Lost Boy - Ker Dukey Page 0,71

for him to slice my throat before Hernandez fires his weapon, it will be suicide but maybe he would prefer to take us both out then go to prison.

“It’s over, Mr. Preston,” Hernandez tries to reason. Sirens blast in the distance, coming closer with every inhale of breath.

“Brother, please,” I beg, feeling the moment my words hit him. His hand falls from my hair, the knife hitting my shoulder, and then a sharp bang pierces the air. A splatting sounds so close to me, my head drops to see if it was me Jack shot.

Blue and red lights flicker over the ceiling, dancing up the walls. The thud of Stephan’s body crashing to the floor incites a wretched scream from my lips. All the pain hits me like a thousand bullets. Jack’s scent washes over me, the heat of his body encompassing mine. “Sorry,” I cry. “I’m so sorry.”

With a shuddering breath, Jack says the only words that can set me free. “I forgive you. It wasn’t your fault. I forgive you, but it wasn’t your fault.”

The room floods with officials. Hernandez called in the update before they were even out of their cars. Hernandez’s hand rests on my shoulder, squeezing for reassurance as Jack unties my bindings. Paramedics move toward us with medical kits, but they walk past me to Stephan.

“He’s alive?” I choke out.

“Step back,” another paramedic tells me, curling a blanket around my shoulders and flashing a flashlight in my eyes. “Do you have any pain?” Questions barrel into me, faces, lights…it’s all too much.

Jack is whispering things to me, but I’m fixated on the paramedics working on Stephan like he’s just some regular joe—a victim, not a monster. An officer bags the knife he dropped into an evidence bag while another bags the rope used to bind me. “Come on, you don’t need to see this,” Jack informs me, moving a paramedic out of our way. “I’m taking her for air,” he informs an officer who tries to stop him. My legs move, but it’s like I’m not connected to my body. An observer from above.

“She’s my best friend. Let me in,” Charlotte calls from the front door. Moving toward her voice, I suck at the air when we manage to make it outside to the small lawn.

“Lizzy—oh, thank god! Jack was with me when you answered the call. We’ve been looking for you all night,” Charlotte sobs, pushing past a police officer and launching herself at me. I wince at her impact, but wrap my arms around her with the little strength I have left. “It’s over,” I murmur. “It’s over.” Tears build in my eyes as my own words begin to register.

“I can’t believe it was Stephan,” she sobs. Sensing Jack’s presence at my back, I pull him into our hug, needing them both.

“There’s a woman alive upstairs. And we found a container. You’re going to want to see this, sir,” an officer tells Detective Barnett, who I hadn’t noticed was even here until now. I search the scene with a trembling lip. Storm clouds move overhead, a war drum still pounding in my chest. A wisp of air escapes my lips when Stephan is wheeled out on a stretcher, his shirt gone, a white cloth patch on his chest with a crimson stain, one arm cuffed to the bed, an officer by his side. Blue eyes flutter open. “Lizzy?” he croaks, crushing me. How could I have not seen the evil inside him? Deep down, I know we’re different people. His mother would have influenced his mentality. Psychopaths aren’t just born; they’re made. And when he learned about me, I became his cold obsession. Stepping toward him, we watch each other with haunted eyes. Jack’s hand rests on my shoulder. The officer turns toward me with a shake of his head, a hand sitting on his weapon in the unclipped holster on his hip. “We should get you looked at, Liz,” Jack murmurs. I nod, dropping my gaze to my feet, taking in a deep breath.

“Oh my god, Lizzy,” Charlotte screams, her hands reaching out for me. Officers move in slow motion around me. A piercing bang shatters the air. Jack shoves me to the grass as shouts and screams pierce the sky. I hit the ground, my eyes wide, taking in Stephan’s raised arm, the officer’s lifeless body on the ground, his own weapon used against him and now clutched tight in Stephan’s fist, pointed at me. He’s on his feet so