I flinched. Despite being tied here and helpless, at her mercy, my heart broke.
“Then he killed my sister,” she let out a sigh—a heavy, grief laden breath of air, “and when he pointed the gun at me, I begged him to kill me.” She blinked back tears. “It was too much, and I didn’t want to walk out of there without my family. He pointed the gun at me, and I knew I was going to die.” She closed her eyes.
My heart raced, fear and pity for her coursing through me.
“Then the gun went off.” She opened her eyes; they were hard with malice so potent I almost tasted it on my tongue. “He didn’t shoot me,” she spat. “He killed himself instead.”
My mouth gaped. “Oh, Mara,” I breathed. Her devastation hit me square in the chest. The horror of it. “I’m so sorry.”
She ignored me.
“I didn’t have anywhere to go after that, and the only family left was my grandma. So, I came to Ember Hollow. I worked in the library and I—I met Graham.” Her stony face went soft when she said his name.
My stomach twisted.
“Graham was always at the library. He was so kind. It was like…like he could see me, see everything shattered inside me and knew what to say to ease the pain.”
I went limp against the beam. I knew that feeling. Knew exactly what she meant.
“We started the survivors group and he—he was always there for me.”
When she looked up at me again, her gaze was so sharp it cut me to the bone. “But then you came.”
“Mara, I didn’t do anything—”
“You did.” She sneered, silencing me. “You distracted him. You took him from me.”
I shook my head despite the pain the movement caused. “No, I didn’t.”
“Yes,” she spat. “And you have to know the truth, don’t you? You are not good for him. You work for monstrous people. I’ve seen it. I’ve looked up the cases you’ve won.” Her teeth clashed together. “You help monsters get away with crimes they never should. People like…like the Shadow Stalker. People like my husband.”
I saw it then, the burning hate. The unforgiveness. The disgust.
“If the man who took everything from me hadn’t killed himself, you would’ve defended him.”
Maybe she was right.
A small, exhausted part of my brain agreed with her. Maybe I did deserve to die. I wasn’t good enough for Graham. I never had been.
Maybe I was a monster too.
34
Graham
“I’msorry,Graham.”
I clutched my phone to stop my hand from shaking. Fox sounded frustrated, but I heard the defeat underneath. I closed my eyes, letting out a breath.
“Thanks for trying,” I managed to say between clenched teeth.
“I’ll keep digging,” he said, not giving up.
It wasn’t in our nature to give up.
“Thanks.”
I disconnected the call, knowing my brother would do everything he could to help me, but I had little hope. Fox had traced the last location of Quinn’s phone. It had last pinged at the library. After that, its signal was lost. Which meant it was either turned off, died, or was destroyed.
