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I re in a flash, Lia, the knife, sunset! I reached under the pillohipped out my chef knife and sat up in bed, ready to do battle I was up on , knife held out

"Where’s Lia?" I croaked

My throat was so horribly dry, I could barely speak My head swam and spun froo Enrique juht, supporting one now She can’t hurt you anymore"

"She wants to kill us! She’ll co

"Callass of water He forced me to sit down on the bed I was still amped, ready to rumble, but too dizzy to stand

"She’s dead, querida She left me no choice but to kill her"

It took a ister Lia dead? Gone?

The realization stung Surprisingly, I didn’t want her dead I just didn’t want to live with her hate anymore But how could she die?

"Really … are you sure? Can she die? Can’t she like … come back?"

"Not when I separated her head from her body No one survives that"

"You took her head off?" I shuddered in gross-out surprise

"Si, querida The only way to ensure she could never hurt you again I forced her obedience, but where there’s a will there’s a way She found ways around ht she couldn’t hurt me How could she attack me?"

"My orders were that she couldn’t harm you But I allowed her to defend herself You attacked her Granted, she was shooting at ressively"

"She stabbed me … over and over"

"I know It’s a miracle you survived, querida I’one You looked like death warh from Lia’s devious betrayal and Arana’s vicious assaults If only he’d have taken me with him, none of this would’ve happened Lia would still be alive My life would still be perfectly wonderful He didn’t care enough to takewas his fault Lia would still be alive today We would still be a happy little family if he hadn’t left us

I wanted to cry, but e, fury, abandone "You left me here with that psycho! Did you really think that just because she behaved herself for a feeeks that soed?"

He was taken aback at my reaction He didn’t seem to knohat to say

"You knehat she was! Your minds were linked! You knew she was insane! She lived with you for twenty years How could you leave me alone with her?"

"I’m so sorry Hope" He wouldn’t look me in the eyes How could I trust a man who couldn’t look me in the eyes?

"That’s all you have to say? She made me whore for her bite Shebite! Is that what you expected her to do? How could you not knohat she was up to? She had no secrets from you!"

"Apparently she did I was unaware of all this"