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“No!” he screams, clawing his hands into my calf.
I kick at him, connecting with something—his face, his arm, I don’t know what—but he throws himself on top of me.
Both our hands are half an inch from the gun when, suddenly, someone kicks it across the room.
It spins away from both of us, disappearing under one of the dusty tables in the corner.
“No…!” Charles chokes. His eyes bulge with panic. He tries to grab me, but he falls back as a gunshot goes off.
He’s howling, writhing on the floor, when Arsen’s arm circles around my waist. He lifts me to my feet, holding me against him. “Are you okay?”
I look at my body, patting myself down. “Y-yes… I think so.”
He presses his lips hard to my forehead. “For a second there…” He holds me with the force of a man who’s not planning on letting go any time soon. It says everything his words don’t.
Charles is still clutching his right leg, but his screams have died down to pitiful whimpering. “P-please,” he begs. “Don’t kill me. I’m still your father…”
“And Laila is your only child. It didn’t stop you from using her as a bargaining chip and threatening her life,” Arsen snarls, pointing his gun at Charles’s face. “It’s time to end this.”
“Please.” A strangled moan escapes his lips as he looks me in the eyes. “Laila… my Laila…”
I flinch. He’s never once called me “his.” Even as a child, I was a burden to him. A chore.
And still, I cried for him during the accident.
I was seven and scared.
I wanted my father.
And what did he do? Where did he go? How did he leave us?
“Laila…” he murmurs. “My Laila…”
“How dare you speak her name after everything you’ve done? But I suppose it’s fitting—” Arsen cocks his gun. “—that you die with her name on your lips.”
“D-don’t?—”
“No!”
My voice surprises everyone. Arsen’s eyes snap to mine. “Laila, this man isn’t worth the air he breathes. He deserves to die. As long as he lives, you and Nina will ever be safe.”
I reach out and cup Arsen’s face with my palm. “I know, my love.”
I gently take the gun from his hand.
Then I point it at my father myself.
“My daughter will never be safe as long as you live,” I tell him, echoing what Arsen just said. “I know you’ve never loved me. Or my mother. And I know that this entire plan was your idea.”
“No! It wasn’t me. Jasper! It was Jas?—”
“I heard you take the credit for this plan,” I interrupt without raising my voice. “Don’t bother begging. It’s not going to do you any good. Arsen’s right: This has to end, and I want to be the one to end it.”
Arsen steps to my side, his hand settling against my hip. “Are you sure,roza? I can take care of the scum for you.”
“No, I want to be the one to do it,” I insist without taking my eyes off Charles. “I have to. For Nina and my mom. But also for myself.”
“You c-can’t do this, Laila…”
