I flick my gaze down to the floor, to Simone's lifeless body, to the blood pooling around her head.
I don’t hear the rest of Quin’s sentence. The only thing I can focus on is Damon. His pale and ghostly face. The way he looks at me, stares at me, at my chest, at the scar, at where a part of Alison now resides.
"Alison..." Damon mutters, his voice hollow. "She's... She's dead?"
Quinton's expression tightens and instant realization dawns on me. The truth he's hidden, the lies he's told.
"You knew?!" I croak, trembling and hoarse. "You knew Alison was the woman that died in the accident?"
Damon drops to his knees, aghast.
Oh, God… No… Not like this. No…
"Damon..." Pain seizes my heart.
No.
What did I do?
What did Isay?
"I killed her?" Damon mutters, staring into nothingness. "I..."
Quinton stays silent, tacitly confirming all of Damon’s greatest fears. My heart sinks as the truth hangs in the air like an airborne toxin. It’s true, isn’t it? Quin knew. He knew it was Alison.
I stare at Damon, lost for words. His anguish is palpable, his face contorted with unbelievable pain.
"Damon," I whisper, my voice breaking, regret clawing at my insides. "I didn't mean to—" My breath catches in the back of my throat. “I…”
Quin swallows, shoulders stiff with guilt. "I knew.” He looks at Damon, a sorrowful gleam in his blue eyes. "I’m sorry, Damon. I wish you didn’t have to find out this way. I wish…”
The room closes in on us, the air thick with grief, betrayal, and a tragic love story that none of us ever fully understood.Damon's eyes meet mine, and the despair capturing his features shatters whatever remains of our sacred bond.
"Alison," he repeats, the name heavy on his lips. "I killed her."
Quinton takes a tentative step toward Damon. “It was an accident, Damon. You?—"
"An accident?" Damon snaps, his eyes blazing with anger and self-loathing. "I killed her! I killed Alison and you…you lied to me… Youalllied to me!” His voice rises, broken and distraught. “Why…” His livid gaze snaps toward me. “You knew? You knew that I…”
"I didn’t know it was Alison," I cry, tears streaming down my face. "I didn’t…”
“But you knew I killed someone?” he asks through clenched teeth, his hands balled into fists as he remains kneeled, submissive to the God he believes will judge him. “You…” His eyes widen. “That’s why you… Oh my God…” Tears roll down his cheeks, shoulders heavy and quaking. “Your heart… You…” His words become broken, almost inaudible. “I…”
It happens too fast.
Damon lurches up, snatching the gun from Quinton’s hand. I scream, slipping on Simone’s blood as I leap toward him, but Quinton screams at me to stop, his voice controlled as I fall apart.
With the barrel of the gun pointed at his temple, Damon’s hand shakes, his finger on the trigger, his body fighting against the primal instinct to survive. His eyes close, lips quivering as he sobs.
“Damon, don’t.” Quinton swallows, sinking down in front of him as I stand frozen in fear as a man I love threatens his own life. “Please, Damon. Look at me. You don’t have to do this. You don’t.”
Damon’s eyes spring open, and his hopelessness is so gut wrenching that I fear the mountains may crumble under its weight. “How can you bear to look at me?” he asks Quinton. “I…” His breath catches. “I thought she left. I thought she moved away after…” His finger is so dangerously close to pressing the trigger. “I killed her, Quinton. I-I’m a monster. I don’t deserve to live.”
“It was an accident, Damon,” Quinton says softly, his own pain so perfectly audible. “You didn’t mean to… You didn’t…”
“I was drunk!” Damon cries. “I was drunk, Quinton! I ran a fucking red light. I-I was driving so fast… If I wasn’t… If I wasn’t drinking, I would’ve…” His eyes close, and I can’t bear his agony. “Dead… She’s dead.”
“And Emery is alive,” Quinton says.
