“Gate?” I murmur.

“Oh, you didn’t know there was another entry? Tsk. You should’ve done more research,” Arthur muses. “How else did you think I came in here?”

“But the doors … all locked,” I mutter.

“No, you forgot about the one in the basement, hidden behind all the boxes.”

“Fuck …” I mutter, the pain making adrenaline rush through my body.

“You didn’t think I’d survive, did you? Should’ve killed me when you had the chance,” Arthur jests. “Now I’m alive and well. Got the doctors at the hospital to thank for that. Of course, I couldn’t explain to the cops how I was shot, seeing as I was the one who hired you to kill her. All the traces would lead back to me. Couldn’t have that, nope. But I’m back now, and I’m ready to kill you both,” he says.

“Why did you shoot him?” Vanessa yells, grabbing me and pulling me closer. “He has nothing to do with your anger against me!”

“Because he was in the goddamn way,” Arthur says. “Plus, I’m a little mad here, if you can’t tell.” He looks at me now. “I fucking hired you to kill her, and what do you do?”

She frowns. “So, it’s true.”

“Yes, honey, it’s true,” Arthur says, swaying his gun like it’s some kind of toy. “I wanted you dead.”

“Why?” she says, tears staining her eyes. “What did I ever do to you?”

He smiles. “You think you don’t deserve it? After everything you did to my family?” He steps closer, still keeping his gun pointed at us, ready to fire. “You took my mother from me. My brother. And now my chance to get my family’s fortune.”

“What? That’s what you were after?”

He shakes his head, laughing. “Oh, Vanessa. You didn’t really think I loved you, did you? I was only with you so I could gain access to the money you stole when you married my brother.”

“It wasn’t your money to begin with,” she hisses.

“My brother always got what he wanted,” he growls. “He never earned it. He didn’t even deserve it.”

“Oh, and you do? By planning to have me killed?”

“I worked hard; I took over his business, the business my father should have left me, instead of that half-wit brother of mine.”

She makes a face. “You’re a two-faced liar.”

He cocks his head. “So are you, honey, but nobody complains about that.”

“I do,” I cough, and I immediately cringe from the pain.

“What are you doing here?” Vanessa asks. “Haven’t you hurt me enough?”

“No, as a matter of fact, I haven’t. You just couldn’t drop dead, could you? No matter how hard I tried to push you away so you’d go kill yourself, you just wouldn’t, and then I had to resort to hiring someone to do the job and even they can’t do it. So now I’m here to finish the job.”

He raises his gun. “No, stop!” I yell. “Don’t fucking kill her.”

“Jesus Christ, you’re a pathetic hitman, you know that? Falling for the victim? Really?”

“I’m not the victim, you are,” Vanessa yells, and she reaches for her gun lying on the floor.

He fires a shot at the ground, making her jolt up and squeal. Her fingers almost were blown off.

“Uh-uh, Vanessa. That’s not how this is going to work. Kick it over here,” he says. “Give it to me.”

The sirens outside are booming, and the slot is being fiddled with. I’m guessing the cops are trying to break in to see what’s going on after her desperate call. It’ll only take a few minutes for them to come bursting into the hallway with their rifles and arrest us.

But we won’t make it out alive before that time. Not as long as Arthur is here.

Whatever happens, I will not let her die.

There’s only one thing left to do.

Vanessa and I exchange glances, and it’s all we need to determine what to do. We’re going to die anyway, better go out with a bang.

I reach into my pocket when his eyes are focused on Vanessa, and I take out a small pocket knife. As I attempt to throw it at his leg, he notices me, and points his gun at me.

“Fuck no,” he growls.

And then he shoots as I throw.

“No!” Vanessa’s scream goes through marrow and bone. It’s so full of sorrow, that I know for sure she really loved me, even in the end.

The shot hits me in the chest, but Arthur sinks to his knees.

Vanessa focuses her attention on me. “Don’t die, don’t die!”

“I won’t,” I lie. “Do it now,” I say, gurgling up blood. “Save yourself.”

Vanessa immediately reaches for the gun and picks it up while he’s trying to scramble up.

“I’m not fucking going down like this,” Arthur growls. “Not by your hand.”

“Say hi to your brother in hell!” she screams.

Shots are fired, but I only catch half of the ruckus.

The bangs are loud, but the pain in my chest and back are overtaking my body. Blurring my vision, the sirens cloud my hearing.

All I see is Arthur sinking to his knees. His body flops to the floor like a bag of sand.

And then Vanessa slowly drops to her knees beside me.

First, she sighs.

And then her head slams to the ground.

Blood pools underneath her.

I turn around and try to reach for her. She feels so far away, and yet so close I can almost touch her. Her sparkling eyes look at mine as our heads turn toward each other, our faces and clothes covered in blood. My body is leaking blood like a faucet, but all I can think of his her beautiful face and her wretched soul. All mine. I won’t share her. Not even her death.

“I love you,” I whisper, but I don’t think she can hear me.

She mouths back the same words.

Her fingertips reach out toward me, and for a second they graze mine, setting a fire in my heart that can never be extinguished.

No matter if we die, our spark will always live on and on.

EPILOGUE

VANESSA

“She looks so peaceful,” my mother says. “Almost as if she’s happy.”

“I know. Despite what she’s been through, she’s still as tough as ever,” my father says.

“God, I’m so glad the police came quickly. My poor baby.” My mother sniffs.

“She needs her rest now, though.”

My mother caresses my cheek. “Sleep tight, honey.”

“You’ll need your rest for the coming days,” my father muses.

“The family is coming to see you when you’re all better,” my mother adds.

“Let’s just leave her to herself, shall we?” my father says. “Nothing we can do that the doctors can’t.”

“Right,” my mother says as they shuffle away. “She’ll be safe here.”

“Let’s get a cup of coffee and get back home.” They shuffle out of the room.

The moment the door closes, one of my eyes snaps open and I check my environment to make sure no one’s there before I sit up in the hospital bed. I pull all the electrodes from my body and slide out of bed. I check the door to see if someone’s coming, before reaching under my bed and pulling out a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. I tear off my gown and pull on the clothes that I stole from the nurse when she thought I was asleep. Then I silently make my way out of the room.

Every time someone enters or exits a door, I hide in a corner or hallway crevice until they’re gone, and then I make a run for it. I pass the room Paige is lying in, and for a second our eyes connect. Shit, I don’t want her to see me, let alone talk to me. Our interests no longer align because she was kept in my closet for days, so I keep running ahead. Once I get to the visitor’s section, I quickly spin on my ankles when I spot my parents sitting in a corner drinking some coffee. Instead, I open a safe-exit door and run down the stairs, all the way to the parking lot.

The car is already parked right in front of the road exit.

Just seeing the Jeep makes my heart beat faster.

Freedom.

I smile, knowing that the plan has succeeded.

My parents are oblivious. They think I’m still sick, tired, weak, and that’s exactly what I want them to think. They won’t find out that I’ve left until it’s too late, and they’ll never know where I’ve gone. I won’t ever tell them, either.