Page 119 of My Turn

Putting a hand to my forehead, I backed up. I couldn’t think straight.I couldn’t think.

The fear in Jayce’s eyes was new as he watched me. It made everything snap into focus. I didn’t want to kill. Of course I didn’t. I was mad at him; more than mad. It didn’t change how I felt about him, though. We just had to navigate this.

“I need a minute,” I said.

“The gun, Alana.”

Still, I couldn’t move. I needed a minute.

Chapter 44

Note: This is the beginning of the no HEA ending. If you want the HEA ending, go to chapter 44B and finish from there.

Jayce

As I stared at her for long minutes, I felt more afraid than I ever had. Alicia wasn’t supposed to be up yet and she certainly wasn’t supposed to come down here. She must’ve been looking for us. Maybe she’d heard Alana scream or us arguing. I could only be grateful that she hadn’t been hurt, but I shouldn’t have given Alana the gun. Even though she couldn’t do any damage with it, convincing Alicia that nothing was wrong would be a feat. If she told anyone about what she’d seen, it could cause problems, especially when it came to the adoption. Her aunt aiming a gun at her uncle was not what the courts wanted to hear.

“Alana,” I repeated firmly. “We need to go back upstairs.”

She was a disaster. We needed to go back upstairs and figure all of this out. If I threw her over my shoulder, I didn’t know if it would make things worse. Maybe I could sedate her. There was a syringe in the cabinet behind her. I didn’t want to rush her and make her afraid of me right now.

Moving forward, I tentatively reached out. When she didn’t stop me, I cupped her face.

“Everything’s okay. Let’s figure this out together.”

Her brow furrowed. “She’ll be terrified of me.”

“No. She won’t even know you pulled the trigger.”

“I don’t want to scare her. I want…”

“What do you want, baby? Talk to me.”

“To be with you.”

The statement made me smile. “You are with me. We’ll always be together. I promise.”

Finally, her face relaxed a little. The change in her eyes made me feel better. She broke for a moment, but she was going to be okay. I’d put her back together. That was always the plan.

Steps on the stairs made me turn. They didn’t sound like Alicia’s- they were too heavy. When I heard more of them, my heart began to race. Alana backed up toward the wall, the fear evident on her face as she clutched the gun to her chest tightly.

I held my hand up. “It’s okay, Alana.”

Men with guns raised appeared in the doorway. I swore and took a step to the side to shield Alana.

“Drop the weapon!” they demanded.

Fuck. I turned to Alana with pleading eyes. “Hey, let’s do what they said, okay? Hand it to me.”

When I tried to pry it away, she wouldn’t budge and the struggle just made them yell louder. They repeated the order, but she didn’t move. She must’ve been in shock after everything. I kept a hand raised to tell the officers to wait. They adjusted their aim instead.

“No,” I shouted. “It’s okay. She’s not gonna do anything. There aren’t any bullets in it.”

“Drop the fucking gun!”

Tears streamed down her face. Her breaths had become panicked and the acceptance I’d seen in her eyes earlier hadmorphed back into something that was too dangerous for our current situation.

“Alana…” I ventured as I got closer.

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