Page 95 of Man of the Year

When I sense him closer, I swing around, throwing all my weight at him.

In the blink of an eye, he grabs both my hands and rams into me, slamming me against the fence.

“You scumbag!” he yells and throws a punch into my face.

The pain is so sudden and sharp that I see stars.

“You liar!” he roars, punching me again.

“Traitor!” he snaps. A kick in my gut folds me in two and cuts off my breathing as my entire body stiffens in unimaginable pain.

“I lied for you! Cheated! Gave up my career!” he sobs.

I want to tell him that he was scum and a loser when I met him, but I can’t talk, can’t even take a breath. My eyes are shut as I try to work through the pain.

“There! Get them!” someone shouts in the distance, but closer, much closer, too close for my liking.

“You wanted a painkiller?” Phil asks in a threatening voice I know only from when he’s drunk.

My eyes snap open and search for the syringe on the ground—I must’ve dropped it when this asshole hit me.

“I’ll give you a painkiller,” Phil growls.

My eyes dart to his hand, raised in the air, the familiar syringe now pointing at me.

“No,” I gasp. “No-no-no-no-no.” I back up, limping. I can’t have what’s in that capsule. “Phil, listen to me.”

But before I come up with a good ploy, he lunges at me, and I squeal from the sharp pain of the needle in my neck.

I want to protest, but it’s too late. Horror paralyzes me. I try to think of the antidote, though there’s none besides an immediate IV. My body suddenly feels numb, making me sag against the fence and onto the ground. My chest tightens, making it hard to breathe.

Two figures come running—Julien and the gardener.

The gardener tackles Phil while Julien stands over me, his head cocked in amusement.

“What’s wrong with him?” he asks.

“His painkiller,” Phil says, panting against the grass as the gardener straddles him, tying him up.

“Painkiller, huh?”

I have a feeling Julien knows that it’s not.

“It’s not,” I try to say, but my words sound like a senseless rasp.

I don’t know what Julien has against me, but he’s the only one who’s ever figured me out.

I try to move, but I know how this works—my body is slowly going into paralysis.

“You finally got a taste of your own medicine,” Julien says with a smirk, his features blurry.

You assholeis my final thought before the world goes dark.

SEVENTY-TWO

NATALIE

They walk out of the dark garden like a team of survivors.

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