Fated Lies (Lies #3) - Ella Miles Page 0,1
the only one grieving. My brain isn’t functioning at the moment.
Boom.
The gun goes off.
No.
No, no, no…
I look over at Liesel. She’s still alive. I don’t see any blood. I follow her gaze to my leg, and that’s when I see my own blood spilling out.
I exhale, thankful the bullet hit me. No one else I love will die.
I can’t feel the physical pain. All I can feel is the heartbreak.
Zeke sees the blood, and finally, I’m able to wrestle the gun from him.
“Why did you stop me?” Zeke whispers.
My heart clenches. Because I care about Liesel more than I will ever admit out loud. More than I care about Siren. More than one can care about another person. And yet, I still want to kill her for what she’s done.
My plan failed, in so many fucking ways. I need to rethink everything when it comes to Liesel. There are so many pieces that I’m missing. At least now I have some of the truth. I need to lay it all out like an unsolved crime to figure out the rest of her lies.
“Go to Siren. She needs you right now,” I tell Zeke before he tries to grab the gun from me again.
Zeke slinks on the ground to where Siren lies. I think he was too afraid to go to her. Too afraid that he might find her dead.
I watch as he lifts her bloodied head into his large lap with his rough hands. He strokes her face and whispers something into her ear.
Her chest is still rising and falling.
Siren is still alive.
She has to be my first priority. I have to make sure she’s alive. That’s all that matters right now. I need to keep my family intact and alive. The rest I’ll figure out later.
I look to Maxwell, who isn’t much of a bodyguard unarmed.
I hold up one of the guns I now possess and aim it at him. He doesn’t even flinch. He’s prepared to die.
Interesting.
“Get Liesel off the boat—now. There is a small speedboat at the back. Take it.”
Maxwell nods, and then he calmly walks toward Liesel. I keep the gun aimed at him, unsure if he’s going to try something stupid.
He bends down in front of Liesel, who is in an entirely different world. She has no tears left; there are just dry streaks on her cheeks where her tears once were. But her crying won’t be enough to get her torment out. It will live with her for a long time.
I’ve felt the death of someone I loved before. It never leaves you. I feel for Liesel, I do. But right now, I have to make sure that I don’t have to endure the same level of pain with Siren.
Maxwell says something to her that I can’t hear. She doesn’t react.
He carefully slips his arms underneath her, afraid that she’s going to lash out or do something to get them both killed.
He lifts her up, cradling her honeymoon-style.
I continue to aim the gun at him, as my heart explodes, watching Liesel so vulnerable in another man’s arms and not going to her. How did things get so fucked up? How did the girl I used to do anything to protect become this?
Because I failed to protect her from the danger.
Maxwell carries Liesel past me, and I don’t turn to look at her. I pocket the gun, and then I turn back to Zeke and Siren. She’s still breathing, but there is so much fucking blood. It’s all over Zeke’s lap.
This isn’t something that Zeke and I can fix. Only the best surgeon in the world, with the help of a miracle, would be able to save Siren.
I run up to the top deck and wave Enzo down in the helicopter, knowing that’s the fastest way to get Siren to shore.
Finally, I’m able to feel the rage for the possibility that Siren might die.
That can’t happen.
I turn, just as I see Maxwell and Liesel disappear out of sight.
In a split second, I’ve changed my mind. Liesel has to die for what she did to Siren and for what she did before. I can’t wait much longer to kill her.
“One month.”
2
Liesel
My stomach heaves up and then slams down.
Over and over.
That’s what rough waves will do to you—make you lose your stomach until you eventually vomit.
Losing someone you love will also do it.
I’m sure I’m in shock. That’s what’s happening. It’s why I can’t feel anything. I’m numb to touch, to motion, to the sea salt splashing