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Green grabs me by the hair and yanks my head back. I hardly feel the knife dig into my throat before he drops my head and resumes his frenzied thrusts.

My face is turned so I am looking at the remnants of Owen’s head. I am weakly coughing and sputtering as my body weakens and the world around me starts to fade.

I asked for help, Liam.

Are you proud of me?

I tried so hard, Alex.

I tried to find the happiness you told me about.

Was I just never meant to be happy?

I’m so weak.

The world is getting darker now.

My body starts to give way to the darkness.

Gabriel always wanted to know when I’d break.

I guess this is my moment.

I guess this is what life was meant to be.

Peace was my feigned sense of security.

It was the unbecoming.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Nora

Soft beeping lulls me out of my sleep. My throat is raw, and my mouth is dry. I slowly open my eyes, and the room is dimly lit, but sunlight is pouring in from somewhere nearby. I groan as a dull throb in my head starts to filter through the fog.

“Nora?” I hear from close by. Warmth engulfs my hand. I turn my head, and I blink in disbelief when I see Liam. “Hey, baby.”

“Liam?” I ask, my voice raspy. “No… You’re dead… No…. I’m dead… He… and then I was…”

“Shhh. Baby. Relax,” Liam says, moving to sit on the bed next to me. I am so fucking confused when he cups my face, but it feels so damn nice.

“You are dead. Alex. Everyone was dead. I was dead. I don’t understand,” I say tearfully, as everything starts to overwhelm me.

“I’m okay, sweetheart,” he says with a smile. “What do you remember?”

“Uh… Gabriel… He got out of prison… Alex was killed. You got killed. I held you while you died, Liam. You are dead. I killed Gabriel and… Fuck, I was in a psych ward. For like a year. And then your brother and Alex’s brother… They died, and I died. Now I’m here. I don’t understand.”

“Alex doesn’t have a brother, baby,” he says gently. “We are all okay, though. Well… Except Gabriel.”

“What?” I ask, forcing myself to sit up.

“Sweetheart, when you went for one of your interviews, Gabriel attacked you. Some idiot guard took his cuffs off when they weren’t supposed to,” Liam says. “He smashed your head against the wall before guards got in there. They ended up killing him. You were brought here, and they sedated you for a few hours so you could rest.”

“No,” I say, sitting up more. “Liam, no.”

“Yes, baby,” he says, taking my hands into his. “You’re okay, Nora. I’m okay.”

“You’re okay,” I repeat tearfully. He wraps me in a gentle hug, and I sob into his chest.