Page 189 of This Life of Mine

The thought should terrify me. Instead, something unexpected happens. The panic recedes. Just the right amount for me to breathe—to remember where I am.

The sound of my heartbeat thrumming in my ears begins to fade. The tunnel vision eases. The floor feels solid beneath my feet again.

Alex hasn’t said a word. He doesn’t need to. His presence wraps around me like an anchor. Solid and unmoving.

Since this nightmare began, I’m not alone. And somehow that changes everything.

The fear that has ruled so much of my life loosens its grip.

Alex may be here, ready to save me. But I can save my damn self.

My shoulders straighten and my breathing steadies. The shaking in my hands subsides.

Alex stands behind me, his strength and quiet confidence at my back. His absolute certainty that I’m capable of more than I think settles into my bones. I’m not afraid anymore. I’m done.

I didn’t stay. I didn’t rot. I didn’t become her. And she hates me for it. But she doesn’t get to take anything else from me.

The heaviness of the gun makes her hand shake, and now that she sees the rage in me, so does she.

Krav Maga taught me one thing above all else—hesitation is an opening.

Slow at first. Controlled. Don’t rush. Don’t panic. Move.

So I move.

I turn into her, knocking the barrel off-line as I step inside her space, the way Alex taught me—redirect first, control the weapon, close the distance. My hand clamps down on her wrist, twisting hard, using bone against joint, leverage over strength. She screams.

It gives, and the gun clatters to the floor before she even understands what’s happened.

She gasps, then stumbles.

I don’t stop. Alex’s voice echoes in my head. You don’t disengage until you’re safe.

I sweep her legs out from under her and drive her down, my knee pinning her shoulder, my forearm pressed across her back—pressure where it counts, where balance and breath fail in unison.

She moans from the pain, but it’s useless now.

“Don’t move,” I say, voice steady. “You’re done.”

She struggles, but she’s weak. Smaller than I realized. All that power reduced to shaking breath beneath me.

I look up and meet Alex’s eyes.

There’s pride there. Relief. And something fierce and unwavering. He always knew I’d get here.

Sirens are close now.

I hold her down until help arrives, until hands pull her away, until the weight of what I did catches up with me.

I didn’t survive this life of mine to die quietly at the hands of someone who thought I was disposable. I fought back. And I fucking won.

Chapter fifty-seven

Lina

We stand outside the bakery doors and watch as officers finish cuffing Elinor before guiding her toward a waiting patrol car. Around back, the coroner’s team loads the bodies of her men into waiting vehicles.

The click of metal around Elinor’s wrists echoes across the parking lot.