For the first time all evening, Harmony’s mask slipped, just a hair. Not fear. Recognition.
Tosh stepped forward, voice tight. “Stop this now, Torie!”
She went oddly still, her eyes widening, as if she saw something no one else could. Then she smiled sweetly. Her voice went eerily calm.
“You never loved me. You still can’t choose me.”
He looked shattered. “I tried to. You wouldn’t let me.”
“You didn’t try hard enough,” she said, tears in her eyes. “I was never enough.”
The silence that followed was suffocating. A single tear rolled down her cheek.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen,” she whispered. “I wanted her gone. I wanted all of them gone. I wanted the story to stop humiliating me. It was supposed to be just you and me. They needed to die.”
Cass gasped. “Oh my gosh . . .”
Zach’s voice was hoarse. “Torie . . . what have you done?”
Torie’s laughter dissolved into a sob. “It doesn’t matter. None of it does. You’ll all forget me soon. But this island won’t. It doesn’t forget anything.”
Tosh crouched in front of her, his eyes filled with pain. “I’m sorry, Torie. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you.”
She wiped her cheek, and her eyes gleamed again, something terrifying flashing. No one saw it in time.
She cupped his face.
Her hand slid down his chest as if smoothing his shirt. Something flashed at her waistline.
He stared at her, confused and broken. The fire crackled. The grill hissed softly. For a moment, it looked tender.
Then Tosh screamed and fell backward.
For a heartbeat, no one understood.
Then they saw the knife.
Before anyone could react, Torie was on top of him, straddling his waist. Panic twisted Tosh’s face. Zach realized what was happening, nearly too late.
“Knife! She has a knife—she stabbed him!” he shouted, launching forward.
Torie raised the blade into the air, straight above Tosh’s heart. Blood already spread beneath him, soaking his shirt.She’d stabbed him in the side. None of them knew how bad yet. His eyes widened as he held up a hand.
She began to drive the weapon down. Zach hit her mid-air, knocking her off Tosh. The knife flew from her hand and plunged into the ground two inches from Tosh’s head.
Torie screamed, wild and feral, fighting Zach as he pinned her to the concrete.
“Help Tosh,” Zach yelled.
Cass and Harmony finally moved. They rushed to Tosh and ripped open his shirt. The wound was deep, but angled. It might have missed his organs. It still had to hurt like hell, though.
“Grab some towels, Cass, and call 911,” Harmony said.
Cass jumped up and ran inside, returning with towels and her phone pressed to her ear. In less than a minute, sirens wailed. On an island one mile wide, help didn’t have far to travel.
“You’re going to be okay, Tosh,” Harmony said as she pressed the towels to his side. “I’m so sorry we missed that.”
“He needs to die,” Torie shouted, thrashing beneath Zach’s weight. “We’re going to die together.”
