This year, I had Gemma, and I was holding onto her—onto my future—with both hands.
But that didn’t erase it.
I was aware the anniversary was approaching.
“I’m… I’m okay.”
He clasped my shoulder in his hand and squeezed.
“Good. Let’s go,” he said, when the clothes burned fully. I reached for the water bottle and poured it over the fire, killing it.
“Let’s go.”
* * *
The two menwe had posted at the house stood behind Micah and me for backup as we went to the back entrance.
It was easy to find now that we knew it was there, and I listened in.
The lights inside were off, but then—
Shuffling.
They were here.
I looked at Micah, and he nodded.
I pulled out my gun and aimed it at the doorknob, keeping my distance so the bullet didn’t ricochet back at me.
A scream came from inside, and I kicked the door down.
In the dark, I saw two people scrambling to get out of bed. My hand fumbled on the wall for the light switch. I turned it on and took in the two people I had been hunting for weeks now.
They huddled together on the floor, and I turned to the woman who’d caused so much sadness in my girl’s life.
I aimed my gun at the man first.
“Please,” Fiona said. She obviously recognized me. She didn’t even look surprised that I wanted them dead. “For Gemma.”
I pulled the trigger.
He fell face-first on the floor. Blood splattered out behind him and onto Fiona’s face. She screamed. I waited until she looked at me.
“This is for Gemma.”
I pulled the trigger a second time. Her scream was cut off as the bullet hit her in the middle of her forehead. She fell to the floor with Kenton.
The men shuffled nervously. They’d messed up by not seeing these two were hiding out in the fucking house they were told to watch for who fucking knew how long.
“Clean this up and get rid of the bodies,” I said darkly.
Around the room were takeout boxes of food and empty chip bags.
They had been here for a long while, from the looks of it.
I paused when I saw the laptop resting on the nightstand by the bed.
I walked over to it, grabbed it, and flipped it open.