Page 67 of Until Death or Defeat

“Is that why you said that?” I ask Artem, and he turns and asks what I’m talking about.

“I don’t know...years ago. The day I told you to jump off the roof. I told you I regret not going with my mom the night she died, and you told me I’d have just died too. Did you know then?”

He thought for a moment before he shrugged and let out a breath. “I thought you knew too.”

I lean against the counter and Roman and Max give each other a look before they sense the tension and leave the kitchen.

“Well, I thought you were just being pessimistic,” I say a bit quieter than I meant to. “So what? If she was killed what does that mean? Was it planned?”

He shakes his head as he looks at me, “I’m not sure. Where was she?”

I feel myself pause as I remember that night. I was moody, and I can’t remember what stupid things occupied my teenager mind, but I refused to go with her and the look on her face...it’s ingrained into me forever as the last way I saw her.

“Hey,” Artem calls softly, suddenly in front of me, hand on my head again.

“She went to this play,” I end up finally choking out. “I...was supposed to go with her. Someone gifted her two tickets but I didn’t want to anymore at the last minute, so she left alone.”

He was quiet as he thought about it, but the longer he was quiet, the more anxiety and ideas swam through my mind.

“Hey,” I say, hitting his chest with my closed hand. “Stop making that face, you’re freaking me out.”

“Did people know you were supposed to go?”

“Huh? What kind of question is?—“

He holds his hand up, looking at me seriously as he speaks again. “Giselle, I need you to answer the damn question.”

My gaze looks down as I think and I look up and nod.

“I mean...yeah, I’m sure a lot of people knew. She got them at this white elephant party she went to before Christmas and she was excited about it for weeks, so I’m sure she told everyone who would listen that we were going.”

He doesn’t speak, he just drops his hands before lifting them to hold the back of his head and step away from me like I just told him the world is ending.

“What?”

He doesn’t answer, just looks at me.

“Artem what?—”

“If you were supposed to be there then whoever did it may have planned on you being there.”

I shake my head as I scoff. “And? What are you saying?”

He doesn’t answer, he just looks away, his jaw clenched.

“Artem. What the fuck are you saying?”

But I know what he’s saying. It’s obvious. But that can’t be right. “That isn’t possible Artem I was like fifteen, why would anyone do that, they could’ve gotten her whenever?—”

“No, they couldn’t. Not if your father never had you two going out alone together without him or Caesar.” I rack my brain thinking. Was I ever alone with my mom? Not really. I guess we always went everywhere as a family, my father was always with us no matter what, until she passed . . . Is this why?

“But if they wanted me dead, they could’ve just killed me. It’s been twelve years since then Artem, they’ve had chances.”

“Not if they’re smart, they wouldn’t just kill you. Especially if someone was on to them. I’m sure your dad wouldn’t have let you even leave the house if he thought that they’d just kill you whenever.”

“Then, it’s fine right? Hypothetically if this is all true, I got lucky?”

He looked at me again finally, shaking his head. “If you’ve seen what I’ve seen, you wouldn’t believe in luck.”