I’ve been shot.

He pulls a knife from his boot and traces the tip of it lightly over my throat. “You were right before when you said we were finishing this today. I’m finishing this today.”

I’ve been shot. I’m in the middle of nowhere all alone. I’ve locked my friends in my room. I didn’t ask any adults for help. Agent Dylan didn’t pick up. The last thing I told my mom was that I’d order out for dinner. The last time Aiden looked at me was with a stoic impassiveness, like he didn’t even know me. Annalisa knows the truth, but I never got to say good-bye to Charlotte, to Chase, or to Julian. This is how it ends. It really is finishing today, and I didn’t win.

He raises his arm and I close my eyes, not wanting to see the end coming, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of watching the life drain from my eyes, when I feel a pain so intense radiating from my thigh, it makes me dizzy. A scream escapes my lips as my eyes pop open.

He holds the now bloody knife between the two of us, and the sight of it makes me sick. All I can do is gasp in pain, wishing things didn’t end like this.

“It was all worth it, just to see you like this. Suffering. To—”

There’s a blur and Tony’s weight is pulled off me, tackled to the ground beside me. I don’t bother moving, I’m too busy breathing.

Am I dying?

“So, you’re the asshole who raped my mom, huh?” The voice is new, familiar, full of rage.

The fog of shock clouding my mind clears a bit, and I register Annalisa beside me. She punches Tony in the face. I don’t know where the knife he was holding landed. I don’t know where his gun is. I don’t know how against all odds, Annalisa is here, looking like an avenging angel, all porcelain skin and dark hair and red lips and a raging expression on her face, one filled with pure, undiluted hate.

“Anna?” I ask, staring at her beside me. What is she doing here? She’s not supposed to be here.

Tony shoves her off him with a curse and pins her to the ground. Annalisa’s kicking and screaming the entire time. She claws at his face, drawing blood, and lands a bunch right on his nose, but he’s bigger, heavier, stronger, and angrier than her. He manages to get her restrained, holding her arms down and placing his knee on her chest. I try to stand, but I catch a glance of the sea of red under me and suddenly all my limbs feel heavy and the world spins, so I let my head drop back on the tall grass around me. I try not to look back at the patch of red grass slowly expanding under me, try to ignore what that means.

“Amazing,” he says, staring at Annalisa as if he’s transfixed. “Your eyes really are the exact same shade of blue as my Sabrina’s. I never got the blue eyes, but my mom had them.”