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Now my sister, who’s pregnant with my niece or nephew is going to die. She’ll never be able to give birth, raise her baby. I’ve taken away her happiness because of my stubbornness. I should’ve listened to her.
“Hey, stop it,” she says. “You couldn’t have known. Don’t worry, we’ll get out. Micah will find us.”
“No, you don’t get it. She’s going to kill us. She?—”
“Well, aren’t you observant?” Arielle says, walking into the room. “You are nothing but a stupidbastardaborn from a whore.” She steps toward me and fists my hair. I should probably fight her, but I just don’t have it in me. I’ve fought and fought and every time I’ve lost. “You don’t deserve anything,” she spits. “And I’m going to ensure you never get a dime.”
Before she can do anything else to me, Sienna jumps in. “Don’t you dare speak to my sister like that.” When she gets in Arielle’s face, it forces her to let go of me.
“Back up,” the guard barks. I glance at him, and shivers wrack my body, remembering what he did to me earlier. “Or I’ll have to teach you some manners, the same way I taught your?—”
His words are what spur me on. The thought of him doing to Sienna what he did to me. Hurting her and her baby...
“Leave her alone!” I hiss, refusing to let him get near her. She’s spent so many years protecting me. I need to protect her. “Don’t you touch her!”
“Looks like you haven’t learned your lesson,” the guard says.
“I’ve had enough!” Arielle hisses. “Sit down and shut up!” She shoves Sienna backward and she loses her footing, falling to the floor.
It all happens so quickly. Arielle steps toward her, and Sienna curls into a ball, trying to protect her unborn baby.
I snap, grab the gun out of the guard’s waistband, unlock the safety, and shoot, refusing to let that woman hurt my sister. My life is already over, but I’ll be damned if she hurts the only person in the world who’s always had my back, has always protected me.
As Arielle hits the hard ground with a thud, red spreading across the concrete around her, the guard snatches the gun from me and barks out, “What the fuck did you do?”
“Enough!” a loud voice rings out, making us all look at the man who’s walked in with his own gun in hand. My biological father. “Give me that gun.” The guard nods and hands it over.
The men speak in Spanish for several seconds, and then Eleazar glares at me.
“First, your whore of a mother killed my father. Now, my daughter, my own flesh and blood, kills my wife. I should shoot you dead...” I don’t bother to argue because at this moment, Iwould welcome death, but then, instead of pointing the gun at me, he points it at Sienna. “But I need you, so instead...”
No, he’s going to kill my sister!
“Wait, please,” I yell. “It’s not her fault. I did this. I killed Arielle. She kidnapped me and...” I ramble on, trying to explain what happened, begging him to not take it out on my sister. I’m in the middle of asking to make a deal, saying I’ll do whatever he wants if he keeps her alive, when a gunshot rings out, and Eleazar’s body hits the ground, landing on his wife’s.
A few seconds later, Lincoln enters the room and shoots the guard in the head, taking him down. And then Micah is running straight for Sienna, while Lincoln scoops me up and carries me out of the warehouse. He holds me in his arms the entire drive back to the hotel and continues to hold me once we’re back home.
I nuzzle my face into his neck, breathing in his scent, using it to block out everything that’s happened. He rubs my arms up and down soothingly, murmuring, ‘Everything’s going to be okay,” and I try with everything in me to replace the guards’ touch and words with his.
I know later, the nightmares will come, but for a little while, in Lincoln’s arms, I pretend like everything is going to be okay.
CHAPTER FOUR
ELLIE
Present Day
“So,why didn’t you have sex with him?” Raelyn asks. “You clearly trust him.”
“Because I left before I turned eighteen.” I found out Eleazar left me everything, making me a multimillionaire. Micah helped me sell off the illegal shit and keep the clean money. For the next three years, I was barely a shell of myself. “I couldn’t tell Sienna what happened because she told me not to go to Eleazar. I put her and her baby at risk.” Thank God they were both okay, and several months later, she gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl, London. “She would’ve blamed herself, then tried to fix me,” I choke out. “And well, I’m broken, Rae, and no amount of tape or glue can change that.”
She wraps her arms around me, and I sigh into her hold. “You’re not broken, Ellie. You’re just a little banged up.”
“Regardless, she doesn’t know. Only you do. I left at the end of my senior year and have only gone home a handful of times.”
“You should tell her,” she says, pulling back and meeting my gaze. “I can see it in your eyes. You hate the rift in your relationship.”
“It’s better this way. We might not be close, but she’s happy, finally living the life she deserves. She has a wonderful husband and two beautiful little girls.” I sniffle back a sob that’s trying to break free. “Telling her will only make her feel guilty, trust me. She’ll shoulder the blame and won’t stop trying to fix it. She’ll hate herself for not protecting me, even though it wasn’t her fault. It was mine.”
