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I ignored that. My gaze slid to Lila. “Hey, baby. You okay?”

She nodded jerkily, her eyes big and round with fear.

“It’s going to be okay. This will all be over in a minute,” I assured her.

“You shouldn’t have come here, Seb. I didn’t have any problem with you. But I can’t let you go. You know I have to kill you now.” He almost sounded regretful.

“No.” Lila stepped toward him like she couldn’t stop herself. Fucking hell. “He’s not part of this. Please.”

“You love him.” Clay looked at her thoughtfully.

“Yes,” Lila whispered. “I love him.”

Clay grinned. “I thought killing you would be fun. But it’s going to be so much more satisfying to kill your boyfriend first and make you watch.”

“Husband,” I growled.

She looked at me.

And then she moved.

“No!” I shouted, but it was too late.

She slammed into him, one fist in his ribs, the other forcing his arm to lower. A gunshot split the air. Lila screamed. She was falling—my gun was out—I aimed.

Fired.

And then there was silence.

Silence and blood.

37

LILA

Everything hurt. My leg. My back. The steady thumping in my skull that felt like some asshole was relentlessly tapping with a hammer.

“She’s waking up,” an unfamiliar female voice said.

My eyelids fluttered, and I whimpered because even that hurt. “Don’t wanna.”

“You don’t have to,” said my favorite voice in the whole world. “But your mom will be here soon, and if you don’t wake up, I’m going to be one ball short of a set.”

Seb.

Suddenly I was desperate to open my eyes. I needed to see him. It took a few tries to pry them open, but I finally managed it and looked straight into his. His eyes were deep green in the dim light.

“Hey,” I rasped.

Relief washed over his expression. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”

He leaned across me to grab a cup of water, then held the straw to my lips. The first hesitant sips hurt, but then the cool water soothed my throat.

I looked around the hospital room, trying to put the pieces together, and immediately wished I hadn’t. It felt like someone had stabbed me right through the eyeball with an ice pick. Nausea rolled through me.

“Easy, baby. You have a nasty concussion.”

That must be why the lights were off. But I didn’t remember hitting my head. The memories were hazy. Clay taking me. His gun pointed at Seb’s heart. The roar of the falls and a gunshot. Pain, and then darkness.