May sits there frozen, trembling, a tear streaming down her face.

"Hawk, shoot her," May pleads.

"Shut up!" Helen snaps.

She sits up and I watch her finger shift, caressing the trigger. The gun is pointed right at May's chin.

"Mom, please," May whimpers.

"I said shut up. Hawk, where's my husband?"

"I don't know."

"Did you kill him?"

"No."

"Where's my daughter?"

"Alexis is safe."

May lets out a slow breath, only to tense again, staring at the gun pointed at her as if seeing it for the first time.

"Helen, please," I whisper. "You don't want to hurt her."

Helen's arm tenses, and she aims a little higher, right between May's eyes.

"Mommy don't," May sobs, "Please."

"Why not?" she asks. "Our lives are over. Everything's ruined." She turns her head just a little, to focus one eye on me. "All because of you. You couldn't stay away. I told Tom to kill you and he didn't listen to me. 'I can't kill my own son', " she says, mocking his voice. "He'd justify anything, but not that."

"He killed his first wife. You mean nothing to him. He wanted to f.u.c.k Alexis."

She laughs bitterly. "Don't you think I know?"

"He'd have killed you too, just like my mother."

She laughs louder now, and May tenses, rearing back in the seat. The gun is shaking.

"Did he, he killed her, right?"

"Yes, I found proof, that's why he sent me away-"

"He wasn't doing a web search on the poison to figure out how to kill your mother, you dolt," she snaps. "He wanted to figure out how I did it."

A heavy silence falls on the room.

"What?"

"I killed her," she hisses. "I did it. Me. I put the pesticide in her coffee myself. I took your father's key and had a duplicate made. I came in the house and put it in her coffee pot and she drank it and she died."

"f.u.c.k," I mutter.

"He knew, of course. We never discussed it, but we understood. We'd been f.u.c.king since my husband died. Do you want to know the first time? At my husband's funeral. After. Jack could've been anything he wanted, he could've been rich, but he wouldn't leave this s.h.i.tty little town. Tom's a man of ambition, a man of understanding. A man of power. Your stupid b.i.t.c.h of a mother couldn't understand that, she was talking to the wrong people, she was going to ruin everything. So I got rid of her and Tom got rid of you. We couldn't have you prowling around my daughter, f.u.c.king his stepdaughter. That wouldn't do." Her voice rises. "I hitched my wagon to a rising star."

She extends her arm again.

"You ruined it," she hisses at me, "You ruined it all. All this embarra.s.sment, and now the police will be asking questions. How are we supposed to run a mayoral campaign now? Tell me, Hawk."

"Helen, put the gun down. It's May. Your little girl."

May sucks in a breath and tenses.

"There's nothing left for any of us now," she says. "I was going to be a senator's wife. My daughters would go to the best schools, marry the best men." She glances at me, contempt twisting her features. "Now what are they going to be? Waitresses? Like I was?"

"Put the gun down, Helen."

"Or what, you'll shoot me?"

She sits up and moves the gun closer to May, and her arm starts to shake. I have no choice. I snap Jennifer's gun up and aim at her.

"Helen, if you don't put that gun down I'm going to drop you."

"Why not?" she hisses. "You stupid b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you already ruined everything. I should-"

Her finger starts to tighten.

Mine does first.

I could hit her in the head from here. It'd be easy, child's play really, it's only a few feet. My shot hits her in the arm, midway between elbow and shoulder, and May ducks, throwing herself to the floor. Blood paints the bookcases and Helen topples out of the chair, screaming.

Her hand flew open as she fell, but the gun is still in reach. She goes for it left handed, and May, screaming and sobbing, kicks it across the room.

I stick mine behind my back and take May by the shoulders.

"Look at me."

She's losing it, screaming and crying.

"Look at me, honey."

She calms a little, her jaw still trembling.

"She's going to be okay. Run into the kitchen and call us an ambulance. Go now."

May nods and runs, sobbing.

I move to Helen's side, and roll her onto her back. She moans, and looks up at me.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d," she hisses. "You were supposed to kill me."

