CHAPTER SIXTEEN
ZADE
To say I've been looking for a fight would be an understatement.
For the last three weeks, life has been a relentless spiral.
Everything is fraying at the edges—the pressure, the silence of the mansion, and the constant, nagging presence of a certain redhead in the back of my mind.
It's getting fucked up. All of it.
I swing my driver for the second time.
The air whistles.
The club head doesn't even graze the ball.
Total miss.
"Looks like you could use some help, Zade," a voice calls out from the next post.
It's Ren. I don't even have to look at him to hear the mockery dripping from his tongue.
The fucker is enjoying this.
He's enjoying seeing the king of Oakhaven struggle with a simple swing.
"How about we do it my way?" he shouts again, his laugh echoing across the green.
The rage, hot and unbridled, finally snaps.
I spin around, my vision tunneling.
I don't think. I just react.
I hurl the heavy driver straight toward him, intending to shut his mouth or force him to catch it.
He ducks.
In that split second, the world slows down.
My heart stops.
Just past Ren's ducking frame, I see a flash of red hair.
She's walking a few steps ahead of Mio, completely oblivious to the carbon-fiber projectile hurtling through the air.
"WATCH OUT!"
The shout tears from my throat, raw and desperate. But the universe doesn't care about my warnings.
Crack.
The sound is sickening—the heavy back of the driver connects squarely with her temple.
Alice doesn't scream.
She doesn't even stumble at first.
She just stands there for a haunting heartbeat, her blue eyes wide and vacant.
Then, her knees buckle.
She hits the ground with a dull, heavy thud that vibrates through the soles of my shoes.
"Alice!!!"
Mio's scream is a jagged blade.
She's running toward her, her face contorting in terror.
For a moment, the emerald grass of the golf course vanishes.
The sky turns grey. I'm no longer twenty-one.
I'm seven years old again.
I'm standing in a hallway that smells like hospitals and grief.
I can hear my mother's broken whisper: "Your sister is with the angels now, Zade. But she told me she loves you."
My father had held her shoulders then, his grip tight as if she were made of glass about to shatter.
I remember looking up at him, my small fists clenched.
"But Mom, you told me she was going to be my angel. Tell the angels she's mine. Give her back to me!"
The desperation of losing something before it had even arrived... it's a phantom limb that never stopped aching.
"ZADE! What did you do, you motherfucker?!"
A fist connects with my jaw, snapping my head back.
The physical pain is a mercy—it pulls me out of the past.
I blink, seeing Marcus standing over me, his face a mask of pure, unadulterated fury.
He swings again, but this time, the instinct takes over.
I dodge, my own fist sinking into his ribs with a grunt of effort.
"If something happens to her, I'll tear you apart with my bare hands," Marcus spits.
He doesn't wait for a counterattack.
He turns and scoops Alice into his arms.
She looks so small against his chest, her head lolling back, a thin trail of crimson beginning to stain her white collar.
Mio is right behind them, sobbing so hard she's gasping for air.
It's the first time I've seen her cry like this since the day I saved her in middle school.
Seeing her break... it shatters me.
To an absolute, fucking point.
The silence that follows is deafening.
My hands are shaking. I look down at the grass, at the spot where she fell.
If something happened to her... if I took another life before it truly began...
Fuck. No. I won't let it happen again. I have to make sure she's fine.
Even if I have to burn this whole school down to do it.