Page 50 of Till Death Do Us Part

“Vera—”

She pulled her hand from mine, and I fumbled, reaching for her again.

“Vera!”

“Stay here.” She turned back just long enough to caress my cheek, and it stopped me in my tracks as she whispered, her eyes locked on mine. “Don’t make me worry about you.”

“I…” I swallowed. “Please be safe.”

She nodded.

And with that, she turned around, and she took off into the house.

Chapter 22

petra

“Go ahead.”

Caitlyn flinched, her eyes wide. “What?”

“Go ahead.” I gestured to the gun. “Take your shot.”

“You…” A storm of confliction emotions played out on her face, and she gripped the gun tighter. “You lied to me.”

“Someone tell you?” I spoke in a weary sigh. The sound of a woman ready to die for no good cause.

“Horizon is your project. You’re going to kill Elaine.”

“I never liked theatrics,” I said. “If you’re going to shoot, then shoot.”

Fire flared in her eyes even as tears sprung into the corners. “Why aren’t you fighting me?”

“Elaine’s… got something about her, I guess,” I sighed. “Hard to feel motivated to kill her.”

“Then don’t. Why are you doing this? Is that… Horizon thing really worth it?”

I shrugged. “Can’t betray the family.”

“You can. You have to. You can betray your family, but you can’t betray your own values.”

“Sorry,” I said. “Think that’s where you and I are different, Cait. Go ahead. Decide if you want to pull that trigger or not.”

She clenched her jaw, tears streaming down her cheeks. She moved her finger to the trigger, her hands shaking as she clutched the gun hard.

It was peaceful, actually, staring down the barrel of a loaded gun. Nice to know it was finally over. Not the best ending, but far from the worst. Caitlyn was objectively the better person than all of us in this. Better than dying to some rival mobster who was going to leverage my death for another couple grand he would spend on blow.

“I don’t want to do this,” she choked. “Please don’t make me.”

“You don’t get to choose whether you’re a part of this life, Cait. Seems like the world chose for you. Like it did for me. Like it did for Vera. Make your choice.”

She swallowed hard, her body shaking from her hands to her feet, and finally, with an angry cry, her eyes flashed, and she pulled the trigger.

Even with the silencer on, the crack of the gunshot resounded in the room, and the recoil snapped the gun up high—she missed, the bullet plinking off the wall behind me, and I moved on instinct, lunging in and grabbing the gun from her hand while the recoil threw her off. She gasped, trying to reach for it, but she was a hundred pounds soaking wet and her legs were already giving out—she collapsed into me, and it was so easy getting the gun away from her and wrenching her around into a hold from behind, my hand over her mouth, that I felt bad doing it.

“Sorry, Cait,” I said. “Kinda liked you, in the end. But we can’t risk the mission now.”

She shouted something muffled against my hand, but I was quick with this kind of thing. I slipped my shirt and jacket off, wrapping the shirt around her mouth to gag her, fashioning the jacket sleeves into bindings, and I tied her arms behind her back, and I almost shoved her down onto her knees like any hostage before I remembered her legs.