"You're not getting out of this," I tell her, ripping a strip from my shirt.

I hold her down and wrap up the wound. It's bad, she needs medical attention or she's going to bleed out. The bone is broken, I must have hit it. I do what I can, use a metal ruler from Tom's desk as a splint and wrap the wound tightly, and elevate her torso, propping her against the bookcases. I wrap her gun in a tissue and take it.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm not going to be here when they find you. I'm taking May someplace safe. You're never going to see her again, and when Tom goes down you will, too."

"Based on what?" she rasps.

I look at her. "You think Tom's going to take a murder rap when he can put it on you? You'll have a date with a needle, Helen. Sorry."

As I leave she shrieks at me. "Get back here, you son of a b.i.t.c.h!"

"Don't talk about my mother that way, you piece of s.h.i.t," I say, and slam the door.

May is in the kitchen, clutching the phone.

"I called, what do we do now?"

"Come on, we're leaving. I'm taking you to Alex. Everybody's going to be okay. Promise."

May clings to me like if she lets go she'll fall off the Earth as I bundle her into the back of Jacob's car.

"Well?" he says.

"Drive. Fast."

"Got it."

Alexis Now I wake up and find myself surrounded by people. Hawk leans back in a chair next to the bed, his eyes closed, dressed in fresh clothes. My mouth is dry and my neck hurts. I can feel the bandages pulling at my skin and lightly squeezing my throat. I watch him, even as May sits up and notices I'm awake. It's July, but she's drinking a cup of hot cocoa, a little marshmallow floating on the top. She's been crying, a lot. She doesn't say anything, just sits there. When I look up, I see Jennifer leaning on the door frame, arms folded over her chest, watching me with a soft, sad frown on her face. She turns away and walks out the door.

"Wait," I choke out.

Jennifer stops and walks into the room as Hawk stirs. May is still silent. She rests her hand on mine.

"I'm sorry," she says.

"For what?"

"I should've made you leave earlier. All of you. By force if necessary. I should never have let you risk yourself by sneaking around in Tom's office. This is my fault."

"If you made me leave," I croak out, "I would've came back and done it anyway."

Hawk offers me a drink from a straw. It's just water, but it's blessedly cool and wet. I take a trickle at a time, feel it soak into my dry throat. I try to sit up, but Hawk puts his hands on my shoulders, slips his hand under my head and gently lifts me up, tucking another pillow under me so I can sit higher.

"Lay still," he whispers. "We don't want that wound to open again."

"How long am I going to have to lay in bed?"

"Until I say you can get up," Hawk says, squeezing my hand.

I glare at him.

"You can move around a bit," Jennifer says, "But not much. Do what he says and be careful. I'll leave you guys alone to talk. Call me if you need anything."

I look around a little more. I'm on a bed I don't know, in a room I don't know. Hawk is in an old looking recliner chair and May in what looks like a borrowed kitchen chair. The walls are plain and the furniture looks cheap.

"Where the h.e.l.l am I?"

"This is Jennifer and Jacob's house," Hawk says. "Guest bedroom."

Huh.

"Where's my mother?"

May lets out a little sound and stifles it in her hand.

"What?"

Hawk squeezes my hand. "She's gone."

I blink a few times. "What do you mean gone?"

I look at him, and I'm shocked how completely calm I feel. Hollow. I squeeze his hand.

"Hawk, she killed your mom."

I don't know why I just blurt it out, I can't keep it in. He sighs and leans back in his chair.

"She said. I was there when she..."

"She pointed a gun at me," May says, very softly.

I reach over and grab her hand and she squeezes hard, almost painfully.

"She pointed it at me and she was going to pull the trigger and then she... she...."

"Shhh," I whisper, tugging on her hand. "I know."

"I thought I was going to die," May whimpers.

She stands up and surges through the door, and takes two steps before Jennifer appears and gathers May up in her arms, leading her away.

We're alone.

I sink back into the pillows. "That f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h. She couldn't just do it. She had to make May watch. That was her revenge."