Melanie crawled toward Walter, who lay clutching his shoulder.
“Walter’s alive!” she cried.
Wyatt’s voice suddenly echoed from behind me.
“Sadie!”
I turned in shock.
He had followed us.
Before I could stop him, he threw himself across the room and pulled me behind a reinforced cabinet.
“What are you doing here?”
“Saving you from your own terrible decisions.”
Even terrified, I wanted to cry with relief.
Gunfire erupted near the entrance.
Then my mother stepped into the red emergency light.
Her elegant coat was soaked with rain. Her hair clung to her face. In her hand was a pistol.
She looked nothing like the woman who had once baked birthday cakes and kissed scraped knees.
She looked empty.
Melanie stood slowly.
“Mom, put it down.”
“You ruined everything,” Mother hissed.
Melanie flinched.
“I did what you told me for years.”
“And then you betrayed us.”
“You were going to kill Sadie!”
Mother’s expression did not change.
“She was never supposed to survive.”
The sentence silenced the entire room.
Wyatt’s hand tightened around mine.
I stepped out from behind the cabinet.
“Why?”
Mother aimed the gun at me.
“Because you were always worth more alive than the rest of us—and more dangerous once you learned why.”
Detective Beckett moved carefully along the wall.
Mother noticed.
“Stop, Detective.”
She pressed the barrel against Melanie’s neck.
“Or she dies first.”
Melanie closed her eyes.
For the first time in my life, she looked younger than me.
Not glamorous.
Not cruel.
Just frightened.
