by Ella Miles
“I love you too, Black.”
Archard steps into the center again. “The third round you get a gun with a single bullet.”
Finally. A round Enzo and I can win. Especially with Felix so exhausted.
Archard puts all our names in and begins the drawing process again.
“Enzo will fight this round against…”
“…Kai.”
Dammit.
We both look at Beckett. He’s the weakest shot out of the three of us. And he’s the most beat up. I’m not sure he can win this round. And I can’t watch him die.
“I know, it’s okay. I got this,” Enzo whispers into my hair.
I don’t know what's going on in his head, but I trust Enzo. I know he has a plan to end this. I trust him.
I just nod.
Enzo stands and holds out his hand to me. I take it as he pulls me up. Archard has two guns loaded with one bullet a piece, and then he hands them to us.
“Good luck,” Archard says.
I frown, feeling closer to the end of the game as I’ve ever felt before. But I don’t know why this feels like the end. Enzo and I aren’t going to fight. It’s Beckett we have to worry about. This round will be another twenty minutes of time-wasting. Hopefully, Enzo will tell me the plan this time.
We step into the circle together, armed with our guns.
Archard yells, “Go.”
And then Enzo pulls me into a hug against his chest. He buries his mouth in my hair so no one can see his lips move or hear what he is going to say to me.
“I got a glance of the paper with each round on it,” Enzo says.
I don’t react, although this surprises me. I guess Archard is on our side after all.
“It continues just like this round for three more rounds. For three more rounds, you only get a gun with a single bullet in it.”
I nod. “That’s good. We are better shots than Felix. Beckett just has to dodge the bullet this next round. Then you or I can kill Felix.”
Enzo kisses my head. “Don’t shoot first. Let Felix get his shot. Then fire.”
I nod, agreeing, but I don’t know why we are talking about what I should do against Felix, when we don’t even know who will face Felix. Beckett could still win. We need to be thinking about how to get him to win.
“I love you, stingray.”
“I love—”
But his lips crash down on mine. And I’m lost to the kiss. I’m floating high above all the danger, above all the pain. Love conquers all—I know that when I kiss Enzo. There is no way Felix will win.
But then the kiss stops, broken abruptly.
My eyes are closed, but I feel the loss sweep through me. It’s more than the loss of a kiss. It’s the loss of love.
I open them, and I realize Enzo’s plan. To ensure I’m the one who wins. I’m the one who lives.
I watch as he runs for the cliff.
“No!” I shout as I run after him. There has to be another way. But I know Enzo has made up his mind. He thinks the only way to keep me alive is if I win the game. But after we beat Felix, surely we can convince the men we can rule together. But the angry eyes looking at me from all directions tells me that is a false hope. They will make us stay and fight until only one of us lives.
I run as hard and as fast as I can. For myself. For my babies. Enzo can’t die. There has to be another way. But as fast as I can run, I know that it’s not enough. Enzo is faster.
He flings himself off the edge of the cliff at the same time I dive for him. I grab his arm, and he dangles over the edge with me holding onto this arm with everything I have.
“You can’t die,” I plead, holding onto him as tears fall down my cheeks.
“I was never meant to live.”
“No,” I shake my head. “We are one. We live. I need you. Our babies need you.”
He looks at me tenderly. “I know. And this is what I have to do. You know it. I know it. The world knows it. I deserve to pay for the sins I committed. This is the only way to save you. These men won’t let us all walk out of here alive. Only one will leave. Only one will survive. That has to be you. Our babies need you. You are the only one strong enough to survive with everyone else dead. I've already proven I’m not strong enough. But you are. You were thriving without me. You are strong enough.”
“No, I’m not,” I cry, more tears falling. My arms are exhausted and tired from clinging to Felix earlier. I can’t hold on much longer. And Enzo doesn’t want me to.
“I love you. I can’t live without you,” I plead.
“I’ll never leave you. We are one. I’ll always be with you, even when I’m gone. Death will never part us.”
I sob full on at his words. This can’t be how our story ends. This can’t be the end.
We are supposed to get our happily ever after. We are supposed to get to live. We are supposed to go back to the cottage in New Zealand. Or live in the mansion in Alaska. Or sail the seas on our yacht. Not this…
This can’t be real.
But I know that it is.
“It’s okay. Let go, Kai. I will always be with you. Death can’t separate us.”
Another tear falls, and I know it’s the end. The tear lands on my hands, and I lose everything. My hands slip, and I watch Enzo fall.
Death shouldn’t be peaceful, at least not dying young. But watching Enzo fall felt peaceful. Until he was gone. When the waves swept his body under them, and I could no longer see him. That’s when the peace was taken.
I sob into my hands as I’m completely broken. I can’t think. I can’t breathe. All I can do is cry.
I feel arms around me, but I don’t know whose arms. I’m lost. Enzo was wrong. I can’t survive this. I should have fallen over the cliff with him. I can’t survive to be a mother for our babies, not without him.
“You are strong,” Beckett says, pulling me back.
But I don’t feel strong.
“Enzo loved you. I love you,” he kisses me on the cheek before stepping into the ring.
