“I do care about Remy, and I’m sick of the way you treat her, the way you tell her to jump and she asks how high,” he said. “That’s why I’m doing this. Protecting her from you.” Had Jack planned to confront her all along? After he’d texted me that he was here, he came to the door instead of waiting for me, like he wanted to come inside. And then he insisted I go home, let him talk to Elise.

“This ends now,” Jack said. “Stay away from us. Stay away from Remy.”

“I won’t let you take her from me,” she said, desperation in her voice. “Once I tell her—”

“Go ahead,” Jack said, cutting her off. “Like I said, it’s what she wants.”

I hated the way they were talking about me, like I was some thing to be fought over. I hated the way I’d let them tell me what I wanted and what I didn’t.

“You lie,” Elise said. “You’re just scared what’ll happen when Remy realizes what a loser you are. You’re just a scared little boy making empty threats.”

“Fine, have it your way,” Jack said. “I’ll go to the police station tomorrow, tell them what I know.”

“You won’t take her away from me.” She was gunpowder.

“Look, you can go to jail and lose her or you can leave us alone and not go to jail. Your choice.” He was a lit match.

I touched the handle but remained still, unable to bring myself to confront them. To have to choose between them once and for all.

“You’ll take her from me over my dead body.” Then I heard a click, that distinct sound of a gun cocking.

“No!” I flew inside but it was already too late, the sound of six gunshots piercing the air.

“Remy?” Our eyes met for the briefest moment. What I saw wasn’t anger—it was fear. I saw who she really was, who she’d been the entire time. She wasn’t electric. She was just terrified—a cornered animal.

I collapsed by Jack’s side. “No, no, no,” I cried as I looked into his eyes for the last time. “Stay with me, stay with me.” I cradled his head ever so gently as he gasped for breath. “No, no, please,” I begged, holding him close as if I could keep him there if I held on tight enough.

Everything fell away. I became unmoored—from time, from reality. Everything fell away and it was just him and me.

And then it was just me.

“No, no, no,” I cried as his blood soaked the shirt he’d given me the first night we met. I sobbed so hard I couldn’t breathe. My world was spinning out of control, untethered, lost.

“Remy?” Elise’s voice sounded muffled, like I was underwater, drowning.

“Listen to me, Remy, listen. You weren’t here,” she said. “You weren’t here, okay? You were in your car. Jack came in, and I thought he was an intruder. It was an accident.”