I stay sprawled on my stomach for minutes, catching my breath. I did it. I stopped them. Tears of happiness spill down my cheeks, and this time, they’re tears I don’t wipe away.
When the night grows silent, I release the pent-up breaths I was holding and exhale, long and hard. When my head stops spinning, I lift myself into a sitting position and stay seated on the deck. Alek doesn’t ask if I’m all right, and that’s because I am.
We worked as a team, which is the only thing I’ve ever wanted. He didn’t treat me like some fragile flower; he put his trust in me. We worked together, and suddenly, an epiphany hits—this is what I should have done from the very beginning.
Instead of trying to deal with Santo myself, I should have told Alek in the bathroom when he cornered me. But I wanted to p
