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“Yeah. You never watch. Never pay attention. That’s the problem with you, Beatrix.”
My head snaps up, and I realize it’s James. I start to move backward, glancing behind me and hoping I can run fast enough, but his grip on me tightens.
“No. You’re not going to fucking run off, you little bitch. I try to help you, and you repay me by ruining my life.”
“He—” I start to scream for help, but his hand slams over my mouth, and he drags me around a corner and shoves me up against a concrete wall. His hand tightens over my jaw and it feels like he might snap it if I thrash too much.
“Scream again and when I’m done with you, I’ll gut your boyfriend and his daughter too. Is that what you fucking want?”
I shake my head no, the fear that I’m going to die like this welling in my gut. His eyes glint with a hatred I haven’t seen before as he studies me. I don’t want to know what he’s thinking. What he’s about to do.
“You’re leaving with me today. We can do it the easy way, or the hard way.” He points to his hip and I see the flash of a gun holstered there. I push back, terrified he’ll use it as he wraps his hand around it. I don’t think. I just act. Probably for the worse, but I’ve always heard that you never let someone take you to a second location. I’d had enough education from my dad’s team to know that much. I shove hard again and I bat at his arm. The gun clatters to the ground, and he’s forced to release me to reach for it.
It gives me just enough space that I take the opportunity to lunge away from him, making it almost back to the main hallway where someone might be able to hear me scream. But his hands are on me again, dragging me back while I try to fight him, and he pins me up against the wall.
“Just for that I’m going to take a trophy. Make you bleed low and slow. Let you think about what you’ve done while the lights fade out on you.” He grits his teeth and shoves me harder against the concrete wall, pressing the oxygen out of my lungs.
He pulls the gun and raises it to my temple, his eyes flickering with an even darker intent. Nothing but hatred pooling in them. So much for the love and understanding he was begging for in his letters. I think about fighting again, but I worry he’ll slip and pull the trigger even if he’s not trying.
So much flashes through my mind. I’m stupid for not having realized it was him sooner. I wish I’d been able to call my family—especially Xander—one last time to tell him I love him, and that he did the best he could to protect me. He was smarter than me, and I should have listened. Wishing I could tell Cooper that even if it was just for a summer, he was the love of my life, and that being a friend to Lizzy meant the world to me. Tell Madison that I know she’ll take our PR firm to all the places we hoped it could go.
“Trix!” I hear Cooper yell my name and the sound of footsteps pounding on concrete. I think I must be imagining it until I see Cooper’s fear-stricken face running toward me.
“Stop!” James yells.
Cooper doesn’t stop fast enough for James’s liking, and he fires the gun into the air over our heads. My ears ring with the sound, and I yelp in response. Cooper throws his hands up in the air, yelling at James to calm down and telling him we can work this all out.
“Stay the fuck away. She’s mine now. The two of you thought you could ruin my fucking life and get away with it? Go back to your happily ever after? Fuck that!” James yells and points the gun back at Cooper, waving it at him and then turning it on me.
The tears come then, fast and hard. I want to be strong. I want to stay calm. I keep asking myself what Madison would do in this situation, but I can’t stop the way they pour down my face, hot and staining. I can feel the flush of my skin underneath them. Cooper sees it, and I can see him fighting with what to do. Whether to run for help or try to take on James himself. I’m terrified James will kill us both, and I give a subtle shake of my head.
Another set of footsteps is barreling down on us from behind a moment later. James fires off another round of shots into the air, threatening whoever is headed for us before he turns around, pressing the barrel of his gun to the side of my head. I feel the hot singe of it on my hair and skin, and I scream, terrified I’m next. He’s too distracted by the person behind us to notice or care, and I hear Cooper’s voice again, yelling at him to let me go. His grip on me tightens, and I cry out again as he presses the barrel to me once more.
Cooper lunges forward, and James whips back in his direction. I barely have time to register what’s happening as he lifts the gun and fires it at Cooper. My heart bottoms out of my stomach as I watch him fall. It’s all happening so fast, but the reel in my mind is in slow motion at the same time. My mind’s barely able to keep up, and then I hear a loud shout from behind us, and James and I both go tumbling forward to the ground with force.
He collapses on top of me and the gun clatters across the concrete as he tries to catch himself. The concrete skins my knees and palms as I struggle to get away. Everything is a blur of bodies as we both scramble on the ground. Both of us are fighting to get up and gain control before I hear another loud grunt and look behind me to see Ramsey standing over James and me. He grabs James a moment later, wrapping his hands around his neck and pulling him back from me. It gives me just enough room to crawl out from underneath his weight, grabbing the gun and rolling over.
I’ve fired one once or twice. My dad’s security team gave me the opportunity at a range before but it’s been years, and I pray I still remember how to aim and shoot.
Before I can do anything though, Ramsey’s hands are wrapped around either side of James’s head, and he wrenches it to the side. There’s a cracking sound, like a branch breaking, and James falls limp at his feet.
My heart skips in my chest and I hear the insistent thud of it against my eardrums. It drowns out every other sound. My breath catches in my throat and then I remember Cooper. I scramble to my feet, hurrying to his side.
He’s sprawled out across the ground, bleeding heavily, and I rush to kneel next to him. I pull his head into my lap and survey the damage before my fingers search over his bloody shirt for the entry wound. I don’t know much about first aid. I’ve never learned, but I know I have to stop the bleeding. It’s too much blood. Far too much blood for such a short time.
I look to Ramsey. Hoping that he has answers. That he might know what to do to save Cooper. But his eyes go dark when he sees Cooper laying limp on the ground. Fury is painted over his face as he turns back to James.
I’m screaming for help at the top of my lungs, pressing my hands into the wound on Cooper’s shoulder. There’s so much blood, and it’s everywhere. Soaking through his shirt, seeping over my fingers, and spilling onto the concrete floor beneath us. It starts to pool at my knees, staining them and the stone. I scream louder like somehow that’ll make this all end. That I can wake up from this nightmare if I can just yell for help loud enough. But just like it’s failed me every time before in my sleep, it fails me now.
I look to Ramsey one last time for help, but Ramsey’s not with me anymore. He’s not willing to let it go. If he can’t fix it, he’s determined to destroy what caused it.
“You fucking piece of shit!” He yanks James’s body forward underneath him, the flutter of James’s lashes the only sign he’s still alive, and then he starts to pummel him. One fist after another. Left then right. Bruising and beating James’s face until it splits and bleeds. I want to yell for him to stop. Tell him that he has to come help me with Cooper. But I can’t move. I can’t speak. Trapped in sleep paralysis in broad daylight.
But I have to move. I have to save Cooper. It’s just me and him here, and I won’t lose him. I can’t lose him. I see movement in my peripheral vision and I yell for someone to call an ambulance. The person, whoever they are, because I don’t bother to look up, yells back that they have. Another person shouts that they’re going to get stadium security.
Cooper’s eyes are closed, and I beg for him to stay with me. I can’t lose him. Not now, not like this. I can’t let Lizzy lose her dad, and I refuse to be the reason for it. I should have left the city when I had the chance. I should have gone home like my father told me to, and none of this would have happened. My own selfish desire to still be close to him is going to kill him, and it would all be my fault.
“You stupid, stupid man. You should have let him shoot me.” I can feel the tears streaming down my face, dripping onto my dress and the tops of my hands as I press my fingers into the wound, trying to keep the blood in his body. Praying there’s going to be enough to keep his heart beating until the ambulance gets here.
