“Wolfgang, please!” she begged, scrambling to her knees and trying to get up. “I can explain!”

“Leave us!” he roared, as his polished black boot lifted and connected with her cheek, the crack of her bone shattering so painful it sent her reeling. “And hunt those bastards down. Now!”

She clawed at the dirt, on her knees again. “Stop, please stop!”

This time he was reaching for Oscar, and she fought against him, trying to stop him as he lunged for the little dog.

“Tell me the truth or I’ll shoot him!” Wolfgang snarled.

“No,” she cried. “Oscar, run! Go!” She threw a fistful of dirt at him, letting go of his leash as she screamed at him. “Go!”

But Wolfgang had his sights set on her again, forgetting the dog, hauling her up by her long hair as she cried and pleaded for mercy, his eyes wild as he sneered.

He was going to kill her. Oh my God, he’s actually going to kill me!

“I would have done anything for you, Adelaide.” His lip curled. “And what did you do with my trust? You used it against me. You bitch.”

She braced for another blow, but it never came, and she squinted up at him, her eye swelling already from the kick to her face, pulsing with pain.

“Please, Wolfgang, you know how I feel about you. Why would I lie to you?”

He ran a hand through his hair as it fell over his forehead, and he looked like a madman. “I’m going to ask you one last time. Were there other survivors that you kept hidden?”

She swallowed, defeat crushing her as she staggered in front of him, slumping to her knees.

“Sit up and answer me!” he screamed.

“I came to tell you, that’s what I was about to say, when we were walking,” she whispered.

“You’re lying!”

She was lying. Of course she was lying, and as her vision began to swim, she knew there was nothing she could say to convince him otherwise. “I had to choose my sister,” she cried. “It was protect my sister or choose you, and . . .”

Wolfgang had gone deadly quiet, and she stopped speaking as tears ran down her cheeks, as she struggled to breathe past the blood in her mouth.

“You betrayed me, Adelaide.” His words were low and sinister, menacing, and she watched in horror as he took his pistol from its holster and raised it, aiming for her head.

“No, Wolfgang, please,” she cried, scrambling to get away from him. But his hand was in her hair again, clutching her, not letting her move.

“You’re nothing but a disloyal traitor.”

Her mouth opened to plead with him as his finger curled around the trigger, but she knew it was no use.

Adelaide shut her eyes and saw her sister. She saw her family, all sitting around the table, laughing, waiting for her. Calling for her.