Page 123 of Breaking Point

“They’re not dead,” Charlotte utters, eyes darting toward me. It’s a plea, a cry for help as much as it is a signal.

She’s distracting him.

“Want to know how I did it?” She challenges.

For a moment, Charles takes the bait. But then his eyes flicker toward me. Charles aims for Skar’s head, and I feel my finger tighten on the trigger as Charlotte cries out:

“Don’t! Please don’t. Papa, look at me," she cries.His eyes don’t move, but he doesn’t shoot either. He’s hesitating- which means that despite all of this, he still cares about her. “What if we can rebuild things? Just explain-”

“There’s no time.”

“This doesn’t work if we don’t walk out of here. We need to leave, Papa.”

“We don’t walk, Charlotte.Theyshould be the ones to leave- not us!”

“So they leave. Then what? An entire country is against us from the very beginning. They already hate us-“

“Theyfearus. There’s a difference,” he spits, gaze cutting toward her again. I use the distraction to position myself behind him. “Maybe Ishouldkill him. They won’t have a choice when he’s dead,”

Charles motions to Skar with the gun again, but Skar isn’t looking at him. His eyes remain on Charlotte, carefully assessing her. When he sees the dilemma- the obvious choice- in front of her, it’s almost like he’s wondering whether or not she might take it.

Charles whispers, “Wecanrule, Charlotte.”

With my gun aimed at his leg, I make one last attempt to look at Char… and I shoot.

Three gunshots pierce the dark, the bullets shattering concrete. One moment, Charles has a pistol aimed at Skar. The next, they’re both on the ground, Charles climbing on top of him, throwing punch after punch.

I yank Charles up by the shoulders, pulling him off. We topple back, his weight crushing me. I groan as my side splinters with pain, but I barely register that someone’s pulling him off of me until I see Ricky appear, tackling Charles to the ground.

“Get up!” Charlotte yells suddenly. “Now!” she screams.

Charles finally quits fighting, and Ricky shoves him upwards. Charles climbs to his knees as he comes face to face with Charlotte’s gun. “Char-“

“Two times you’ve tried taking everything from me,” she whispers, arm still clutched to her chest while her good hand aims strong. “Today, it ends. You and Momma and everyone who ever doubted me… I prove you wrong.”

Charles climbs to his feet carefully. “Think about what you’re doing.”

“I am.”

A final round sounds off, and Charles Orlova stumbles back a step as blood spills out of his chest. For a moment, he sways, red trickling down his shirt as he looks at his daughter. Then he tumbles over the balcony railing.

I watch as he disappears. A horrible crunching sound fills the air, and I finally relax enough to see Skar still breathing heavily from the ground. Everything’s silent for two dragging seconds. Then Ricky’s standing above me, offering a hand to help me stand.

“You okay?” Charlotte rushes out, and when I nod, she drops to her knees, clutching his face in search of injury.

He sits up, nose bloody, but looking otherwise unharmed. “I’m fine,” he tells her, and she settles enough to seethe truth to his words. “I’m fine,” he coughs, a streak of blood dribbling from his lip.

“We need to leave,” Ricky is saying, and when I look back and see the plumes of smoke in the sky, I know it’s because the fire has spread.

The building is coming down sooner rather than later.

“We need to leave,” Charlotte says, motioning to the bodies around us. “Rema and the guards will be awake soon.”

When everyone nods, Ricky drags me upwards, and I groan, clasping a palm to my side. I stumble, putting all of my weight against the table so that I don’t pass out.

“Go,” I tell them. “I’m good. Just need a minute-”

“We don’t have a minute.” Ricky refuses to leave, slinging my arm over his shoulder and taking my weight. I bite my tongue to keep from groaning again, and Charlotte nods as Skar stands, grabbing hold of Rema.

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