Chapter 28Anna
Chapter Twenty-Eight
ANNA
Cora was one of my new favorite people. She’d untied me, and I’d practically clawed my way to the gun.
“Stop, Papa,” I said, holding it with both hands and pointing it at his heart. “I don’t want to shoot you, but I will.”
I didn’t, but my father would kill all of us if he got his hands on it. I knew that.
My father whipped around, his chest heaving in and out. “Darling?—”
“Don’t ‘ darling’ me.” The term was laughable. Darling. As if he actually cared. “You were going to make me marry a pedophile.”
He licked his lips. “Anna…”
I shook my head. “Don’t. Just, don’t.”
If Ari hadn’t stopped him, he would have killed Jason. Crushed his windpipe when Jason couldn’t even fight back. That’s when I’d decided the best way was to make him angry.
Again, Ari came to my rescue.
Tears pooled in my eyes and overflowed. “I waited for you to return. I’d missed you so much, but you’ve never loved me. Never.”
Ari took a step towards me, hands up. “Sweetheart, how about you let me have the gun? Okay?”
I couldn’t take my eyes off Papa. “I trusted you.”
“Anna,” Ari said, his voice calm and even. “Let me have the gun.”
My father shifted on his feet. Before I knew what was happening, he was charging for the gun.
“No!” Ari’s voice boomed.
He latched his hand onto it, and we spun around and around as we fought for control. It felt like forever, but it was probably closer to seconds. I was sure I was going to die as we wrestled. There was a loud pop and my father froze before he stumbled backwards, pressing his hand against the left side of his torso around his rib cage. Blood poured through his fingers like water emerging from a dam, and he dropped to the floor.
Ari took the gun from me. “Anna.” He grabbed me by the arms. “Anna!”
Forcing my gaze away from Papa, I looked at Ari. “I didn’t have my finger on the trigger. He’d wrestled it from me.”
I pulled free of Ari and kneeled next to my father. As I looked at him, there was no remorse or sadness. He would have killed Jason. He would have killed me and Ari. Not to mention, the unspeakable things he’d said about Cora.
“Goodbye, Papa,” I said and stood.
Ari wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my neck. I hugged him around the chest and pressed my cheek against his. “Are you okay?” I asked.
“As long as you’re okay, I’m okay.”
The ding of the elevator caught our attention and Ari untangled himself from me. If I had to guess, someone had figured a work around for whatever tech my father had used to disable the elevators. Ari strode to the door and unlocked it. When it opened, paramedics were waiting at the door.
My head swam as the adrenaline began to fade. With everything that had happened, my ability to process was done. It was increasingly more difficult to breathe. Spots danced on the edge of my vision, and the last thing I saw was the floor racing to meet me.