Page 109 of Shadows of the Past
A lump rises in my throat because no one’s ever done this for me before. It’s always been just me and my shadows.
“I’ll send you the GPS coordinates,” I manage, my voice rough. I know he hears the emotion I can’t hide, and I can almost feel his sigh on the other end
He hangs up, and I’m grateful he didn’t call me out for going soft.
I spot Jeremy limping toward the car and signal for him to take Amalia. All I can think about is getting back toher. To the woman who literally holds my heart next to hers. The only person I’d start all over for, just to find her again.
I’m thirty yards from the building when a gunshot cracks through the chaos, and for a heartbeat, my world stops. My chest tightens, everything inside me seizing up.It can’t be her. Please, not her.
“JULIA!”
It’s not a shout, it’s a roar. If she’s hurt, I don’t know what I’ll do.
My body goes numb, denial flooding my veins, until I burst into the living room.
Lupe stands frozen, a gun in her hand, staring in horror at her older sister lying in a pool of blood. When she sees me, she drops the gun in the corner of the room.
I want to believe this is a nightmare, some twisted trick of fate.I can’t let her go.If she leaves this world, I’ll follow.
Aleksandr lunges forward, wrapping his arms around Lupe's middle. When our eyes meet, I see her shudder as she takes in the fury radiating from me.
“Run!” I snarl at them. “And you’d better hide well because, next time I find you, you’ll be the one bleeding out on the floor.”
Lupe’s legs buckle and Aleksandr hauls her off, but all I care about is Julia.
My only thought is getting her out of here. I’m terrified to check for a pulse, terrified to find out she’s really gone, that she chose to stop fighting, but when I press my fingers to her neck, I feel it: a faint, fragile beat. Barely. But it’s there, and if I have to make a deal with Death itself to give her a few more minutes of life, I’ll fucking beg for it.
All that matters now is her.
I don’t remember leaving the house or how I ended up running with her in my arms or lifting her into the car. My shirt is pressed tightly against her wound, soaked in blood. Luck is on our side, because there’s a small hospital less than two miles away.
Amalia sobs, clutching Julia’s hand, whispering anything and everything she can think of.
“I won the math olympiad. I always wanted a cat, but tío Felipe said we’re too scatterbrained to take care of one. Every morning, I pray for you, Julia. Deep down, we always knew you were alive somewhere. Please, don’t leave us now.”
Her voice fades into the background, and all I want to do is scream. I want to shake her, blame her, tell her this is all their fault.Her own twin pulled the trigger.Maybe Julia would find a way to forgive them, but right now, all I see is the enemy in the girl who dared to point a gun at her.
Maybe Aleksandr manipulated her, but I meant every word: no one touches Julia. No one even looks at her the wrong way. Anyone who makes her bleed doesn’t get to breathe afterward.
I grip her hand, staring at how pale she’s gotten.She’s losing too much blood.
You can’t leave me. Not you.
As we burst through the hospital doors, nurses rush to take her. Amalia starts explaining everything in rapid-fire Spanish while my eyes stay glued to Julia.
I’m pushed aside, but I immediately grab a doctor and pin him to the wall.
“Amalia, tell him if he values his hands, he’ll let me go with her into surgery.”
The doctor’s face turns white as Amalia translates, and he stammers a reply I barely catch.
“He says you’re too emotionally involved. The doctors would be under too much stress.”
That’s the only reason I let him go. I need them focused on savingher.
“Tell him if they don’t save her, I’ll blow up every brick in this hospital and make sure they’re inside when it happens.”
Amalia relays the message, and the doctor bolts.
