridden sobs.
“I killed him. I killed him.” Horrible noises tear from me as I succumb to the crushing weight of grief. “I killed us!”
Kody says nothing.
Because he already knows.
I sentenced us to death.
70
Kodiak
—
We’re in deep fucking shit.
Utter powerlessness washes over me, yet paradoxically, I’m engulfed in profound, indescribable relief.
The man who terrorized us since childhood lives no more.
Erased.
Dead.
He’ll never again cast his depraved gaze upon Frankie.
Never again will his hands defile her.
Or my brothers.
Or me.
She saved me from reliving that monstrous fate. It was the only path left to me, the most agonizing choice I’ve ever faced, and she seized it from my tied hands.
I ache with love for her, even though she harbors the polar opposite for me.
Kneeling beside Denver’s cold, brutalized corpse, she stares at me with loathing as if yearning to wield that pipe once more.
“Frankie.” Gently easing the blood-stained weapon away from her, I finish dressing. “I know you’re upset—”
“Don’t.” She points a shaking finger at me. “I’m far from ready to sift through your bullshit.” Her hand falls to her side. “I just learned that Monty has two brothers. Brothers he never mentioned. This whole other life I didn’t know about. Oh, and I killed one of them.” She pulls at her hair. “And the other one, the other brother…What if he’s here? What if he’s one of you?”
“We don’t know that.”
I can’t wrap my head around that possibility. I’m still processing the bombshell that Denver has brothers, and one of them married the woman I love.
“Now we’ll never know.” Her chin quivers before defiance hardens it, and she swats at a lone tear. “I took care of that, didn’t I? I destroyed any chance of exposing the truth about your parents, your brothers’ lineage, and Monty’s ties to Denver.”