I hear Archard yell, “Go.” And I finally snap out of my heartbreak enough to realize what is about to happen.
Beckett drops his gun.
“No!” I scream. “Fight back!”
But Enzo and Beckett had a plan, to ensure that I lived. That I would be the victor. That if only one of us survived, it would be me.
Felix smirks, looking at me like I’m next. And then he shoots Beckett in the chest.
He falls instantly to the ground.
I scream, but it comes out of me in slow motion, just like Beckett’s fall to the ground.
Archard snaps his fingers. And men run into the circle, grab Beckett’s body, and drag him away.
Two men I love—dead.
Two men who loved me sacrificed everything for me.
Archard breaks the silence. “The remaining rounds are the same. You will each be given a gun with a single bullet and twenty minutes to fight. If neither of you is successful in killing the other after twenty minutes, we will reset and start again until one of you is the victor.”
I stand from my broken spot on the ground and wipe the tears and snot on the back of my hand. I will not let their deaths be in vain. I will win. I will defeat Felix.
I walk into the circle calmly. Archard loads the two guns and hands one to Felix and one to me.
“It’s going to feel so good when I win. The first thing I’m going to do is hunt down those babies of yours—Finn and Ellie. Beautiful names. Staying with your father, you said?”
I growl.
Felix laughs as he tosses his gun from hand to hand. “That was a lie, Kai.”
I narrow my eyes.
“You thought you could fool me? Really? I’ve been one step ahead this entire time.”
“Go!” Archard shouts.
I grip my gun and wait for Felix to shoot at me like Enzo warned. I need to dodge the bullet first, then shoot him. I can’t be caught off guard. But apparently, Felix is in no hurry to kill me. He
keeps talking.
“Actually, the first thing I’m going to do when I win is have my way with Liesel. She’s a hot piece of ass, don’t you think?”
Don’t be goaded. Be ready for the shot.
Felix tosses the gun back to his left hand.
“I’ll keep her around for a few weeks until she’s broken. Then I’ll kill her.” He tosses the gun back to his right.
“Her child is of no use to me. I’ll have one of my men kill him.” He tosses it back to his left. He’s not left-handed. He’s a good shot with his right, but a terrible with his left.
“And then, I’m coming for your children.”
I growl as he tosses the gun back to his right hand.
“But they aren’t hiding with your father. They are hiding with Langston.”
He tosses the gun to his left hand, and I take my shot.
I fire, aiming right for his heart.
He realizes his mistake a second too slow. He tries to fire with his left hand, but misses any serious organ, and instead hits my shoulder. But I hit my target—his heart.
I watch him fall slowly to his knees as blood spills from his chest. I walk over to him so I can watch the life leave his eyes.
I stand over him as he falls back, but his chest still rises and falls for another second, for one more beat of his heart—spilling more blood.
“You lose. I win. Love wins. Beckett sacrificed his life to save me. Enzo sacrificed his life to save me and our kids. They both knew I was stronger than you. Because love is stronger than hate. Love is stronger than evil.”
And then Felix stops breathing. He’s gone—dead.
I’m safe. My children are safe. But the sacrifice that was made was great. The loss was everything.
I close my eyes as the tears fall. There is much to do. I have to figure out what to do with the men. I have to set Liesel and her child, free. I have to tell Langston the news. I have to find a way to tell my babies about what their father and uncle did to protect me.
But that can all wait. My heart is broken—a piece of it gone forever over the cliff and into the ocean. I tried to save him. But it wasn’t enough. The only way to protect them all was to stay dead, to stay hidden, because only one of us could survive. Only one got to live.
But I failed at staying dead, and now Enzo is gone forever.
Death will never part us. Enzo’s words ring in my ear.
Then why do I feel so alone? Why do I feel so cold? Because death won. We are apart. There is no happily ever after. Just survivors, trying to find a way to live without the love they lost.
27
Kai
I’ve been lying on the ground for over an hour. And I felt every second of it. I know the pain I felt. Time didn’t move faster or slower. It just kept ticking, moving on like I didn’t exist.
I can’t keep laying here on the ground—suffering in my heartbreak.
I have to get up. I have to set things right. I have to go be a mother.
But standing up and opening my eyes to the pain is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
I do it, but just barely. And when I open my eyes, I’m shocked by what I see.
There is a group of men tied up with guns pointed at their heads off to one side. All men who were Felix’s loyal followers. But there is a larger group staring at me. And as I stand, they fall down to one knee.
My eyes shoot around and watch as every man and woman kneels in front of me.
“What’s happening?” I ask, to no one in particular.
Clifton steps forward from the crowd. I hadn’t even realized he was here. “They are accepting you as their new leader. Every man and woman bowing will go to the ends of the earth for you. They will fight for you. Protect your children with their lives. You won the games, and won them all over.”
Wow.
I expected once I won, I would have the power. I didn’t expect the men to actually honor that I was their leader. At least, not like this.
“The men would like to know what you would like to do with the betrayers?” Clifton asks.
I look at the men who would kill me or my children in a heartbeat. “Kill them, but not here. Enough blood has been spilled here.”
