Page 104 of Marked

She chose me.

He pointed the gun at me.

The hammer cocked.

I shut my eyes, crying into my hands.

“Mom!” Quinn yelled.

I sobbed.

“No!” Mom’s tortured scream escaped.

BANG

“No! Oh god!” Mom screamed again.

A soft thud beside me.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. Quinn laid on the cement next to me, her blood pooling on the cement, encroaching on me.

Jimmy laughed.

He winked at Mom, who was desperately trying to get to Quinn.

“Huh. That was fun. Good luck with that.”

“You had to choose.” My tears soak my shirt. “And you let me believe all these years you chose me to survive.”

“Yeah. I did.” She nods. “Because how could I have told you differently?”

Silence stretches between us. I was never angry with her for choosing before. I knew she had no choice.

Was I mad now because it was me she chose instead of Quinn? How unfair is that?

“Harley.” She scoots closer. “Harley, Quinn was so injured, she wasn’t going to live, even if we got to the hospital that minute. I saw what they did to her, honey. They hurt her so badly, there were so much internal injuries and blood loss. Baby, you didn’t see all the blood.” She sniffles.

“She was going to die anyway, but you still picked me to die too?” How much pain can the heart take before it just stops?

“What they did to you and Quinn. The trauma. I…” She leans back in her chair, tired and pained. “They’d hurt you somuch, too. I thought…I thought we would all be better off dead.”

I stare at her a long moment.

“I wasn’t going to survive losing either of you, I figured if they didn’t kill me, I’d handle it myself.” She looks to Zack. “You think I’m a monster.”

Zack stays somber, silent.

“But you told Laurens about my memory returning. She tried to kill me, Mom.”

“I know.” She nods. “I…was scared. Jimmy was still making threats after all these years.”

“The pension,” Zack pipes up.

“Yes,” she explains. “He said if I didn’t help him with some money issue, he’d find Harley and finish what he started. I didn’t understand what he wanted from me, so when those pension papers came, I showed Harley. Only, after she left that night, I understood. They would deposit the money into my account and then they’d withdraw it.”

I lean back in my chair.

“Honey, do you understand? Do you believe me?”

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