Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Seven
For one suspended moment, he continued standing, as
though sheer will might keep him upright. Then his knees folded beneath him and
the weight of him crashed to the floor.
The sound was thick and final. The man she knew who
had never known how to fall being dragged down by gravity and fate all at once.
His flesh and bone met concrete in a way that felt louder than the gunshot
itself.
She watched him go down.
Watched the man who once filled every room with his
presence collapse into dust and silence.
The impact knocked the breath from her chest.
Her fingers loosened involuntarily just as the sound
died. Her knuckles went white around something that no longer felt like a
weapon… only a truth that had finally taken shape.
For a heartbeat, suddenly everything inside her
emptied out.
Then Asli moved.
It wasn't because she meant to.
Nor was it because she planned to.
