Finally, I reach the front yard, and my body gets bathed in the intense porch lights of the giant house. I don't squint, though. Don't even hesitate. I just keep walking to the front steps, where a figure is standing. I have to work to hide my smile.

I know it's Sebastian, waiting for me.

Oh, how goddamn predictable he can be.

His face comes into vision as I draw nearer. It's surprisingly calm, although there is obvious worry etched into his features, like he knows what's about to go down. He's dressed in his usual business clothes, his head held high as he stands among the marble steps, two white pillars on either side of him. His blue eyes lock with mine almost immediately, and then something strange happens: he shakes his head.

Doesn't say "I'm so glad to see you." Doesn't say "Are you okay?" Doesn't check to make sure I'm not hiding something from him. He just shakes his head.

"Angel," he says, watching me with that hawklike gaze, but his voice is almost regretful.

"Sebastian," I say back. I stop at the bottom steps, just a few feet away from him. Behind him stand my parents, who are watching me intently, who are obviously alarmed. I don't meet their gazes, though. I'm done looking at them. "You came."

"It doesn't have to be like this," he says, his voice full of regret, but it's so quiet it practically drifts off with the wind. The sky is dark, so dark, and only the porch light illuminates his face.

I can hear Marco coming up behind me, can feel that it's almost time to end this once and for all, and even through my furiously pounding heart, I take a deep breath. I lock eyes with Sebastian. I prepare myself.

"Yes," I say slowly, hearing Marco a few feet to my life, just beyond their line of vision.

"Yes, angel?" Sebastian asks, narrowing his eyes at me.

He knows what I'm going to do. It hits me then. He knows, and he wants me to stop.

And then I force a smile, because I know with every part of me that this is it. This is the moment I've been waiting for. This is the moment it all ends, and Sebastian can do nothing to stop it.

I reach into my pocket, and I pull out my gun, aiming it directly at Sebastian's head. "Yes, it does have to be like this."

My mom screams. My dad covers her in her arms, whispering something into her ear. But Sebastian doesn't even seem afraid--just sad. It's weird, how he changed since I called him. It's like he was expecting this all along. He just keeps shaking his head.

Marco bursts out of the shadows then, holding a gun of his own, and I hear my mom crying, hear my dad comforting her, and yet, I feel nothing. I just keep staring at Sebastian, at those beautiful blue eyes of his, my fingers hovering at the trigger.

"It doesn't have to be like this. Don't be like me, angel," Sebastian pleads, narrowing his eyes at me. His voice is so sad, so full of regret.

"Shoot him," Marco barks at my side, aiming his gun at my parents. "Shoot him before he tries to pull anything."

My heart beats faster, but I don't shoot, not yet. I know the plan; I have to wait. One second, two seconds. Three. Four.

He sighs. "Yes, angel," he says, his blue eyes burning into mine, as if he's trying to warn me not to do this one last time. "Shoot me."

A smile flickers across my lips. Even through everything, it still feels good to talk to him. Anger rushes inside of me, bubbling up, seeping through the core of my being, and I feel my finger moving closer and closer to the trigger, feel my head and heart pounding so hard I swear they're going to explode. But I don't shake. I don't let myself be weak.

I can't ever be weak again.

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" I say to him calmly.

"Shoot him!" Marco shouts, louder this time, but I block him out.

This moment is just me and Sebastian. Just me and him. This moment is all about revenge.

I don't dare take my eyes off of him. I focus on his every word, waiting for the signal.

"It only feels right, coming from you." He's still staring at me, as if begging me not to do what he's know I'm going to do. I can tell he's stalling, trying to convince me not to, but my mind is already made up.

I'm going to do whatever it takes to be happy.

"SHOOT HIM!" Marco screams at my side. "Shoot him, my love! Shoot him or I will!"

My heart is pounding furiously and my mom keeps sobbing and my head keeps hurting, but I try to push it all away, to just focus on this moment, on the trigger, on the feel of the gun in my hand. I block out everything but me and Sebastian, but what he did to me, but what he will do. And I click off the safety and press my finger to the trigger, and then I hold it there. "Any last words?" I whisper to Sebastian, eyes boring into his.

"DO IT NOW!" Marco screams, his voice becoming increasingly desperate.

My whole body hurts, but it's all focused, finally in order. My finger twitches at the trigger, itching to pull it.

I keep my gun trained on Sebastian's forehead, just as Marco showed me.

I know what I have to do.

And I know the time is now.

"Yes," Sebastian whispers, and he sounds so defeated it hurts. "Just a few." He drops his gaze, his eyes burning into mine, and every part of my body is screaming at me at once, and I know this is it. This is the moment. "Don't do this," Sebastian whispers.

And then I fire. 

Chapter Twenty-One

The shot rings out through the night, shattering the silence that was just there. It reverberates throughout my ears, the end-all of all of this, the final piece in Sebastian's grand plan.

And I've just completed it.

I keep my eyes trained on Sebastian the whole time, and he looks back at me, regret spreading across his features as soon as I pull the trigger.

Because my gun is no longer trained on him. It's pointing at Marco, whose shirt is now pooling with blood where the gunshot went through, complete alarm all over his face. He stares at me, horrified, and I just shrug.

"Keep your friends close," I whisper into his ear as he stiffens up, then falls back, crumpling to the ground. "And your enemies closer."

Then, he collapses back, lifeless.

Sebastian forces a smile. "You did it, angel," he says, walking over toward me, but his voice is sad too, sad that it ended the way it did. Sad that it turned me into him. "You remembered the plan B I told you about."

I grin at him, launching myself at his warm, muscular body, letting him wrap his arms around me and hold me close. I breathe him in, loving his familiar masculine scent, and the feel of his body against mine is too great to explain. Sebastian holds me here, and it is feels better than anything else could possibly feel.

"Of course," I whisper, and I feel his breath on my lips, hot and heavy and giving me tingles. I squirm as he holds me, his fingers touching my skin, moving up and down my side. I can't wait to go back in the house with him, to let him inside of me again. "I could never forget your grand plan. And Marco fell for it, just as you said."

Sebastian kisses me, but he seems almost reluctant. "You shouldn't have done that, angel. But at least we're safe again." And as he holds me there, I know that I need him. I need him to put me back together. And I need to do the same for him, like always.

My parents are staring at us, horrified. "What is going on?" my mom asks, speechless. She's still shaking, but her crying has stopped, and disbelief has replaced it.

Sebastian just shakes his head, continuing to smile at me, and then he turns to them. "I told her one night, that if anything ever went wrong, to befriend Marco and give me up in exchange for her freedom. But this stubborn brat decided to finish the job and kill him, all by herself. When she learned that I was hiding you two here, I think she knew this was the moment I meant."