Page 119 of By the Time You Read This

“No,” Gabriela said, and then she screamed it again into the sky. “No.”

Then in one quick movement, she whirled.

But Raisa was close enough.

She leaped forward, catching Gabriela by the arm just as she went to jump.

The momentum carried them both forward, Raisa’s boots skidding against dirt and loose pebbles, her fingers desperately clinging to the material they’d grabbed. She fell forward, the wind getting knocked half out of her.

Gabriela slid mostly over the edge, and the weight of it was taking them both over.

Raisa tried to get herself to her knees, tried to get leverage.

“Let me go,” Gabriela screamed. “Let me go.”

“No,” Raisa roared, just as St. Ivany grabbed the back of her shirt.

They both pulled until Raisa had better purchase.

They were going to save Delaney.

Gabriela.

Gabriela, not Delaney. They were going to save her. Raisa just needed to pull. Just a little harder.

But then Gabriela began to fight.

“She’s going to take us all over,” St. Ivany huffed in Raisa’s ear. “You have to let her go.”

“I can’t give up on her,” Raisa said, even as Gabriela kicked out against the rock, swinging her body so that she could actually pull against them. “I can’t ...”

She was out of breath, out of energy. Gabriela stared up at her, seeming to sense that Raisa was losing her grip.

“Make the world a better place,” Gabriela said. “Let me go.”

Raisa would never be able to say if it was a conscious decision. But in that moment her hands failed her. They spasmed, and then ...

She let go.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Raisa

Day Seven

Raisa stared out over the harbor, wondering if she should seek out Delaney once more. It would be a long time before she forgot her own mental slip on that cliff, thinking she was trying to save Delaney, even though her sister had never been close to the type of monster Gabriela had become.

Still, it felt like maybe they had said to each other what they’d needed to on that boat.

She was about to head to the hospital—she wanted to check on Kilkenny herself—when Essi Halla strutted toward her, dolled up to perfection.

“Well, this all seems rife with potential for melodrama,” Essi said, hands on her hips. “Maybe it will be my second book.Iwas targeted by a serial killer.”

“Well, good luck, I guess?” Raisa said, not bothering to mention that she’d already flagged Essi as a person of interest for the white-collar boys at the Bureau.

Essi winked at her. “Don’t you worry. I’m a survivor. I always come out on top.”

“I’m sure you do,” Raisa said, laughing, almost hoping it was true. “So Gabriela Cruz was the one who told you Isabel had killed your father?”

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