Julian lunges toward us, and everything after that happens in slow motion. Out of the corner of my eye, I see my father lift his gun and fire the first shot without hesitation.
“No!” I scream, but no one is listening to my pleas. It’s as if no one can hear me, and I’m tired of it. Tired of being in a cage, tired of being shoved around, and tired of not having control of my own life.
Julian drops to his knees, clasping his shoulder with one hand. His white shirt soaks with blood in seconds, and all I want to do is run to him and tend to his needs, but instead of getting closer, I’m only being pulled away further.
I struggle as much as I can, kick, scream, and scratch like my life depends on it because it does. If I don’t break free and get away, I might as well put a bullet between my eyes. My father no longer cares for me—his words. The only person in the world that matters now is the man on his knees.
Suddenly, I’m free. Cruel hands disappear from my body. Twisting on my heels, I find Marie on the man’s back, her slim arms are wrapped around his neck, and it looks like she’s trying to choke him.
I know what I have to do before I even realize it. Reaching for his gun, I spin around with it in my hand and pull the trigger.
Time slows down. I can almost see the bullet flying through the air and entering my father’s chest.
For the first time tonight, his eyes find mine, and he actually looks at me. I don’t know what I expected to see when our eyes finally met. Maybe guilt, sadness, fear? I don’t find either. All I see is shock. Like he can’t believe I shot him and that this is how his life will end. Not at the hands of his enemy, but at the hands of his own daughter.
I keep staring into his eyes, unable to look away, I watch as the life leaves him. I watch until the eyes so similar to mine go blank. His body drops to the floor, and my mind clears.
This is not over.
I reposition myself and point the gun toward one of the other men. My hands are shaking and fear like I’ve never felt before blooms in my chest. I could die, but I’d much rather die than be taken from the man I love.
Everyone else moves with me, pointing their guns at me instead of Julian. Julian uses that to his advantage and grabs my father’s gun off the ground. Two more shots are fired, and then it’s all over.
All the men who were threatening our lives are on the ground, dead… including my father.
I glance to where Marie was struggling with Lev’s brother and find him on the ground while Marie and Celeste are standing over him. Celeste is holding a bloody knife in her hand.
She looks at me and smiles, literally smiles.
“No one messes with my family.”
I want to go hug her and tell her how much I love her, but Julian is all I can think about. I hurry to his side and start applying pressure to his wound. He groans and clenches his teeth, pulling out his phone.
“We need to call an ambulance,” I say, hoping that’s what he’s doing.
“No, I’ll have one of our doctors come and stitch me up. We can’t go to the hospital for a gun wound. Too many questions.”
“Okay.” I nod. I don’t like it, but I understand. “Where are all the guards?” My eyes dart around the room as if they will appear out of thin air.
“I don’t know,” he grits out while dialing the number for the doctor.
“Hello?” A deep voice I recognize comes through the receiver.
“Doc, I need you now. Got shot.”
“On my way…”
As soon as the line goes dead, Julian calls Lucca. It rings for a really long time. So long that I don’t think he’ll answer. If I wasn’t so consumed with worry for Julian, I’d probably be worried about Lucca.
“Hello,” he finally answers.
“Where the fuck are you?” Julian screams into the phone.
“I’m sorry… I had no choice.”
“You fucking betrayed me! You let them in, didn’t you?”
“I’m sorry,” Lucca repeats. “They have someone I love.”
“That’s no fucking excuse! You vowed to protect this family. You vowed to protect Elena with your fucking life! You took an oath, Lucca, a fucking oath.”
“Long before that, I vowed to protect someone else–” The line goes dead, and Julian throws his phone across the room. The device collides with the wall and shatters into pieces.
“That bastard is going to pay for this. I will kill him for betraying us, for endangering you.”
“It’s okay. You’ll be okay,” I whisper low into his ear, my voice trembling as I keep my hands pressed to his shoulder.
“Fuck, I’m sorry.” Julian shakes his head. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” His eyes scan over my face and then slowly drop down to the rest of my body.
“I’m fine. You’re the one who got shot.”
“It went straight through. Clean shot. I’ll be back to normal in a few days. I’m only worried about you,” Julian confesses, and for the first time since the night he took me, I believe him wholeheartedly.
Celeste appears next to us with clean towels and a first aid kit. I look up expecting Marie to be here too, but I don’t see her anywhere.
“Marie is waiting at the door for the doctor,” Celeste explains. “If it’s okay, I’ll go and wait with her.”
“Yes, go ahead. I’ve got this,” I tell her, and she sprints toward the door.
Using the towels she brought, I cover up the wound and apply as much pressure as I can. I glance over to where my father’s dead body is sprawled out on the floor.
“I wish you hadn’t done that,” Julian confesses, and I know what he is saying. He didn’t want me to kill my father. Part of me thinks maybe because he just wanted to do it himself while the other part thinks he might be worried about the guilt I may feel someday.
“I thought you wanted him dead?”
“I did, and I’m glad he is gone, but I didn’t want you to be the one to pull the trigger. I’ve never wanted you to have to kill someone, especially not someone you loved. I didn’t want you to carry that kind of guilt around.”
I think about his words and what I’ve done.
Maybe it’s because I’m in shock, but right at this moment, I don’t feel guilt. I don’t feel guilty about killing the man who sold me, treated me like cattle, and discarded me like trash in the very end. I don’t feel guilty about killing the man who was supposed to love me and instead cared about nothing but himself.
“The only thing I feel guilty about is not believing you sooner. Everything you said was true. He never loved me.” The truth weighs heavily on me. He never loved me.
“I love you.” Julian’s deep voice interrupts my thoughts, but it’s not his voice that has me hanging on by a single thread.
“You love me?”
“Yes, I love you, Elena. I should have told you sooner. I love you. I have for a long time, and I was a coward not to admit it before. I was convinced I could make myself fall out of love with you. I was so afraid of falling for you, of becoming vulnerable, that I didn’t realize I already was.” My heart soars to life in my chest.
Leaning down, I press a kiss to his lips.
“I love you too, so much, and I’ll never doubt you again. I’m your wife, and from now on, I’ll behave like it. I’ll be by your side, always.”