more clever than you are.”
“How do I know you won’t come back and kill us anyway?” Jesse snarled.
“I’m a man of my word. The Bratva lives by honor.”
Honor? Honor was selling your daughter to gain more power? Honor was sleeping with your
brother’s wife or trying to kill his daughter to have his money?
I knew he was lying, and even if my plan worked now, we’d live our lives in fear, waiting for the
inevitable. I was tired of running, knowing my days would always be numbered.
“You don’t belong in a box, little girl. It’s time for you to be free,” Jesse told me.
Yes. That was exactly what I was thinking about. To be finally free.
I tried to smile, summoning every shred of power in me to look at him. He was the last face I
wanted to see before I died. “I love you, Jesse.”
His stare widened at me, at my foot that was I about to stomp my uncle’s with so he’d just pull the
trigger and end my miserable life, setting me free forever, and releasing the man I loved from my
curse.
“Sia! No!”
Bang!
Twenty
Sia
My head swam in long, fluid blackness. No pain. No sorrow. No nothing. Oblivion. Peace.
C’mon, baby girl. You gotta wake up.
Jesse. Jesse, you’re here?
“Wake up, baby. I’m right here.”
Beep! Beep! Beep!
My throat was suddenly too dry, and pain flared all over my body, like the bright light torturing my
eyes. What the hell was going on?
A hand squeezed mine. “Holy fuck. Thank you! Baby, can you hear me?”
“Jesse,” I rasped, his face coming as a blur.
“I’m right here. You’re alive. You’re gonna be just fine.”
“How am I alive? Where are we?”
“At the hospital. Don’t worry about anything, baby girl. We got you covered.”
