Her mouth opened, but nothing came out.

“How many?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Another shot rang out from behind me, and Julia stumbled backward. Blood bloomed on her blouse, then spread to the jacket covering it. “They won’t be hers when she’s dead.”

I turned so fast the room spun around me. Sera stood three feet behind me, still aiming at Julia. She lowered her gun and smiled at me, and for the first time since I’d met her, she looked happy.

Three steps later, she was in my arms, and for the first time since I could remember, my world made sense. Before she could do more than hug me back, I whispered in her ear. “I will never let you go again.”

Twenty-Two

Sera

The gun was warm in my hand and Kris was warm in my arms, and Julia Tower lay dying on the floor, fifteen feet away. But all I could think about was what he’d said.

I will never let you go again.

“So...you’re not mad that I shot your bad guy?”

He pulled back so he could see me, and his blue-gray eyes were bluer than ever. “Are you kidding? I take partial credit for that kill. I taught you to shoot.”

“Oh, please. It’s not like she hit a moving target from a quarter-mile away.” Kori rolled her eyes, but her tone was familiar. She was teasing me like she teased Kris. As if she might actually like me, beneath the criticism. “And anyway, she’s not dead yet.” Kori nudged Julia’s arm with one foot. “Any questions for the bitch, before I put her out of her misery?”

“I have one.”

Kori gave me a “be my guest” gesture, and I pulled Kris with me until we were staring down at Julia Tower, who lay gasping on the floor, blood still welling from the hole in her chest.

“Why?” I demanded. Julia’s eyelids looked heavy, but she was still in there. For another minute or two, anyway. “Why did my family have to die, just so you could kill me? There must have been another way.”

“I didn’t—” She coughed and gasped, but her eyes never lost focus. “I didn’t kill your family.”

“Aren’t you supposed to confess your sins before you die?” Kris nudged her thigh with his foot. “Can’t you just admit it, and give her some closure?”

“Fuck—” Julia choked again, then swallowed with obvious effort “—you.”

Kori aimed and fired her silenced pistol before I even realized what she was doing. Julia shuddered, then went still, and her dead eyes seemed to stare right through me.

I stumbled backward, gaping at Kori in shock. “Why did you do that?”

She holstered her gun and met my gaze. “Because she wasn’t going to give you what you want, and I can live with killing her, but I’m not sure you could. I don’t want you to have to.”

“You don’t...” I didn’t understand until Kori pulled me away from Kris and wrapped me in a hug that felt like equal parts vise and embrace.

“Consider it a gift. Welcome to the family, Sera.” My eyes watered, but before the tears could fall, her grip tightened, and she added. “If you hurt my brother, I will hunt you down and cut your heart out.”

“She’s kidding.” Kris pulled his sister off me. “Tell her you’re kidding, Kor.”

Kori just gave me a creepy half smile, then walked away to help Ian, Van and Kenley with the bodies.

“She’s not kidding.” I drew him into a hug and whispered into his ear, “But she’ll never have a reason to go after my heart. I’m not going anywhere, Kris. And I would never hurt you.”

But the words were hardly out of my mouth when he stepped away, holding me at arm’s length, and the look in his eyes scared me.

“You can’t know that—” He shook his head and started over, and that unease inside me grew. “I have to tell you something.”

“Now?” I glanced around at everyone else, cleaning up without us. We should help.

“Yes, now.” He blinked, and his eyes filled with pain. “It’s my fault, Sera. What happened to your family. What happened to you...” He reached down and laid a hand on my stomach, over my clothes. “I was supposed to stop it. It was in the notebook, but I couldn’t figure it out.” He frowned. “No, I stopped trying to figure it out. If I’d tried harder—if I’d kept trying—I could have stopped it. They would still be alive. You’d still be whole. You’d be a mother.”

“No,” I said, and when his eyes shone with tears, my own started to burn. “No, Kris, that had nothing to do with you. I don’t care what Noelle said, and I don’t care what you wrote in that damned notebook. It wasn’t your fault for not understanding any more than it was my fault for going off to college and leaving them vulnerable. And I’m not going to let you steal blame from Julia. Let credit go where it’s due. Julia Tower did this. And now she’s paid for it.”

“But—”

“No. It’s over. She’s dead. I’m ready to remember my family the way they lived, Kris. Not the way they died. And if you can’t let this go, I won’t be able to.”

He stared at me like he didn’t believe me. Like he wanted to, but couldn’t.

“I want to tell you about them. I want to show you the pictures. I want you to know them, but that won’t work if you feel guilty for something you didn’t do. Let it go, okay? We both have to let it go. Starting now. With her.” Julia.