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Taylor swerved, and my heart skipped a beat as he slammed into the ditch, the car bobbing up and down as he sank into the ground, the tires spinning under the halted vehicle.
I slammed on my brakes, pulling over to the side of the road, the gravel grinding under the tires as I stopped. Jumping out of the car, I raced over to the driver’s side door, yanked it open, and pulled Taylor out, slamming a fist right across his face.
I watched him drop to the ground, knocked out. “Now it’s over,” I growled.
Ripping open the back door, I saw Emmy lying on the back seat, but trying to pull herself up as she rubbed her head.
“Ugh,” she groaned. “He knocked me in the head.”
She met my eyes, her own blinking and going wide when she saw me.
Alert, she jumped out of the car and threw her arms around me. “I saw you go over the Point,” she cried.
I squeezed her tight, the scent of her hair in my nose, and my arms wrapped around her small body.
“I’m
okay,” I said.
She pulled back and gaped at me. “Okay?”
I almost laughed. She didn’t know about Pithom or the crash in the river—both times I’d almost drowned seeming like some sort of destiny I was putting off or some shit.
But tonight, I won.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Going over was kind of a good thing, actually, but I’ll explain later.”
She hugged me again, and finally, I breathed a sigh of relief, peace washing over me that it was finally over.
“And Martin?” she asked.
I swallowed, holding her tighter. “I’m sorry, babe.”
It was all I could say. I’d killed her brother. I wish hadn’t had to, but she wasn’t his and he wasn’t hers. We were her family now, and he was a threat.
It was him or me.
“I can’t lose you,” she said in my ear. “I need you.”
And I buried my face in her neck, feeling everything start. My life. Our life.
We won.
Emory
Present
The police and Search and Rescue Unit brought up Martin’s body, but as soon as they loaded him onto the gurney, I had to look away.
Broken, dead, and small. God, he looked so small.
I wasn’t sure what I was feeling, but I couldn’t see him like that. I knew it was him or us. I didn’t regret a thing, because he made his choices, and he forced me into a position where I had to choose, but after a lifetime of him, it wasn’t a hard decision.
There was no choice.
It still muddled my brain, though, and all I saw when I looked down at his body was my parents’ son. The brother I watched grow up.
I couldn’t believe he was gone.