Clifton nods and heads toward the men to be disposed of.
Archard steps forward. “You are now Kai Black, the leader of this organization. And with it comes all the powers and benefits, along with the responsibilities.”
“I’ve always been Kai Black,” I say solemnly. Winning the game changed nothing.
Archard nods, as do most of the men agreeing with me.
“I will now transfer the codes and locations of the vaults and bank accounts,” Archard says.
I nod.
He leans down and whispers into my ear so only I can hear. I’m afraid at first I will forget, but this is what I’ve fought so hard for. There is no way I will forget.
“My job is done,” Archard says once he has finished telling me the codes, and then he leaves after giving my hand a tight squeeze.
I look over to the man closest to me. “Release Liesel,” I order.
The man stands and makes a call, and the van returns. A door opens, and Liesel steps out.
I run to her, needing the comfort of one of my only friends left in the world. We collide in an embrace full of pain at losing a man we both loved.
“I’m sorry, I failed,” I say.
She grabs my face and looks at my tear-streaked eyes. “No, you won. Love won.”
“Your child!” I look around for someone, anyone, to tell me where her son is. “Where is he?” I shout to the nearest man.
“I don’t know, Black,” he says.
“It’s Mrs. Black,” I say.
“Sorry, Mrs. Black. But I will find out for you right away.”
I nod and turn back to Liesel.
“I can’t see him,” she says suddenly.
“Why not?”
“Because he needs to go back to his parents. I don’t want him in this life. I don’t want to have to choose someday between saving my child and the man I love. It’s not safe for him. And if I see him, I won’t be able to let him go,” Liesel says.
If my heart could break again, it would for her.
“I understand,” I say, instead, wrapping her in a hug again.
“Where will you go? Will you come with me? Langston is watching the babies. You two deserve a happily ever after even if I don’t get one.”
She’s silent for a second. “I can’t come with you. I just need to go. To disappear. I’m not cut out for this life.”
I sigh, but nod. “Can I at least tell Langston you are alive in case he wants to try and find you?”
“No, I don’t want him to find me. It’s best he thinks I’m dead.”
I disagree. The man is heartbroken; I don’t care what she says. But that’s a fight for another day. Eventually, I’ll tell Langston the truth, but I’ll let Liesel have her space first.
“Promise me you won’t tell him?” she asks.
“I’ll keep your secret for as long as I can,” I say.
She nods. “Thank you.”
“Do you need money? A car? A bodyguard?”
She smiles. “I’ll take a car to the airport. But I have plenty of money.” She hugs me one final time. And then I watch as she walks away to the car she was a captive in just a few minutes ago.
I stand until she disappears down the road, and then I walk to the edge of the cliff where Enzo’s house once stood. I glance down over the edge and watch as the tide rolls higher and higher, hitting hard against the edge of the cliff. When we lived here, the water rarely came this high, but it does now.
I stare for a long time, hoping somehow the ocean saved him. Hoping somehow this isn’t the end. But the ocean doesn’t give Enzo back to me. It claimed him, and now he’s gone.
“We found the child, Mrs. Black. Would you like to see him?” a man says.
“Yes, please.”
I turn around and
do my best to leave the pain behind, even though it’s going to follow me forever.
I follow the man to another car. The door opens, and a young boy flings himself into my arms. I catch him, and my heart heals the tiniest of bits. This boy is safe because of Beckett and Enzo’s sacrifice. Because we won.
I hold him tightly in my arms. I don’t know how he senses that I’m here to save him. Maybe it’s because I’m the first woman he’s seen. Maybe it’s because he just needs to believe it. But he grips my neck tighter as I lift him out of the car.
“Are you here to save me?” he asks.
“Yes, I’m here to save you. You’re safe.” I kiss his chubby cheek. And stare into the brown eyes of a boy that looks so much like Enzo it hurts. Enzo will live on, I realize. In this child, in Finn, in Ellie, in me. He will live on, and that has to be worth living for.
“What’s your name?” I ask.
“Black,” he says back.
I grin. “That’s my name too.”
“It’s also my favorite color.”
“It’s a good color,” I agree. I don’t know if his first name is really Black. I don’t know if his adoptive parents decided to keep it as his last name or middle name. It doesn’t matter. He is family. And he’s safe.
Liesel may be afraid, but that’s normal for what she’s been through. She will come around. And one day she might meet the son she gave up once she realizes the world is safe. I will never let the world be dangerous again for our kids’ sakes.
“Can I drive you home, Mr. Black?” I ask.
He frowns, staring at the car he just jumped into my arms from.
“Can we walk?”
I laugh, not blaming the little one. “We can walk for a bit. Then how about I get you a convertible to ride in? Those don’t have tops. They aren’t scary; they are fun.”
He nods, smiling brightly.
I look to the man watching us, and with one look he’s headed to get a convertible here as fast as possible so I can drive the little boy home before I return to find my own babies.
28
Kai
Six Months Later
“I’m still not sure what I’m going to do about the Black organization. Do I destroy it? Sell it? Rule it?” I say to Langston.