Kendall wings the gun from me to Seth. She looks furious—but not shaken.
Seth stops where he is, holds his hands up. “Kendall.” His voice is eerily calm. “You need to give up.”
“I don’t think so, Sethy.”
“You can’t shoot both of us.” He takes a step forward, closer to me. “How’re you going to explain that?”
She keeps the gun trained on him. “You couldn’t have just minded your own business, Seth?”
“You killed Thatcher.” His voice is still calm, but there’s a timbre underneath it I recognize: rage. “You killed Fiona, and you killed Thatcher, and you tried to kill Addie. That makes this my business.”
“I did you a favor,” she snaps. “How much money are you set to inherit now?”
“Thatcher was my best friend—”
Her laugh is hysterical. “Oh please, Seth. He could’ve minded his own business, too. Or better yet, my father could’ve given me what was mine in the first place and none of this would have happened!”
Seth’s entire body is tense. Kendall is becoming increasingly unstable. Which could work to our advantage, if she lets her guard down—or it could lead to her shooting us dead, just like that, without thinking through the consequences.
My heart is thudding in my chest. Death is close now, closer than it’s ever been. I can smell it in the air, taste it on my tongue. Our only hope is to reason with her.
“No one gives a shit about me,” Kendall says. “So I have to look out for myself.”
I look into Kendall’s eyes, at her trembling chin. And an odd feeling moves through me.
“Kendall,” I say. “I know what it’s like to feel totally alone—”
“You have no idea what it’s like to be me,” she snaps. “You can’t. You were born here. You were never going to be anything. But I’m supposed to be someone. All I’m doing is taking back what’s mine, and no one’s going to stop me. Not him”—she points the gun at Seth—“and definitely not you. You’re nobody. Nobody.”
She trains the gun back on me.
In one fluid motion, Seth is in front of me, covering my body with his own.
The gun wobbles in Kendall’s hand for a second. But then she points it straight at Seth’s heart.
“They’ll know,” he says hoarsely. It’s the first time I hear fear in his voice. “Do you really think you can get away with this?”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“You do. You don’t have to kill us.”
“Run,” I say. “We’ll send you money. We won’t tell anyone. We’ll keep it between us.”
Her laughter is maniacal. “You expect me to believe that?”
“Kendall, I just want this over.” My voice breaks. “Fiona’s dead, Thatcher’s dead, Jeremy’s—” I choke on his name. Then inspiration strikes. “We could say it was him,” I go on, inventing wildly. “We could swear that he led us here at gunpoint and we shot him before he could shoot us. None of us have to go down for this. I’ll swear to it.”
I’m lying. Of course I’m lying. The moment she lowers her gun, I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure she’s punished for this. I can only hope I’m a good enough liar, that Kendall is desperate enough to believe me.
“You’re not going to be able to explain three more bodies,” Seth says.
For a moment, I think we’ve gotten through to her. The gun slips an inch.
But then she catches herself, trains it back on Seth’s chest. “Nice try. But it won’t be that hard. I shoot you. I shoot her. I wipe the gun clean, put it in her hands. You and Jeremy went after her, tried to stop her. She shot both of you, then felt so terrible about it, she shot herself.” She mock-frowns. “And me? I won’t be anywhere near here when you’re found. And if the cops start getting close, Daddy will cover it up. He always does.”
“You think my dad’s going to go along with it this time?” Seth asks tightly. “When it’s me?”
“People in power do what they have to do to stay there. You of all people should know that by now.”
Seth’s hand reaches back, finds mine. “Remember when I said I still didn’t know what I love?” he says, low so only I can hear.
I swallow. “Yeah?”
“I lied. It’s you. It’s always been you.”
The click of the gun distracts me from whatever I might be about to say.
Kendall’s finger is on the trigger. “Goodbye, Addie. Goodbye, Seth.”
I close my eyes.
46
And then a new sound meets my ears.
Footsteps, running through the woods.
Hope flickers in my chest.
