Page 104 of Forbidden Fate

I see her because she moves into the open, her dark hair flying, her arms up as if surrendering and escaping are the same thing.

“Ioana!” Denisa screams.

Ioana turns toward the sound.

A shot cracks.

Her body jerks.

For a second, she keeps standing.

For a second I think she’s okay.

Until red blooms across her chest, and she falls.

No.

No.

No.

She hits the floor hard, one arm bent beneath her, eyes open.

The girls were angry with me. They whispered about me. They blamed me. They hated me, maybe.

But I never wanted any of them dead.

Gunfire keeps ripping through the house.

Police shout.

The kidnappers shout back.

I press myself to the floor, looking for a path.

Then I see Ştefan.

He’s near the far wall, half shielded by a doorway, firing.

And in that split second, I know something with absolute certainty.

My best shot is the man who thinks I love him.

I push up on my elbows. “Ştefan!” I crawl forward, coughing, dragging myself over broken glass. My knee hits something wet. “Ştefan!”

This time, he hears me.

“Colette!” he shouts.

I force myself to stand even though every instinct screams at me to stay down.

A police officer yells something. Maybe at me. Maybe at Ştefan. I don’t know.

I raise my hands. “I love you!” I scream in English. Then, “Je t’aime!”

The words tear my throat raw.

Ştefan freezes for a split second. “What?” he shouts.