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“No. I won’t sacrifice you, too, Layla.”
He has to listen to me, damn it. I watch the blood that bubbles up from where Stone grazed him.
I need to figure out a way to get the knife away from his throat.
I need to get his attention, and I know just the way. I start to wiggle free. My eyes never leaving Cain as I do.
He implores without words for me to stop. Mouthing the words. Pleading silently.
But I pay him no mind. Instead, I make a loud groaning sound to make Stone aware I’m still here and struggling to get out.
It works.
Stone pushes Cain out of the way and takes a step toward me. He charges, but I’ve given Cain the distraction he needed. One minute, Stone is moving toward me. I brace for impact, but nothing happens.
Instead, Cain has grabbed him and is pulling his body away from me. Throwing his body onto Stone’s until they are tumbling out the door into the night. I can hear the sounds, but it’s too dark out there; I can’t see.
Moving fast, I pull free, throwing the ropes off me as I stand and follow.
When I step out into the dark night, the moon showcases a showdown. The brothers are scrambling against each other. The knife flying. Both jumping. Hands reaching out. Punches being thrown. I watch them struggle. They’re both fighting for possession of the knife. Blood splatters with each throw of an arm.
I try to charge, to pull Stone off Cain. But as I try to climb onto his back, Stone pushes me off him. My body plunging hard onto the ground. As I try to stand, my head is woozy, and I stumble as I watch the fight continue.
Another swipe of an arm.
Another kick.
And then Cain is on top.
The gleam of the blade in his hand. Cain leans down, the blade now held to his brother’s neck.
Stone laughs. “Do it.” Cain doesn’t move. “Fucking do it, I said. End it once and for all. You know this is the way it was always meant to be.”
I take in the picture before me. The way Stone’s body lies on the ground. The way he’s moved his arms to point north. He’s in the exact position I was held in. The same location Cynthia was in when North betrayed Stone by letting her go.
I can see the struggle on Cain’s face.
He doesn’t want to do this. He doesn’t want to kill the brother who always put him first, who protected him. Who showed him the only love he ever knew.
“Brother, you have once chance. If you don’t kill me this time, I will kill her.”
Without another word, the knife slashes across Stone’s neck, ending things once and for all.
50
Layla
From where I’m perched, I see Cain fall back onto his knees, dropping the knife.
I hurt to move.
Hurt to think.
Chances are I have a concussion.
It takes me a minute to move, my chest heaving as I try to find purchase from where I was thrown to the ground. I push myself up to stand. My first step is wobbly as I move toward Cain. The air around me is thick with death as I trudge through the muddy terrain from the earlier rain. When I make it over to him, his head is hanging low, his body melted forward over his brother.
Cain is weeping.
The sound causes my heart to lurch.
“Cain,” I say, and a strange sound emanates from his mouth when I do. A laugh. A cry. I’m not sure.
His head turning over his shoulder, eyes dark, he spits out, “Fitting. I’m no better than him. Stone was always right. I am no better. I finally did it. I finally earned my name. Only took me seventeen years.”
To him, he is Cain. The man who murdered his brother. The man who was granted a new life. In a new place. He is still the one who killed his own kin.
His face is now downcast and staring at the lifeless body of the life he took.
I step closer. Slow and steady. He reminds me of a raging caged animal; one I don’t dare spook.
“I took his life, but I’m no better. I’m a killer—”
“Stop. What you did tonight doesn’t make you a killer.”
“You don’t know what you are saying.” His crazed eyes find me again.
“Yes. I do. You are no killer. This wasn’t murder. This was self-defense.” I tentatively place my hand on his shoulder and squeeze slightly. Beneath my touch, I feel the hard lines of his stiff muscles. “You’re nothing like your brother. You’re nothing like him at all. Despite what you did, you are a good man. A man I love no matter who you are. North or Cain. They are both a part of you, and I love both parts.”
“Then you love a fucking monster,” he chides.
