a change of heart | e.k

Chapter Twenty Two

Dark, sad stuff ahead. Long chapter, too. Just a reminder that there's an old Acadian tale about two lovers named Évangéline and Gabriel. Gabriel ends up dead by the end of the poem. I'm mentioning this because Évangéline refers to this poem in the chapter.

Lane crashed to her knees next to her friend, her own injuries forgotten as she examined the ones that marred Domino's body.

"Domino," Lane said, voice trembling. "Dom, c'mon, look at me."

But Domino's eyes remained glazed over, and Lane knew that she was far too close to death, if not already dead. Lane swallowed hard and shifted her hands over the girl's jacket, not knowing what to do. Not knowing what to say.

"Don't think yer gonna find a heartbeat, dearest."

Lane turned to him with tears building in her eyes. "When did you become so heartless?"

"When did you become so soft?"

"If I were anythin' else," she spat, "it'd only be 'cause 'a you. And I don't mean dat in a good way."

A muscle in his face twitched. "Ta make dis all happen-"

She turned away sharply. "I don't wanna hear it."

"Yer bleedin'."

She didn't respond.

"You keep surprising me." Her father said. "I jus nev-ah know what yer next move will be. As irritating as it can get, it's almost jus as fascinating."

"I guess dat's somethin good in all dis," she sneered. "Or is it? Seems like every wrong move I make, someone else pays fa it. Like Elmer."

"Him and Jack Kelly are both dead," her father admitted, although it didn't seem like he cared very much about the blood that was probably on his own hands. "But not 'cause 'a you, Lane. Elmer was bait for tha woman who should've been yer muddah. As for Jack... I'd hope you'd known we wouldn't leave him, aft-ah everyone else before him - Brock, Mabel, Clyde and Sean - was taken out of our path. He's been one 'a our biggest targets all along."

And Sean?

As far as she knew, Frisks had been the one to kill Spot. Had her father really somehow orchestrated it all? Turned all those little unintentional actions into just another part of his brilliant scheming?

She began to shake again, clutching the fabric of Domino's clothes to ease her roiling stomach. Him and Jack Kelly are both dead. She hated him, loathed him, but what could she do? She could call him names, curse him, and all it would do was feed his oversized ego. She couldn't very well kill the man, and she knew there was nothing she could say that could change his mind about his own greatness, except... except...

"Useless cad. Get up, you good for nothing oaf." Her father walked over to the guard unconscious on the ground, kicking him in the side. He blew out a sigh, turning his attention back to Lane. "All of 'em are gone, and it's no fault but their own."

Lane waited a long time before speaking. "Frisks died today," she whispered. "And so did Oscar."

Silence.

"Well," murmured her father at last. "Life goes on."

Lane clenched her eyes shut, placing a hand on the wound she'd acquired when Frisks caught her. The pain was unbearable, but it may have just been the only thing she had left. Her first strategy — giving him the news of Oscar to make him rethink his choices — had more or less failed.

The guard groaned and stood. She slid her gaze over to the man, irked when she recognized him. It was Gary, the man who'd claimed he'd left The Unknowns back when she was still affiliated with them. Clearly, with him and the two other men breaking into the lodging house just weeks before, that hadn't lasted long.