Page 138 of Knot Made to Break: Part One

A kill shot. That’s what I needed. One clean shot to end this nightmare.

The slow, deliberate smirk that curled his lips only added fuel to the fire of my hatred. It was like he thought every second of my hesitation was another chance for him to reclaim his power over me.

They’d broken me before, left scars I’d never be free of. But I wasn’t the same defeated woman, and I wouldn’t go down without a fight.

For one brief, excruciating moment, my mind raced through a thousand scenarios. If I missed, he would kill me. If I hit himbut didn’t finish the job, he’d make me suffer like never before. But if I did nothing, I was just prolonging the inevitable.

I had to end this. I had to be strong enough to pull the trigger.

Dimitri’s reassuring words echoed through my mind: “You’re safe with us.” I clung to the security I always felt when I was with him. The warmth of Giovanni’s touch. Marco’s comforting smiles. Tommy’s addictive laugh. Every time they’d told me I had nothing to fear anymore, then backed it up with their actions, they’d given me another little piece of myself back.

But I had everything to fear now.

I was afraid of losing them.

Afraid of losing myself.

Vincent’s finger tightened on his trigger. I saw it in slow motion, the lethal intent in his eyes, the cold calculation of a man who’d killed more times than he could count.

I stared down the muzzle of his gun and knew I was out of options.

I had no choice.

It was me, or it was him.

The world paused, a single frame of a horrific movie. My breath caught, my heart stopped, and my soul braced for the fallout.

I squeezed the trigger.

A deafening blast filled the room, life-changing and absolute. And then... silence.

To be continued…

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