He doesn’t fall straight away.
He stays upright for a fraction too long, like his body hasn’t caught up with what’s just happened. Fingers twitch against the wall, his expression frozen in something between disbelief and pain, blood oozing, bottom jaw missing.
Then his strength gives out.
He slides down slowly, leaving a smeared trail of blood behind him until he collapses at the base of the wall, completely still.
The monster is dead.
Leonore is six feet away, holding Gia’s shotgun. Her face is pale. Her eyes wild. Blood that doesn’t look like her own is smeared against her lips, and most likely has to do with the chunk missing from Konstantin’s cheek.
Like the predator that she is, she only needed a second of an opportunity. But the way she breathes in and out, I can see she’s fighting herself to come back to her senses.
“Leo,” I say, and she points the gun at me, that feral, crazed part of her fully at the surface. This must be one of her violent episodes she’s told me about. The little psycho.
I smile then, so proud of her as she carefully watches me, but her gaze goes back to Konstantin’s body on the floor and the blood spreading beneath him.
“I’m jealous when you look at another man, my Little Raven,” I say to her, and she snaps her attention and the gun back to me. Gia seems unsure what to do, but I signal for her not to do anything. I’ve got this.
Beautiful things obey.
Only for me. As she is the only woman I will ever lose my control and mind over. And if she shoots me because of that psychotic part of her that I love so much, then so be it.
Recognition seems to spark in her eyes, and I watch as she takes control of herself again. Then she lowers the shotgun and looks at me. Her legs buckle. But I reach her before she falls and pull her into my arms.
“It’s over,” I say, whispering into her hair.
She shakes in my arms and lets out a sob.
“You did what you had to do,” I whisper into her hair.
“I’m not crying because I shot him. I’m crying because it feels fucking amazing.” She begins to laugh, a maddening, crazed sound, and I can’t help but find it contagious as I laugh with her. I can sense Gia and Nessa looking between one another, but I don’t fucking care.
This is part of who my beautiful woman is, and it calls to me on such a primal level.
“I’m so relieved. He’s gone. He’s really fucking gone.” She blinks back tears. “No more running.”
I nod in agreeance. “No more running.”
Over her shoulder, Nessa slumps against the doorframe with the tire iron still in her hand. It’s as if it’s the first time Leonorenotices her, and I try not to take it personally when she rushes over to her.
“Oh my God, Nessa, I’m so sorry,” she sobs, sounding more like herself.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t know what you went through,” Nessa blurts out. I focus on Gia, who walks over to the liquor cabinet and begins to fill a glass for herself.
Before bringing the glass to her lips, she points it toward Leonore. “She’s a bit crazy, but I like her.” And then she takes a sip. Though in the way her eyes glisten, I can tell she’s happy about the result.
I nod, agreeably. “She’ll fit right in.”
51
LEONORE
“What did it feel like?” Nessa whispers.
“Like I should’ve kept pulling the trigger,” I reply.
“No one would’ve blamed you if you did.”
