Page 110 of Piece You Saved

He hauls her into him. The sound of his harsh breathing fills the kitchen as he buries his face in her hair.

For one second, her eyes meet mine. That’s when it hits me. She knows exactly how this is going to end. A man like Rylan will eventually grind her down. She knows it. I know it. Yet she’s still going through it.

Her life for Sam’s.

Unless we can figure out something else, that’s exactly the way it’s going to go.

CHAPTER 29

SAIGE

Pop.

The tree bark I was aiming at does not explode.

Shit.

I wish I could say it was because I had the sun in my eye, but it’s setting on my right, so I know it’s me.

I lower the gun with a heavy sigh. “I did something wrong, didn’t I?”

“You know,” Aden, standing in the garden beside me, replies.

I glance over at him. He has his arms folded, giving the tree I’m meant to be punching bullet holes into the full focus of his attention. “What was it?”

He drags his gaze from the tree. “Why don’tyoutell me?”

I eye him for a beat. He stares back, impassive. I’m not sure if it’s because my miss was just that bad, or if it’s something else. With the heavy lines furrowing his brow, it’s something else. Despite Dariel assuring me that the few neighbors they have won’t care about us using the garden as a shooting range, I keep expecting cops to turn up and arrest us all.

If only that were the source of my distraction. It’s Sam, and what Rylan could be doing to her.

I slept with Aden and told him I loved him. I hugged Kade. All good things. Things I don’t regret and will treasure forever. But we’re sitting around talking, and talking isn’t going to get Sam back. Only one thing will.

“I was distracted,” I admit.

“You have to let the rest of the world fall away, Saige,” Aden says.

Easier said than done.

I take in the tree in the distance. “I picture it’s his head, and I still miss.”

Missing isn’t an option when he’s in front of me. I might only get one chance, and I can’t waste it.

“Headshots are tricky,” Aden concedes.

I nod, lift the gun with both hands, take a breath in, and hold it. I stare at the exact place I want to put this bullet. And I envision that place is right between Rylan’s eyes. Better yet,inone of his eyes.

I stroke the trigger the way Aden told me.

I don’t know where the bullet goes, but it isn’t anywhere on the tree.

“Throwing the gun at his head won’t work, will it?” I ask hopefully.

Aden snorts in amusement and wraps his arm around my waist, dropping a kiss on the top of my head as he nudges my arms down. “Unfortunately not.”

I sigh in frustration. I’d throw my gun at the tree, but with my inability to hit it, I’d probably end up taking a squirrel out.

“And your arm keeps dipping.” He glances at my stomach. “Are you in pain?”

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