Minxy screams. Talon lunges forward.
But Gideon’s arm blocks him.
Abi’s final whisper is almost tender.
“You were all supposed to love me.”
Her finger flexes.
A single shot cracks through the park.
Abi collapses to her knees.
Then to the ground.
Silence swallows everything.
Birds stop. Wind stops. The world stops.
My dad makes a sound I’ll hear in nightmares. Talon pulls Minxy into his chest and shields her eyes. Silas holds me so tightly I can feel his heartbeat hammering through his ribs. Gideon steps forward, kneels once beside her, checks for a pulse he already knows isn’t there.
Then he stands.
And the only words he speaks are quiet, steady, final.
“It’s over.”
Chapter Forty-Three
TALON
I can’t move.
I can’t breathe.
My mother?—
My fucking mother…is gone.
And for a second, all I feel is relief. Then the guilt slams into me so hard I sway.
Penelope’s hand lands on my arm. Not pulling, just guiding. Her warm brown eyes are soft when I finally manage to look at her, concern tightening the delicate lines of her face, blonde hair falling over her shoulder like a curtain of gold.
“Talon,” she whispers.
I can’t look long. I look down instead—at my hands. My tattoos, usually something that makes me feel grounded, look like they’re inked on a stranger.
Silas is already moving, kicking the gun away from my mom’s body. His eyes flick to me, softening.
I look away.
Gideon steps up beside him. “Police are on their way. Chad just called them.”
Chad.
I force myself to look toward him.
He’s on his knees ten feet away, sobbing into his hands like his world just collapsed. Maybe it did. Maybe he’s finally seeing it all—the woman he planned to marry, the lies she told, the danger he never realized he brought into him and his daughter’s lives.
