Page 81 of Branded By Shadow

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The words hit like a slap.

Not because she’s wrong about what I did.

Because she makes it sound cheap.

Because she makes him sound like a mistake.

And Jayce is the only thing in this nightmare that doesn’t feel like one.

“They won’t stop either way.”

“Then end it.”

The words land like a fist.

I stare at her.

“You want me dead?” I ask, voice barely there.

Brianna’s mouth tightens, like I’ve made this inconvenient for her.

“I wanted you gone.”

I swallow against the hurt. It goes down jagged.

“There’s a difference?”

“There was,” she says. “Before you brought the Saints down on us.”

For a second, I feel eighteen again. Holding everything together with grocery coupons, diner tips, and a desperate belief that if I loved her hard enough, she would feel safe.

I was wrong.

So wrong.

A noise cracks through the trees outside.

Landon freezes.

The armed men turn toward the windows.

Another sound follows.

Low.

Deep.

Engines.

Not one.

Many.

The cabin seems to hold its breath.

My heart doesn’t.

It kicks.

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