Page 51 of Not Her Day to Die (Star-Crossed #2)

Not Her Day to Die

I t isn’t déjà vu but something very similar— a premonition —that I feel when I see Maxwell’s car.

In my gut, I know with certainty that this is going to be the end. That I will not walk away from this unscathed.

He’s parked on the edge of the road next to the bent guard rail. While this stretch of road is open, no one drives it much anymore.

The rain is nearly blinding me now, the sound of the thunder continuously echoing around me, lightning casting eerie glows across the sky.

Tentatively, I make my way closer to his car.

His front door whips open and then, there he is.

Maxwell Thorne.

He is too far away for me to truly catch his expression, but there is a sinister aura that shrouds him.

Darker than blood, nearly black. He is encapsulated in it and as he moves, as he jerks open the back door and drags Veronica out of the car by her hair and onto her knees, it settles around her too.

“Sunday!” she cries. “Please just leave! You don’t need to do this.”

“Shut up!” Maxwell’s hand comes up, a gun in it and I flinch as he shifts it to her. As he crushes the barrel against her skull .

My heart hurts for her, but I don’t move.

“Come on out too, William!” Maxwell shouts over the storm.

The passenger door opens, and William joins him. He places himself directly between Maxwell and me.

“Maxwell, Sunday is here. Please, let Veronica go. She isn’t part of this, she hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“She hasn’t?” Maxwell presses the barrel of the gun further into Veronica, his foot coming up and landing on her back, smashing her into the gravel below.

“She dated the enemy. She got into bed with Augustus and then he just so happened to know to take those pictures? To come to our parties? I didn’t see the patterns at first. But she was always lingering in the background when you came over. She was always privy to my plans.”

“Maxwell”–William’s voice breaks–“please. I have done everything you have ever asked. You promised you would keep her safe if I did. You promised she wouldn’t be caught up in this.” William falls to his knees, bowing his head.

“A sniveling coward.” Maxwell removes his foot from Veronica, but then he kicks her flat onto the ground. “Stay down there and keep your mouth shut for once .” He bounces the gun around, from her to William, before landing on me.

She whimpers but doesn’t speak again.

I stare down the barrel at him and jut my chin out, squaring my shoulders.

I am terrified, my blood is frozen, and I want nothing more than to run. But I can’t.

It’s too late.

“I already murdered your brother here, wouldn’t it be fitting to kill you in the same place?

” Maxwell bares his teeth. His typical slicked back hair is pressed to his scalp by the rain.

“You know, Veronica here was supposed to join them, but then William begged me for her life. He didn’t even ask about your brother once. Nor Tripp.”

My hands clench into fists as Maxwell steps over Veronica and around William. Until he is inches from me. His eyes are unfocused, manic. He brings the gun up, puts the barrel against the bottom of my chin.

“It would be so easy to kill you, church girl. So fucking easy.” His tongue lashes out, licking his lips.

Thunder booms around us, and I cannot help but flinch from it.

“You’ve grown up so much, trying to act all tough.

” He uses his free hand to lash out and grab my wrist, he tugs me until I am flat against him.

“If only my father had given you to me. We could have had our happily ever after.” The laugh that leaves Maxwell is grating, a rake on a chalkboard.

“Or maybe I would have just fucked you and then put you in a shallow grave.” His dick hardens disgustingly between us. “ Fuck. ”

He shoves me just a bit away before dragging me behind him.

I turn back, trying to catch William’s eyes. But his attention is focused below my head.

On my ass?

Before the thought can circulate, Maxwell is shoving me to the edge of the cliff.

To where Tripp and Auggie went off the road.

Where Maxwell crashed into them and forced them off the road.

“They screamed the entire way down, but I knew when they hit the bottom. It was just silent .”

My grief which had been shoved down for so long, hits hard and fast.

It takes several beats before I return to the here and now. To realize Maxwell is still talking.

“–and imagine my surprise. They died, but then we couldn’t find the fucking evidence anywhere. And then you clearly had found it. Like brother, like sister.” Maxwell pushes me closer to the edge, and I dig my heels into the ground.

There is barely any space between us, and I am forced to twist around and wrap my arms around him.

It is a horrible creepy feeling as his aura begins to sink into my skin.

Maxwell is no longer a human in my eyes. He is the epitome of every evil that has touched this town.

Perhaps it is the fact that he is clearly not fully here, but he hasn’t noticed the gun.

But I remember it.

“Let me say goodbye,” William calls out.

I find him over Maxwell’s shoulder. He is closing the gap between us now. My attention flickers around until I find her. Veronica is further away, behind Maxwell’s car, her eyes focused unblinkingly in my direction.

The rain is still pouring. We are all drenched. It is painful, uncomfortable, but not enough to stamp out the awful that is this night.

Maxwell steps back and my arms fall as I step away from the edge.

“Say goodbye to Sunday? How fucking sweet. Fine. Why the fuck not?” Maxwell huffs but steps away and allows just enough space for William to wrap me in his arms.

“Take care of Veronica. She is going to need a friend. Need someone to hold onto.” William’s words don’t make any sense, but then he is reaching down. Tugging the gun from the band of my shorts.

Spinning around. Raising the weapon.

“Goodbye Maxwell.” William pushes me away from the edge, off and towards the guardrail.

“No you fucking–” Maxwell charges.

Bang!

The shot is loud, sharp, painful and I want to cover my ears, but I turn to face the men.

The scene plays out in a clipped burst of pictures.

William twisting Maxwell, pushing him towards the edge.

Maxwell reaching out, extending.

William side-stepping him.

Maxwell raising the gun, aiming it at me.

William diving towards him.

Bang!

This time I try to dive forward to grab hold of William’s shirt.

I miss it by inches.

And then they both are tumbling. Their screams are nearly drowned out by the rain.

Nearly.

Falling to my knees, I try to desperately see if William will make it.

Veronica’s wail is piercing and sharp as I hear her footsteps behind me. But then she doesn’t stop, passing me, and I have to catch her from launching off the edge.

“Stop! Stop!”

The screaming is gone now.

They’re both dead.

And again, just like before…

It’s my fault.

Veronica fights me for a few beats until she falls to the ground with me. Holding her in my arms, I clutch her as tightly as I can.

Lightning strikes in the sky as the rain puddles at our feet, we are soaked to the bone.

Together we fall apart. We grieve .

Veronica’s sobs mix with the onslaught of rain and thunder. She shakes in my arms as we settle in this new world with one less person.

Another brother taken too soon.

I want more than anything to be strong for Veronica, but Maxwell has opened old wounds, and it doesn’t take long for my grief to swallow me whole.

And just like that I become a broken sobbing mess.

The Baby Girl.