Chapter 4 Before they Shoot us

I couldn’t stay behind that tree any longer. The words he had spoken kept turning over in my head. I failed you again.

The way his voice had broken when he said it made something twist hard in my chest. I needed to know what he meant. I needed to look him in the eye and ask.

So I stepped out from the shadows. My shoes made soft sounds on the grass as I walked toward him. He was still kneeling in front of the headstone that had my name carved into it. His head was bowed, one hand resting on the cold marble like he was trying to hold on to something that was already gone.

I stopped a few feet behind him. “Why are you here?” My voice came out rough, almost angry. “Why are you acting like you actually care that I’m dead?”

His shoulders went stiff. For a second he didn’t move at all. Then he slowly stood up, brushing the dirt from his trousers before he turned around.

When his eyes landed on mine, the color drained from his face.

“Maya.” My name cracked in his throat. “How did you…? You’re alive?”

I folded my arms tightly across my chest and stared at him. My heart was beating too fast, but I refused to let him see how shaken I felt.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I said, my voice shaking with anger. “Don’t act like any of this hurts you. We were friends for three years. Real friends. And the second it came down to power, you threw me away and ruined my father.”

He took one step closer, but his eyes kept moving past me, checking the trees, the empty path, the distant gates. Then he shrugged out of his suit jacket and tried to drape it over my head.

“Lower your voice,” he said quickly, almost under his breath.

I immediately pushed the jacket away and glared at him.

“Don’t tell me to lower my voice.” I clenched my fists at my sides. “Answer me, Noah. You stood here and said you failed me. What does that even mean?”

He let out a short, frustrated breath. Before I could say another word, he moved faster than I expected. One second he was standing in front of the headstone, and the next his hands were around my waist as he lifted me clean off the ground.

“Hey! Let go of me!” I twisted in his arms, my voice rising. “What the fuck are you doing?!”

“Shut up,” he muttered, trying again to cover my head with the jacket as he carried me toward the small stone church that sat at the edge of the burial ground. “There might be cameras watching us.”

“Let me go right now!”

He didn’t answer. He just pushed the heavy wooden door open with his shoulder and stepped inside, kicking it shut behind us. The moment my feet touched the floor, I shoved away from him hard.

Anger flooded through me so fast I didn’t even think. I slapped him across the face. The sound echoed sharply through the quiet church.

I raised my hand to hit him again, but he caught my wrist before I could.

“Listen to me.” His voice dropped low, urgent and tight. His grip on my wrist was firm but not painful. “You were never supposed to survive that ferry. Someone planned your death long before you ever stepped onto that boat. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

I stared up at him, breathing hard. The side of my palm still stung from the slap.

“What are you talking about?”

“The explosion wasn’t an accident, Maya.” He kept glancing toward the stained-glass windows and the closed door, jaw clenched tight. “It was arranged. Your name was on a list. People have been watching you for years. If anyone sees you standing out there right now, they will finish what they started.”

My heart slammed against my ribs so hard it almost hurt. I wanted to call him a liar. I wanted to scream that this was just another one of his games. But the look on his face made the words stick in my throat.

“You’re lying,” I said, though my voice came out weaker than I meant it to. “This is just another way for you to control the story.”

“I wish it was.” He leaned in closer, still holding my wrist. “I’ve been trying to keep you alive for a long time. Even when you hated me for it. Even when every decision I made made me look like the villain in your eyes.”

I let out a short, bitter laugh that didn’t sound like me at all.

“Keep me alive?” I pulled my wrist free and took a step back. “You ruined my father. You took our company and left us with nothing. And now you expect me to believe you’ve been protecting me this whole time?”

“Yes.” His answer was immediate and hard. There was no hesitation in it. “Because the people who want you dead don’t care about your feelings, Maya. They only care that you stay buried. And right now, standing here arguing with me in the open is the fastest way to make sure that happens.”

I opened my mouth to shout at him again, but the sudden sound of a car door slamming somewhere near the church gates made both of us freeze.

Noah’s entire body went rigid. In one smooth movement he stepped forward, pressed me back against the cold stone wall beside one of the tall windows, and used his own body to completely shield me from the entrance.

“Don’t move,” he whispered against my ear. His breath was warm, but his voice was pure steel. “Don’t make a sound.”

I could feel the tension running through his chest. His breathing stayed controlled even though the hand he had braced against the wall near my head was clenched into a tight fist. Outside, footsteps moved along the gravel path toward the church for a few long seconds. Then, slowly, they faded away again.

When the silence returned, Noah still didn’t step back.

He stayed right there, eyes locked on mine, voice low and furious.

“Do you want to die for real this time, Maya?” He slammed his free hand against the stone beside my head. The sharp sound echoed through the empty church. “Look at me. Shut up and stay down before they shoot us both.”