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He had tripped over a branch while I was pursuing him, allowing me to get a shot in his back. Normally, I would have waited until he was face-to-face to me, but he had done something unforgivable. He had tried to hurt Adriana.
Despite the hurt, despite the mess that was my life, despite the danger lurking just beyond our safe haven in this cabin, I knew I wouldn’t trade any of it because it meant I was here with her.
So the shot I had fired into his chest was worth it. The shot he had managed to get that had grazed my side was also worth it.
At least I thought so, because Adriana wasn’t hurt.
I’d always been a protector, seeking to shield those I cared about from harm. My mother, who I had failed, my brothers, and now Adriana–they were points of light in the bleak landscape of my life, sanctuaries in the midst of the bloodshed and violence that was my birthright. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to keep them safe.
And now my son. My mother would’ve loved a grandson. I wasn’t sure why, but I was pretty sure the baby was a boy.
I shook her softly. “Wake up.”
It took a moment for her to stir, but she did. “What is it?” she asked sleepily, blinking those gorgeous doe-like eyes before they swarmed with understanding. “Oh.”
She sat up, rubbing at her face, trying to wipe the slumber from her eyes. “How’s your side?” she asked, peering at me intently.
“Hurts like a bitch,” I admitted with a wince as I sat up. I didn’t want to say it, but the pain was getting worse instead of better.
“Lovely,” she muttered. “We need to get you patched up again.”
“That’s not why I woke you up. We need to figure out what we’re going to do with the body, then we have to move again. Someone…I don’t know, the cops or another person from his family, they’re going to come looking for him. And we need to be ready.”
Adriana’s brow furrowed with concern as she processed my words, the weight of our situation settling heavily in the room. I could see the worry flicker in her eyes, a reflection of the fear I harbored deep within me.
“Where did you leave him?” she asked me.
“In the woods. I was in no condition to move him.”
Adriana’s gaze flickered between me and the window, the gravity of our actions sinking in as the realization of what lay ahead loomed over us. She exhaled slowly, steadying herself before nodding quietly. “I’ll help you. We should go find him and…do what needs to be done,” she said, her voice unwavering despite the tension tightening her features.
“I can do this. It would just take me a while because…”
“Because of the gunshot wound?” she asked me, sitting up. “Yeah, no, I got it.”
“I’m sorry. I wouldn’t ask you to do this in your condition if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”
She laughed, no humor in her voice. “I’m pregnant. Not dead.”
We dressed swiftly, our movements efficient with shared purpose. As we stepped outside, a chill wind greeted us, carrying the scent of pine and damp earth. The morning sun cast long shadows across the forest floor, creating an eerie backdrop to our grim task.
We trudged through the woods, the cold seeping into our bones and clouding our thoughts. My head was fuzzy from painkillers, my side throbbing in protest with every step. But I couldn’t let the pain show on my face. Adriana was relying on me, and I had to be strong for her. She was still pale from her earlier bout of nausea, her eyes dark with worry, dark circles under them.
“Where did you leave him?” she asked again, this time a little more concerned. I couldn’t blame her; the woods surrounded us completely, and it was almost difficult to actually figure out where, exactly, we were.
I clutched my side as I tried to think. Cold seeped into my pores. “He was…”
I stared at the ground, trying to remember where exactly I had left the man’s body. The woods were vast and disorienting, filled with an eerie quiet that made my heart race. For the life of me, I couldn’t really remember; I just remembered chasing him, trying to get him away from Adriana.
“I know it’s hard to remember, Tristan,” Adriana said softly, her voice a soothing balm to my frayed nerves. “We’ll find where you left him, even if it takes us all day.”
I nodded, gulping down a sharp, stinging breath as I tried to focus on the events that led us to this place. The man had fired at us, trying to gun us down with the unfeeling precision of a sniper in the night. I had been in a fury–or perhaps it was a combination of rage and fear–when I had shot him.
I knew where the body was. I just needed to remember.
We kept moving, stepping carefully through the underbrush, our footsteps barely audible over the sound of the wind in the trees. Adriana’s hand brushed mine, her touch a comforting warmth amidst the chill of our surroundings. I squeezed her fingers gently, though I wasn’t sure why she wanted to hold my hand at all.
I wasn’t going to question it.
