Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 68006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“All right.” He kisses my forehead. “I do too, baby. But we will be right outside the door, and I will keep my eye on you the entire time.”
I nod and let my eyes flutter closed.
Leif saved me today. I always knew he’d come for me.
I always knew he would.
A few hours later, my eyes open and Leif is next to me again.
“Hey you. Good news. While you were asleep, they took you for another MRI, and everything looks good.”
“I had an MRI?”
“Yes, one when you first came in, which was clear. It’s pretty amazing. No internal bleeding, including in your brain. You survived that fall because the other guy broke it.”
“What happened to him?”
“Dead on impact. The police think he probably had a failsafe in place. If something happened to him, he had someone ready to come in and poison you.”
“Poison me. So I heard you right. I heard the nurse right. Why would he…”
“Because he was a sick man, Kelly. I don’t know if he was your brother or not. And I don’t know if Forester Smith was your father either, but if you consent, we can do a DNA test to find out.”
I shake my head, the strain making me ache. “I don’t want to know. Don’t do the DNA test. They’re both dead now, so what does it matter?”
“I understand. I wouldn’t want to know if I were related to such sick fucks either.”
“Right.”
“The good news is, your doctor says if you continue to improve, I can take you home in a few days.”
“I want to go home.”
“When I say home, I mean home to my place. Because that’s where you’re going to live from now on.”
“You mean?”
“Of course I do. I love you, Kelly. I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”
“You saved my life.”
“Maybe at the end, but if I hadn’t taken you with me to the hotel—”
“He would’ve found me, Leif. I don’t know how, but he would have. He was obsessed. My brother—The Dark One—was obsessed with me. I… It’s a long story. It’s all so sick and twisted.”
“It is, and you can tell me everything after you’re well rested. You’re safe now. The two of them are gone. Forever.”
A feeling of utter calm—something I’ve never experienced before—swaths me. They’re gone.
“But it came at a price,” I say.
“It did. Brindley.”
“How can I ever forgive myself for that?”
“You have to. You apologized to her for treating her badly, and you meant it. She believed you. She went to her grave knowing you were friends.”
“But it’s because of me that—”
He places two fingers over my lips. “Please, Kelly. Don’t go there. I’ve been there, and it’s not a pretty place. Don’t blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault.”
Yes, Leif has been there. Friends who never came home. Friends who he was supposed to save but couldn’t.
The situations aren’t identical, but they’re close.
“How? How do I move past it?”
“You just do, Kelly. You make a conscious choice. Others may have died, but you lived. Make that life worthwhile. Make sure they did not die in vain.”
42
LEIF
Two weeks later…
“It was a lovely service for Brindley,” Aspen says.
“How is your mom doing?” I ask.
“She’s good. She thought it was important that Buck and I come back for the service.”
“Plus, we wanted to,” Buck says. “Did Reid tell you they tracked down the security guards who went missing? They were found locked in a safe house upstate.”
“Yeah, he told me. I’m glad they’re going to be okay.”
“How’s Kelly doing?” Aspen asks.
I gaze at Kelly. She’s still sitting in the small chapel where the Wolfes arranged the service. Attendance was small, of course. Kelly and me, Buck and Aspen. Rock and Lacey, Reid and Zee, Macy, and some other Wolfe employees.
The other girls who still live in town—Marianne, Francine, and Lily.
The Wolfes arranged a small wake at Reid and Zee’s. Buck, Aspen, Kelly, and I are the only ones still here at the chapel.
Kelly still sits in the front row, staring at the photograph of Brindley on display and the urn containing her ashes.
“She’s taking it so hard,” I say.
“We all are,” Aspen says, “but Kelly… She’s been through so much.”
Buck nods. “She’ll be okay. She’s strong.”
“She is,” Aspen agrees. “We all are. We had to be to survive. That island would’ve eaten us up otherwise.”
“It’s amazing most of you came out mentally healthy,” Buck says.
Aspen smiles. “We can thank the Wolfes for that. That retreat center they built on the island saved us. Without that intensive treatment, I don’t think we’d have had such good results.”
“I’m going to see if she’s ready.” I walk back into the chapel. “Baby?”
She looks up at me, her eyes red and swollen from crying.
“You ready?”
Kelly gazes at the pewter urn. “I don’t want to leave her. She’s alone.”
“She’s not alone. Not anymore. Come on.”