Page 111 of Forbidden Fate

I see everything.

The red spreading across the front of her dress.

The way her dark hair loosens from its pins.

The tiny gold cross at her throat.

Her eyes, open and confused, as if even now she can’t believe what just happened.

My grandmother.

Not by blood.

Blood is nothing.

Less than nothing.

This woman fed me. Scolded me. Held my hand while my mother’s coffin was lowered into the earth. Called me mijo even when I didn’t deserve it.

And now she lies bleeding on the floor because of me.

Because I came back.

Because I brought Robin here.

A figure stands in the doorway.

Zabala.

Gun in hand, his face twisted with satisfaction and something worse. Triumph. He looks past Señora V’s body and smiles when he sees me.

“Moreno,” he says.

Red washes over my vision.

I don’t think about the gun he holds that could take my life as quickly as it took Señora’s.

I launch myself at him.

He lifts the gun, but I hit him before he can fire.

We crash backward through the open doorway and onto the front step. The gun goes off again, the shot cracking past my ear, close enough that I feel the heat. Pain flares along the side of my head, but I don’t care.

We hit the ground hard.

The gun skitters across the porch, clattering against the brick.

Zabala grunts beneath me and drives his fist into my ribs.

Once.

Twice.

Pain explodes through my side.

I slam my forearm across his throat.

“You killed her,” I snarl.