Page 123 of It Starts With A No

This time, Tamara didn’t stop. With another shove, Clary went over.

Time seemed to stretch out, and she could see herself falling back in slow motion.

But despite the timelessness her mind had entered, her physical body wasn’t responding. She’d sucked in a breath—and continued to do so.

She couldn’t even make herself scream as her hands flailed.

Then, as she reached out, her bandaged hand struck the shiny bracelet on Tamara’s arm.

The thick bandage caught on the prongs of Tamara’s bracelet, and it jerked the assistant forward as Clary dropped.

The entanglement held Clary there for one second as the fabric ripped from her weight.

One second.

That, and the brush of the rubbery base of her slippers against the side of the cliff, was just what Clary needed to wrap her hand around a stone column.

But she lost her slippers in the process and couldn’t get a grip on the cliff to push herself up.

Clary was left dangling off the edge.

Her hair whipped around her, and her hand grew clammy. Angels will lift me up in their hands. She swallowed hard. Jesus.

“Ugh.” Tamara flung her arm up, wrenching the bracelet away from the bandage. The force of her action broke the bracelet, and Clary watched as the shiny thing struck her shoulder.

Tamara leaned forward, trying to grab the bracelet, so much so that she almost threw herself over the railing.

She righted herself just in time, and the diamond bracelet bounced off Clary and dropped down the cliff. “Ahh!” Tamara yelled, frustrated.

Then, Tamara’s gaze locked on to Clary.

Raising her foot, she aimed for Clary’s hand around the baluster column.

Jesus. Clary shut her eyes. Help. She couldn’t even open her mouth. Supporting her entire weight with one hand was too much for her, and it was taking every ounce of strength she could muster.

Clary shut her eyes tighter when she heard a gun go off, and it took her a moment to realize she hadn’t been hit.

Neither did Tamara’s foot make contact with her hand.

Clary looked up, but there wasn’t anyone there.

As she stretched her bandaged hand toward another column, she could feel her hold slipping.

Then, just before her bandaged hand could grab onto anything, her uninjured hand slipped.

Only then did she scream.

Chapter 24

“What do you mean she didn’t check in?”

Oliver watched as Seth yelled at the hotel clerk. Had he seen his brother angry? Yes. But shouting at strangers?

Never.

Not even when Seth was frustrated by all the adults who turned a deaf ear to them. The angrier Seth got, the quieter he got.

Not this time, though.

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