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Everything slows

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Everything slows. I stumble away from the counter for safety. I knock over a table. Falling to the floor. Jace flees to me. So does Alonso. He wobbles over, his temple bleeding. "CUT OUT THE HEART!!!" The frail voice is gone. This isn't an old woman! She aims the knife at my chest. Jace shoves her, but he's too late. The knife is too close.  

Alonso's arm blocks it. The blade pierces through his forearm...slicing through skin. Stopping a few inches above my chest. He hisses from the agony yet withholds the position of his arm. "GET HER TO THE CAR!" He lifts his arm while simultaneously holding the woman back with the other. The other guards rush in and tackle her to the floor.  

"NOOOOO!!!" The lady screeches like a possessed demon.

Jace helps me from the floor and rushes me away. For the first time in my life...I black out. I don't remember how we got inside the car. I don't recall the loud mob. My ears muffle and ring. My mind shuts off. All I see is the sight of a knife flickering before my eyes. The screaming woman. The evilness in her eyes. 

How the blade sped toward my chest. Why would someone try to kill me? Jace said there are death threats with fame. But that wasn't a threat. It was an attempt! Why did she try to kill me?

"Are you okay?" Jace's voice is shaky. I'm not sure how to answer. Am I? Do I lie and say yes? Or should I be truthful? I'm not sure, so I keep quiet. He hugs me, tightly, locking me against his neck. "I'm sorry...I should've been by your side."

"It's not your fault." I manage a wobbly whisper.

"I'm sorry." There's so much misery in his voice.

I don't understand why he's apologizing. I caress the back of his neck. "You didn't know...." I console him. How could he have known she was a threat? So much detail went into her ploy. The makeup, the age lines. The texture of her skin was altered. The acting was convincing. That woman even tricked Alonso

I pull from the hug to peer into his eyes. "Don't apologize." He has the same troubled look from before. The same one he had in the shower. Broken and pained. The weakened eyebrows, the life fleeting from his eyes. Why? That night he said he'd tell me in the morning and never did. I can't allow that to happen again. "I've seen this look before...you never told me what it meant." 

"I know..." he speaks meekly. "I avoided telling you."

"Why?"

"Because I knew it'd be a deal breaker."

"Tell me." I demand, although I'm petrified.

"I told you a small part of the danger."

"Yeah...you mentioned death threats. I know. I just never thought there would be attempts."

"The truth is, there will always be attempts. I only shared half of the truth. I didn't want to lose you. But now I have no choice but to be honest." He inhales.

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