She wished she could make her way through the entire row, firing bullets at every single one of those hideous men, but that wasn’t the way this worked. She may not be able to fire at all of them, but by the end of this, none would remain standing.
As she approached the group of men, she spotted Logan in the crowd. Their eyes met and held as she walked past him. The strength and understanding in his eyes strengthened her resolve to get through this.
Never in her life did she think she’d be involved in carrying out cold-blooded murder, but she would not change her mind.
To her left, she heard the familiar sniffles of her mother and tried not to cringe. She couldn’t stand to listen to her mother’s tears anymore. They tore at her heart and shredded her soul as they fed her hatred for these men.
She didn’t see Logan fall in behind her, but his nutmeg scent filled her nostrils. She briefly felt the heat of him against her shoulder before the crowd shifted and he stepped away.
None of the prisoners were blindfolded. They discussed this decision before today, and in the end, decided these men should see their fate staring them in the eye. Elena smiled grimly when her eyes met Mateo’s.
She could have married that sick prick. And now, she hoped to be the one who blew off his head. Some of the prisoners were crying. The one whose head Logan bashed in was mostly recovered. He fell to his knees and started begging for his life. When no one responded to him, he lifted his eyes to the sky and prayed to a God he would never meet.
“I don’t think that’s where you’re going,” Elena said.
After this, she probably wouldn’t be heading to Heaven either, but she was okay with that. Her words made the prisoner sob harder, but she felt no remorse.
Logan kept his mouth shut as he watched Elena. Steely resolve emanated from her, but he sensed her uncertainty as her hand briefly trembled on the rifle before steadying.
He almost clasped her shoulder but restrained himself from doing so. She could use support, but she wouldn’t welcome it. This wasn’t something she truly wanted to do, but it was something shehadto do. She was not cruel; she was hurt and seeking to make those who inflicted that hurt pay for it.
“Fire!” someone shouted.
A volley of gunfire erupted into the air and smoke coiled from the guns as bullets peppered the prisoners’ bodies. When the last of the killers fell, Elena lowered her rifle and set the butt of it on the ground.
She didn’t know what she’d expected to feel afterward, but this emptiness wasn’t it. She certainly hadn’t expected joy or happiness, but maybe some relief it was finally over. Instead, there was nothing.
When Logan rested his hand on her arm, she almost jerked away from him, but she didn’t have the energy to move. She remained unmoving as he took the rifle from her.
Without a word, she turned and walked away.
* * *
Elena trudgeddown the hall to her bedroom after finally getting her mother to sleep. She’d convinced her to take some of the Valium the doctor prescribed and put her to bed.
Her mom had gotten so little sleep since her father died, and it wasn’t helping her grieving process. It was time for her to rest. It was time forbothof them to do that. And maybe after a good night’s sleep, Elena could figure out where to go from here.
She crawled into bed and collapsed on the mattress. Every part of her cried out for sleep, but her mind would not shut off. She kept seeing the bullets peppering the bodies and the blood spreading across their chests and foreheads before the traitors hit the ground.
She still felt no remorse over it, but the images would haunt her for the rest of her days. When she finally succeeded in shoving the death out of her mind, she tossed and turned as she tried to figure out her next step.
Her mother still needed her, so she couldn’t leave yet, but she would prefer to be away from the compound with all its bad memories and melancholy air. She had to find another job. She’d enjoyed being a receptionist at the manufacturing plant where she recently worked and should be able to find something like that again.
She missed all the kids she volunteered with, but she would see them again soon if things worked out. If she ended up not returning or having to move somewhere else, she hoped someone looked out for them.
And when her brain stopped spinning from all the death and her anxieties, it settled on her biggest worry of all… Logan.
What did she do about him? She knew what she’d like to dotohim, but that was a can of worms she’d never be able to recap.
Unable to take anymore tossing and turning, Elena threw off her sheet, slipped out of bed, and padded over to the window. She pushed it open and inhaled the July air while the heat slapped her in the face.
She almost shut the window again and retreated into the air conditioning, but she couldn’t stand the idea of being cooped up in here anymore. The night was unusually quiet, but things still weren’t completely back to normal in the compound.
Tomorrow they would start sending out more hunting parties again, instead of the couple they’d sent out since her father’s death. Tomorrow, they would begin to return to normal.
But what about her normal? For years, her normal was doing what others told her to do and being what they wanted her to be. After that, it was trying to survive in a world that was terrifyingly unfamiliar to her.
And now, she had a broken family, a broken heart, and an uncertain future.
