Chapter 141. Not a Monster

Chloe’s POV

The air was thick, and I could barely breathe. My hands shook as I gripped the gun, the cold metal felt as though it dug into my palms.

I didn’t even remember pulling the trigger the first time: it was just a loud crack, and Layla was on the floor, holding her side, blood was pooling beneath her, bleeding onto the cracked tiles of the warehouse.

Her eyes, full of shock, were on me, and for a second, it was as if I had gone deaf, and the only sound I could make out was the pounding in my ears.

“Do it, Chloe!” Grace cried, her voice cutting through the fog, sharp and loud. She was only a couple of feet away, arms crossed, face contorted into some combination of darkness—anger or maybe desperation? She was frantic. “Don’t let her talk her way out of this! She is totally playing you! Just do it!”

I looked at Layla, my hands shaking so much that I thought the gun might fall out of my hands. She gasped for air, her breath only in her chest,