She gags, spinning toward the sink and dry heaving over it.
The gunfire outside seems to be getting closer. I hear someone shout. Panic flares inside me.
“We need to get into the tub,” I urge.
She’s still heaving, her breaths coming in ragged gasps. It’s like she’s having a panic attack.
And then, in an instant, she grabs her purse from the counter and pulls out a small gun.
Time slows.
“You bitch,” she snarls, advancing on me, her eyes wild with fury.
I pull the gun from my waistband, trying to hold it steady. “Don’t come any closer.”
She takes another step forward, defiance etched on her face. “You won’t shoot me. If you had it in you, you would’ve killed me while I was still passed out.”
My body buzzes with adrenaline. “Put it down, Ekaterina.”
“What did you do?” she spits, a tear slipping down her cheek. “Are you trying to get my husband killed?”
“Stay back!” I shout, desperation clawing at my throat. “Let them sort it out. They won’t do anything to you.”
She shoots.
The gunshot is deafening, a sudden, violent crack that echoes off the bathroom walls. Pain explodes through my abdomen, searing and intense.
I gasp, the burning sensation spreading like wildfire. My hand flies to the site of the impact. Warm, sticky wetness gushes over my fingers—blood.
Oh God.
I’ve never felt my heartbeat so acutely. Each throb amplifies the pain now blazing through my core.
A realization hits me hard.
If I don’t act, I will die here.
My gaze lifts from the blood soaking my abdomen to Ekaterina. I can see in her eyes that she intends to finish the job.
And just like that, my breathless panic transforms into fury.
She shot me. She wants me dead. Does she really think I’m so weak that I’ll just let her finish me off?
A force stirs awake inside me. A force that screams for me to do what’s necessary. To do what’sjust.
The trigger beneath my index finger feels like it’s burning as Ekaterina raises her gun again.
I squeeze it.
And then I squeeze it again. And again.
I empty the entire clip into Ekaterina until she collapses to the ground.
The room spins. I do my best to lower myself gently to the tiles, but I end up crashing once I'm halfway down.
My vision dims. Faint voices reach my ears, though I can’t make out who they belong to.
And then everything goes black.
