She looked pitifully down at Drew, and a hateful sneer contorted her features. “Yes, I suppose he originally had nothing to do with this. To be honest, until a couple of weeks ago, I thought you’d died with your whore mother. I never imagined that a blight like you would survive such—lethal planning. It made sense to me, kill the mother, and the baby dies too, problem solved. We could all just get on with our lives and forget about my stubborn little brother’s fascination with—colored bitches like your mother. I never dreamed he’d keep his bastard; half-bred daughter’s survival a secret.”
I stared in disbelief. I had heard about the type of racist hatred that ran this deep but thought it had been snuffed out long ago. I didn’t think people of today’s world would stoop to something so low, and yet proof of how wrong I was stood in front of me with a loaded gun. The worst part is that that proof came in the form of an aunt I never knew I had. I’d kept myself together up until that point, but when I opened my mouth to ask the question that was on the tip of my tongue, a single tear rolled down my cheek. “Why—why are you doing this? I can’t help what I am. Why do you want to kill me over something I can’t control?”
She laughed and rolled her eyes dramatically. “Well, of course, you can’t control it. But Daniel should have made better decisions. Do you know what the knowledge of you being his daughter would do to our family’s legacy! The reporters would have a hay day with that information. It would rock the very foundation of the wealth and prestige my family has been building and working so hard to maintain for hundreds of years. We are a purebred French family with traditions and appearances to maintain and you! You—are a blemish on that perfectly bred pedigree, you are a disgrace, a mistake my brother’s lusty habits made.” She raised the gun to my heart and gave a manically gleeful laugh. “Of course, the solution to any mistake is quite simple. Do you know what the solution is, Eden?”
I looked down at Drew, who’d fallen unconscious again and knew I’d be joining him soon. We were both going to die, and for what? “Your solution is to kill your own niece, your own flesh, and blood. You’re a monster.” I brought my eyes to hers, if she was going to kill me, she’d have to look me in the face when she did. I hoped that my face would haunt her for the rest of her days.
She waved around the gun and then scratched the side of her face with the barrel. I prayed she’d accidentally pull the trigger and end this, but she didn’t. Instead, she brought the gun level with me once more and grasped it with her other hand as well. She gritted her teeth with her hatred, and I could hear the grinding of them. “You are no niece of mine; you are a disease in the family tree, rotting it from the inside out. No Eden, the way you get rid of a mistake is by erasing it completely.”
I closed my eyes; I knew it was coming. The pain seared through me as I heard one shot fired, then another that made me bow at the waist and slump forward. The scream tore from my lungs, leaving me hoarse. Finally, a third rang out echoing through the night. My shoulder burned like a volcano had erupted in my veins. It overflowed and consumed my body in a searing heat that spread like wildfire. I’d never known true agony until that moment. I heard the thud just a few feet away but was too occupied to care as I fell over and rolled with the scorching waves of pain. I could feel the blood warm and sticky, flowing over my fingers in a steady stream. I opened my eyes, and my vision was hazy. The tree line was a collage of pointy shapes and shadows. The newly risen moon seemed to bounce wildly and blinding with its brightness. I blinked and realized it wasn’t the moon but a flashlight. Someone was coming.
I blinked back the tears that were assaulting my vision and glanced over to where I’d heard the thud. Not three feet from me, my aunt was unconscious and sprawled on the ground. In her collapse, the gun fell out of her hand and lay not far from where she was. I didn’t know who was coming; all I knew is that for right now, I was still alive. I reached for the gun, and that small movement cost me almost all the energy I had. My mind started to spin, and I was suddenly lightheaded as I rolled to my back and stared at a star-splattered sky that looked every bit as beautiful as the one from my and Drew’s first date. The view was calming but short-lived. Just as I was starting to realize I was fading from the conscious world, the worried face of Mr. Masson blocked my view of the sky.
“Eden! Eden, can you hear me. Oh God, don’t you die on me. I said not a moment sooner! I’m too late,” tears dripped from his eyes and peppered my face “—again.”
“Is she dead, Mr. Masson?”
His face disappeared only to return a moment later, “No, she’s unconscious but breathing.” I could hear the tones of the keypads on his phone. “This is Curtis Masson; I’m at Porter’s Field with two students who have”—the rest of what he said gurgled together and faded just like my pain, and then finally everything else until there was nothing.
Chapter Thirty
Last Rites
“Eden—Eden, Hey!” The voice was familiar, I knew
