I knew that now more than ever.
“God, you’re naïve. My parents instilled from a very young age that families are there to uphold the businesses, Mia. And Ihave.”
“I’m sorry that’s all they taught you.”
“I’m not. Because I can do it. I will do it. For them and for me. So, go ahead if you want. Pull the trigger if you think you can.” She held her thin arms out with her palms up.
I shook my head back and forth as I swallowed the fear thatwas bubbling up inside me. My hands were shaking, but my gaze remained steady on her. “I think you should go.”
Her laugh turned into a cackle. She even set down her gun to hold her stomach and laugh a full belly laugh.
“You’re so fuckingweak. I can’t believe he fell for you, of all people. A woman who would never be ready to stand by his side. Or to be a mother to Franny. You’d never ever be ready for that or shooting me, you stupid littledarlingbitch.”
“Just go.” The ringing in my ears was getting louder. I didn’t want to do it, didn’t want to take her life.
“No. You’re not ready, Mia. But I am. I always have been. I can be ready to fuck my husband and another man in one night for the good of my life. Mine.” She barred her teeth aggressively now. “And I’ll be ready to hand my child over too.” She grabbed her gun. “I’m ready to hand her over and kill you, because I don’t give a fuck if she’s my daughter or”—she began to lift her arm to point the gun at me—“you’re the love of my husband’s life—”
I pulled the trigger. One shot. Loud. Lethal.
The gun had been loaded. Ready for me too.
“You’re wrong, Alexandra. I’m more than ready to protect my family.”
The ringing stopped. And so did that woman’s heart.
I sat there with that gun in my hand for seconds. Minutes. Maybe hours.
Her blood spread across the marble flooring, turning it red where it used to be white.
I heard his voice from what felt like a mile away.
Jameson Knight had finally been let into the hotel, it seemed.When I looked up at him, he appeared concerned, his five-o’clock shadow much darker, the shadows under his eyes more pronounced. My enigma of a man looked like he’d been put through hell since I’d last seen him.
Better than me, though, seeing as how I was soaked in blood in plant pajamas. “It was her,” I told him, but my voice didn’t really carry. It echoed around me over and over. “It was her, it was her. I swear it was her. Your wife … she’s the one who came after us at the academy.”
Jameson almost flinched at the conclusion, but then he said cautiously, “Darling Mia, I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”
He did sound sorry, but I wasn’t sure what for at the moment. I lifted the gun and turned it in my hands. “Sorry for what?”
“For not getting here faster.” His breath seemed to be shaking. “For her getting out and to you. For her planning a damn shooting at the school you worked at. For you thinking I didn’t trust you—”
“Don’t be.” I shook my head. “You know, I didn’t know if this thing would work. If I would do it right. But I shot her straight in the heart just fine. She maybe wasn’t even going to shoot me. I really don’t know.”
“She would have. She was … She killed a cop already today. It’s okay,” he said again, like that would make it all better. “You can put the gun down, Mia.”
It shook in my hand as I stared at the black metal. “I shot her, and I’d do it again.”
“Mia.” He breathed my name, and hearing his voice alone consoled me. It shouldn’t have. Not like this. Not here, kneeling in blood.
I closed my eyes and let one tear fall. “Can you save her?”
“Oh, baby, even if I could, I wouldn’t.” He took one step closer. “It’s going to be okay, Darling. I promise.”
“Heart-in-pinkie promise?” I whispered to him what his daughter would normally ask me.
He murmured, “Heart-in-pinkie promise.”
“How can I believe you?” I touched the red liquid and then smeared it back and forth over my fingertips. “I’m worse than you. I killed hermother. Franny’s mom.”
