Chapter 12 - The Shot
Howard fired.
Grant moved first.
He shoved Avery down.
The bullet hit him beneath the ribs.
Nolan tackled Howard.
Police rushed in.
Howard was arrested.
Grant lay on the floor bleeding.
Avery crawled to him.
"Dad?"
Grant looked at her.
"Hey."
"Don't die."
"I'll try not to."
The ambulance took him.
Surgery lasted four hours.
He survived.
Avery sat beside Nolan in the waiting room.
She held his hand.
Then she said.
"I was mad at him."
"You can be mad at people you love."
"Even if they get shot?"
"Especially then."
She considered that.
Lily arrived with Nolan's sister.
Avery stared.
Then slowly smiled.
"You came."
Lily hugged her.
Grant saw them together two days later.
He finally understood the connection.
Catherine had arranged secret playdates between Avery and Lily at the red-door apartment.
She wanted Avery to have one normal friendship outside the Vale world.
Elena brought Lily because she trusted Catherine.
The girls had kept the secret because their mothers asked them to.
What adults called silence had once been two mothers trying to build safety.
Then Darius and Howard weaponized that secrecy.
Grant reached for Avery's hand.
She hesitated.
Then gave it to him.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
May you like
Permission to try.
