When did we become this? Knives drawn, aiming for the softest parts, not caring if the other bled out.
“Celeste-” My momentary triumph curdled into guilt. But she had spun on her heels, her ponytail whipping viciously behind her.
I bit back a groan as she stormed down my driveway in six-inch Manolos. In the mix of everything, it was easy to forget that Celeste, too, was a victim of what had happened between me and Kieran ten years ago.
But she just made it so damn hard to feel any lasting remorse towards her. Every single person thought she was a better match for Kieran and didn’t hesitate to voice their opinions.
I’d accepted it all years ago. I’d kept my emotions locked away-until that night.
I might have done wrong once. But haven’t ten years of silent suffering been penance enough? I gave him the divorce. I returned him to her. I had done everything to atone for my sins. Now, all I wanted was peace.
Was that too much?
With a tired exhale, I stepped back into the house and closed the door.
I trudged back upstairs, my legs heavy and the bitter aftertaste of my words to Celeste rank in my mouth. Some battles weren’t worth winning.
I sat at the edge of the bed but didn’t lie back down. As tired as I was, I was no longer sleepy.
My gaze brushed over my laptop on my nightstand, and a tired smile pulled at my lips as I reached for it.
Sure, I might never measure up to Celeste. I may never have her effortless charisma or glamorous career, but despite the steady antagonism I faced, I had made something of myself.
The screen of my laptop lit-a silent reminder of the one thing I’d built for myself in the past ten years.
Romance author.
The irony wasn’t lost on me. Ten years of crafting love stories while living in a marriage devoid of it. No one knew. No one cared.
I’d planned to work on my next book today-a rare free weekend-but Celeste’s venom had left me restless, my skin crawling with unspent fury.
I needed to clear my head. So I headed into the shower, letting the hot water wash away the nastiness of Celeste’s visit. Dressed in soft joggers and an old hoodie, I slipped outside, desperate for air.
Although it was still morning, the LA sun shone brightly over the quiet Los Feliz neighborhood. I tilted my head up for a moment, letting the bright rays warm me. The sidewalks were damp from the early-morning sprinkler systems.
As I walked to the end of Fern Dell Drive, the houses began to thin out. A couple of joggers passed me, earbuds in, lost in their private worlds. The entrance to Griffith Park appeared like a shift in temperature. The sidewalks turned to packed dirt under my feet, and the smell of flowers and wet leaves hung thick in the air. Tall trees arched close, filtering in the
CIO light.
Birds chirped in the branches overhead, a melodic song that pulled a wistful smile out of me.
I climbed onto a small wooden bridge that crossed the creek and stopped in the middle, leaning on the railing. I closed my eyes and took slow, calming breaths, inhaling the clean air and calming myself.
My hard-won tranquility was shattered when my phone started blaring, a shrill sound that cut into the quiet of the morning.
I huffed, fishing it out of my pocket.
I rolled my eyes when I saw the caller ID.
What now?
“Hell-‘
“What the fuck, Sera?” Kieran snarled down the line.
I pulled the phone away, wincing slightly. “You’re going to have to be more specific,” I said dryly.
“What the fuck did you say to Celeste?”
I snorted. Of course, she’d gone running to him, no doubt leaving out all the unflattering details that didn’t favor her, once again painting me as the villain.
If she’d gone to him first before coming to me, then maybe I wouldn’t have had to say-and hear-such ugly things.
I ran my hands through my hair, feeling my earlier exhaustion return with a vengeance.
“Listen, Kieran-“
I heard the sound first-a sharp, explosive crack that shattered the quiet morning. Then I saw the birds take to the sky, screeching wildly.
Then I felt it-pain. Red-hot agony, unlike anything I thought was possible.
“What was that?” Kieran’s voice sounded like it was coming through a vacuum-muffled and distant.
My head dropped slowly, and for a second, I couldn’t put the pieces of the puzzle together, couldn’t reconcile the sound of the gunshot with the pain, with the blood seeping out of the hole in my chest.
“I think I just got… shot?” I mumbled, my words slurring as the pain spread from my chest to every part of my body.
“Wha-“
My knees buckled, and I crashed to the floor as the world around me turned black.
KIERAN’S POV
I hated this feeling-the way my world tilted every time she bled and I wasn’t there to stop it.
“Sera?!” My roar echoed through the phone. “Sera, answer me!”
Nothing. Just that horrifying thud after her slurred, “I think I’ve been shot.”
The anger I’d felt moments earlier-when Celeste called sobbing about Sera’s taunts- evaporated. In its place: wildfire panic, scorching through my veins.
I was out the door before my chair hit the floor. The tracking app on my phone-the one I’d kept active post-divorce, despite every logical reason not to-led me to Griffith Park. I drove like the hounds of hell were chasing me, cursing Sera’s stubbornness for moving so damn far away.
What followed was a nightmare in fragments:
Blood. So much blood, pooling beneath her as I pressed my hand to the silver bullet wound still pulsing in her chest.
Speed. The longest thirty minutes of my life, her labored breaths the only sound in my car as I ran every red light.
Waiting. Pacing the OR hallway for five fucking hours, her dried blood cracking on my knuckles.
Relief. The surgeon’s words-“Grazed her heart… no fatal damage… and the surgery was a success.”-nearly brought me to my knees.
Now, forehead pressed to the ICU glass, I watched the machines breathe for her. The urge to shatter the window warred with the need to fall apart.
“Her recovery now solely depends on her strength of will.”
I slid to the floor instead, Sera’s cut-up clothes clutched in my fists. The scent of her blood
-fear, pain, copper-seared my lungs.
Again. I’d failed her again.
Two attacks since our divorce. Two times I hadn’t been there.
She was Daniel’s mother. My responsibility, even if she wasn’t my wife anymore. I should’ve assigned guards. Should’ve-
A shudder racked me.
Should’ve done a lot of things.
An unfamiliar ringtone shattered the silence-Sera’s phone, buzzing from the bag of her bloodied clothes.
I fished her phone out, and my heart dropped when I saw the caller ID.
“Mom!” Daniel gasped when I answered.
I pressed the heels of my palms to my eyes, swallowing back a curse.
“Hey, Champ,” I strained out.
Daniel paused for a beat. “Dad?”
I exhaled. “Hey. How’s camping going?”
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