Until We Meet Again(81)

you? After everything I’ve given you? I’ve treated you like a son, dammit. I’ve loved you.”

His words reveal his desperation. A pang of regret grips me.

“I’m sorry, Ned. I want to help you. And I will. But not

like this.”

“Well, it’s too late!” Ned voice rises in pitch and fervor. “The

mob is ready to pounce. Don’t you get that? Once they catch

word that the Cooper deal fell through, I’m a dead man.”

“Maybe if we go to the police—”

“The police? Are you mad? They’re just as bad as the Cartellis.

And they want blood, just the same. My blood.”

I take a tentative step toward him. “There has to be another

way.”

“There isn’t! This was the only way, Lon. The only way!” He’s

yelling now, his voice coarse and raw.

“I’m sorry.”

His left eye twitches. “You’re not sorry. Don’t lie to me, boy.”



RENEE COLLINS

“Ned…”



“No.” His shoulders heave. “This is all your fault. You want to see me choke. Admit it!”

“I love you, Ned. You have to believe me.”

“Liar.”

Like the crack of a whip, his arm flies forward. His fist connects with my jaw in an explosion of pain. I fall to the sand.

The moon overhead blurs and doubles. Then Ned’s face blots

it out like an eclipse.

He lifts his fist again, but I roll out of the way and scurry to

my feet. He’s stronger than me. I know that. But I’m faster.

When Ned lunges again, I dart out of the way. He whirls

around and gets the tail of my shirt in his fingers. He drags me

toward him.

This time, I deliver a punch to his face. And while Ned reels,

I dash away. He presses the spot where I struck him. He rushes

at me, arms out like a linebacker. I try to dodge to the left,

but he anticipates my movement. His fingers clamp, vise-like

around my throat.

Ned jerks me up. His face bent with blind rage, he smashes

his fist into my cheek. Across my jaw. Over the crown of my

head. Each blow blazes against my skin. I hear my own voice

gasp in pain, but I feel oddly as if I’m watching him beat me

from a distant, high place.

Ned pauses to catch his breath. Then, clenching his teeth

together, he delivers the blow that sends me to my back.

My head hits the water with a splash. The upper half of my

body crashes into the shallow wave break. The cold shocks me.

Gasping, I flail up, but Ned’s already on top of me. His massive

hands close around my neck. In his eyes, I see nothing of the

man I’ve known my whole life. The man I called “uncle.” He’s

far away. Perhaps gone forever.

With a grunt, Ned pushes me beneath the black water.

Instantly, darkness engulfs me. I claw at his hands with all of

my strength, but I know it’s no use. I’m weakened, and he’s

twice as strong as me. My body writhes and flails, but he’s

straddling my waist, pinning me beneath the waves.

My lungs burn for breath. My eyes burn with salt water. The

wounds Ned’s fists opened on my skin burn and bleed into the

sea. My chest thrums and seems to tear apart from the inside

out, yearning to breathe. Gripping Ned’s hands, I struggle to

make out anything in the rippling black water above me. But

there’s nothing. Everything fades into darkness.

It’s over.

I shut my eyes. I don’t want it to end this way. I’ll gather my

final tendril of life and pour it into thoughts of Cassandra.

Perhaps, wherever she is at this moment, she’ll feel it and know

how much I love her. I’ll leave this world thinking only of how

I love her.

Goodbye,

Cassandra.





Chapter 35





Cassandra


’ve never loved any sight more than that of the

I



backyard. Basked in pale moonlight, it’s magical.

I’m flying, soaring over the grass, past the gardens, toward

the beach. The smell of the ocean in the distance is the substance that pulses through my veins.

I’m coming. I’m coming, Lawrence.

I push past the branches in a daze. I explode onto the

beach.

And immediately shrink back a step. There are people

here. Strangers. A woman sleeping on the sand and a big

man down by the shore. Recognition flickers through me. I

know him. I’ve seen him before.

Lawrence’s uncle. Ned.

There’s a splash. Another person. A body being held

under the water. I recognize the twitching legs.

Lawrence. It’s Lawrence.

“Lawrence!”

I barely recognize the anguished pitch my voice takes as I

fly toward the water. Ned’s dark features are twisted, unrecognizable with rage. By the time he sees me, my head is