Page 138 of Piece You Saved

The 3-3-3 Rule.

Sounds: A wolf snarling. My bullet hitting the car and not Rylan. Sam sobbing.

See: A wolf. The blue-black sky. A black Mercedes.

Feel: Cool grass under my back. A cold gun in my hand. Fury at Rylan.

My hand steadies.Isteady.

This gun is my lifeline, and I will kill Rylan with it.

Pop.

A bullet tears into the wolf’s chest, making him snarl.

Not my shot. I’ve wasted too many when I wasn’t paying attention.

I look for the right shot. The perfect one. The killing shot.

I aim at the wolf, and I wait.

Rylan shakes off the bullet someone shot at him from somewhere behind me. And he sees me. He snarls, his eyes dark with malice. With rage.

How can he stop himself from killing the woman who is doing everything in her power to kill him when she’s only feet away and pointing a gun right at him?

Easy. He won’t be able to.

I think of all he’s taken from me, family, time, freedom, happiness. A life.

Everything.

The wolf springs at me.

That’s it.

“Breathe. Squeeze. Follow through,” I whisper.

And I squeeze the trigger.

CHAPTER 37

SAIGE

Istare at the mess I made of Rylan’s right eye.

I’mstillstaring when Rylan thumps to the ground and doesn’t move again, his left eye glazing over.

The world must still be happening, the earth spinning, people living their lives the same way they always have, but to me, the world is standing still.

I’m caught in a bubble.

And then I hear it. Laughter. It’s a sound I don’t hear nearly enough.

Mine.

If it’s a little too loud, that’s okay, because I don’t do it nearly enough. Not because I’m crazy.

I’m laughing because Aden’s words from the attic, a lifetime ago, are swimming in my mind:

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