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Sadly, all too soon, he breaks the contact anda face cloth off the top He soaks the cloth, wrings it out, and then returns to me

“Close your eyes, Hadley,” he murmurs

I do as he asks, because I take it to ood reason As I feel the first swipe of the cloth against ether all that happened

Screams echo off the walls in the den, and the horror of it all, I realize, is that the screaainst my father’s chest, desperate to feel soht breath or a heartbeat I can’t be certain that I feel anything, but I also can’t feel a pulse either and there’s no way I’ to let my father die, not like this Not in our family home Not covered in blood

“Daddy! Wake up,” I beg him

My eyes snap open and it’s then I see why Ryder didn’t want , crimson water runs down the drain My sto to fly away to some other reality

But I don’t

My heartbeat pounds in my ears as I reach foran open wound in his chest A stab wound? A bullet wound? I don’t know But regardless, I use the skirt of ainst his chest My ar will break my hold

“Please, Daddy Please don’t die”

Then there’s silence and it’s long and painful with each passing second, devastating ain

Until suddenly I’m not alone

There’s a flurry of activity in front ofI can make out is a Blackwood Security T-shirt

“Get EMS here Now! The senator’s been shot”

Then that sahis back “There’s no exit wound,” he says

To me? To someone else? I don’t know