The gun goes off, and I feel Lee’s body jerk beside me.
Everything is in slow motion as I look to him; his wide eyes meet mine before he looks at his shirt. Bright crimson oozes from his sternum before his body hits the ground with a muted thud.
Someone is screaming.
Hands are on his chest as hot, viscous liquid pours out of the wound.
Lee’s eyes struggle to stay open as he chokes on his own blood. “I love you. I’ll always love you.”
It takes a moment to realize what’s happening.
They are my hands.
I’m the one screaming.
And Lee is dead.
Rough hands are pulling on me, tugging me to my feet. “We have to leave! Now!” Lochlan shouts.
I look around, and I’m met with a flurry of activity.
A group of people comes running out of the garden. The only person I recognize is Allison. She sees Pierce and lets out an earth-shattering scream as she runs at him with a hammer raised over her head. She swings it down, and a spray of blood hits her face as she smiles. Someone else comes running with a pair of bolt cutters. There’s a frenzy of movement as the others follow suit with various makeshift weapons of their own. They surround Pierce, pausing for what feels like hours. Then the screaming starts. That weak, pathetic wail rings through the air.
It stops moments later.
Allison steps out of the circle surrounding Pierce, and I see what’s left of him. They’ve beaten him to a bloody pulp.
“Teagan?” I whisper, my heart pounding in fear when I remember she was handcuffed to him.
Lochlan picks me up and carries me. “She’s okay. They cut the handcuffs before it started. She’s with Quinn. Lexi has Skye.” His voice is clipped and odd-sounding, and I look up at him. I’m met with tears that match my own.
He’s crying because Lee is dead.
“I’m so sorry,” Lochlan chokes as he stops in front of the limo where Quinn is waiting.
I look back at my husband's lifeless body, swallowing the grief that’s come to life inside of me. “I can’t leave him here.”
“We’ll get him,” Quinn says before he opens the door for me. He’s still holding the flare. “We’ll bring him home.”
I fall into the limo and into Lexi’s and Teagan’s waiting arms, letting them hold me together as I fall apart. This can’t be real. It was supposedto be over. We were supposed to be safe. But now, Lee is dead, and nothing will ever be the same again.
“Capri?” Skye’s voice both calms and startles me, and I sit up to face her. Her lip quivers as she tries so hard to stay strong. “Mom?” she says hesitantly. I open my arms, and she falls into them, holding me tight.
Teagan and Lexi wrap themselves around us as others file in. I can’t decipher faces or think of anything but keeping myself whole for Skye. All I can feel is a weight crushing numbness as the limo starts to pull away from Windermere.
We watch the flames come to life in the safety of each other’s arms as we cry for the ones we lost here. We mourn the people we were before this place laid claim to our souls, taking pieces of us we will never get back.
THREE MONTHS LATER
TEAGAN
“Are you ready for this?” Quinn asks, fiddling with the tie I got him last month for his birthday.
Once everything about Pierce and his family came to light, Quinn could finally take credit for the books he wrote. He’s being interviewed today to discuss it on one of the local radio stations, and I couldn’t be prouder of him.
I place my hands over his, stilling them. “I’m always ready. But you, my love, seem riddled with nerves,” I tease. “What can I do to help?”
He blows out a long breath. “I’ve never been in the spotlight before. I was always fine hiding in the background. I don’t know how to discuss my part in these books, knowing it’s being filmed for the whole world to hear. I’ve never been allowed to talk freely about them before.”
