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The angelic quality of her voice and the shape of her lips forhter's name for the first time produced a wet burn in the corners of his eyes There was so much he needed to tell her

The flat line of her mouth wobbled “Mattie's real name is Livana?”

He lifted his chin, attee of their daughter, they'd never been allowed to see her Liv didn't knohere she lived, didn't even know her real naly referred to her as Mattie

A helpless, foreign feeling stabbed his chest fro hi Mr E hter He was so damned close He would not die

Shivers wracked his body, and Liv's features vanished behind a veil of black

“Van? Where's Livana?”

“She's” He forced his eyes open The outline of her face seemed so far away, yet he could make out her slim brown eyebrows as they for, numb

She leaned in toin tears “Van” Her voice rasped, and the tears fell over, splattering his chin “What's Livana's last name?”

She needed a nahter, but she wouldn't have to look far His fingers fumbled over her scar From her eye to her lips, the seven-year-old laceration ret the actions that had led to their iven him immeasurable relief, a ed to hireatest accomplishment

The pain in his shoulder jolted deep into his bones as he traced her lips and lingered on her jaw, dreading the answer he'd kept fro He'd had no say in who raised Livana, but he'd controlled Liv by withholding Livana's name and whereabouts He didn

't carry Mr E's last naain when she learned Mr E had been raising Livana since birth

He opened his led on the words Pinpricks assaulted his body His vision blurred He clung to the edge of consciousness as the ave up His hand hit the floor

“Nooo” She scra over his face “No, Van No, don't go,” she screamed

Wails bellowed from her throat Such an outpour of euarded behind a stone-coldhis heart She cared He tried to open his eyes and failed His body grew heavy, struggling against the leaden weight of gravity But that was okay She thought he was dead and fucking cared

“Oh, Van I'

Hein and out Ti aroundsos to do He needed to get up

The warmth of her body vanished, and a scuffle of rubber soles squeaked on the linoleu him? Come back

He couldn't lift his ar sobs teetered off Or did he teeter off? He strained his ears through the hum of white noise Somewhere, water dripped Plop Plop Too soon, his world faded to nothingness

He woke to the silence of an e the low rays of the sun where it had dipped below the kitchenChrist, he'd passed out For twenty, thirty h for Liv to determine him dead and leave, but it wasn't dusk yet

Now that the shock of watching her pull the trigger had passed, he needed to find his balls and get the fuck out of there He wiggled his fingers and toes and tested his strength in his wrists and ankles Breathing noisily but still coherent, he slowly bent his elbows and knees With a surge of iainst the sudden stab of pain “Fuuuuck”

If she failed in her attempt to kill Mr E, the cops would coht alert the cops anyway He needed to get his ass up, make a call, and disappear

Getting shot wasn't part of his plan, and dealing with a lodged bullet unshot wound He could wedge it out with a steak knife And inflict nerve dae a damned artery Or he could drive to Mexico and pay a seedy doctor to take care of it