Chapter 83
LILY
The gun is warm in my hand.
That's the first thing I notice. Not the recoil. Not the sound. Not even Kelly's body jerking on the concrete. Just the warmth.
I lower the weapon slowly, my breathing steady, my mind crystalline and clear in a way it hasn't been in thirteen years. There's no panic. No guilt. There's just done.
Mandy's killer is dead.
The barcode on my wrist doesn't burn anymore. The phantom weight of Turner's brand doesn't feel so heavy. I'm not the girl who was taken or the victim who escaped.
I'm the woman who chose.
I'm the woman who acted.
Mason takes the gun from my hand. My eyes are still fixed on Kelly's body. There's no triumph in this moment—nothing so simple as victory—but there's clarity and closure. There's the knowledge that I walked into hell and walked back out on my own terms.
I turn away from Kelly and go toward Mason.
He holds his arm open for me.
I walk right into it, and for the first time since my sister died, I don't feel alone in the dark.