“I told you f**ks I’m the only one here!” Eagle yells.

“You would not be here alone. You are protecting someone!” a male voice yells. The accent is familiar, but I can’t recall where I’ve heard it, until he yells something in Russian, and then the pieces fall into place. This is Winter’s family, the family we’ve all been worried about showing up here. Oh god!

“Do you not understand f**king English? I told you I’m the only one here!” Eagle fights for us.

“Outside to take him to his knees.”

Wait, no! Before I can even process a rational thought, my hand is on the doorknob, unlocking and opening it up as I announce myself. “Wait!” I yell as I run towards the bedroom door. “I’m coming. Don’t hurt him!”

My entire body shakes with fear, but I will not let Eagle die for me. How is his life any less important than mine?

“Well, what have we got here?”

Bastard is pointing a gun at me and I can barely understand a damn word out of his mouth.

“Where’s my daughter?”

Shit! This is Winter’s father. In this moment, I know we are not making it out of here alive. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!”

A tall guy walks up, grabs me under the arms, and swings me over his shoulder. I kick. I scream. I slam my fists into his back until we’re outside, and that’s when I spot all the Russians surrounding the pool. I’m thrown hard to the concrete, scraping my hands and knees when I land face down.

“Gustov said there is one more. Find her!”

Oh no, Haley!

“Leave them the f**k alone! They didn’t do shit to you!”

I close my eyes, begging for Eagle to just stop. It isn’t going to do us any good. We are dead. We were dead the moment they stepped into Jamaica.

“Snake, who is this woman to my daughter?”

I look around, trying to figure out which one is Snake. That lowball f**king prick! It takes everything in me not to call him out for raping Winter, but I can’t let the Russians have him. I can’t. That kill is for Winter.

“That is your daughter’s friend.”

I glance over at the man who spoke, and what I see makes me cringe. He appears to be as scary as the Russians are. When Eagle comes into my line of sight, he’s coughing hard and spitting out tons of blood. I look him over the best I can from this position and see two clear bullet wounds. I turn my head towards the door of the pool house when I hear Haley’s cries.

“Leave her the f**k alone! She’s pregnant, jackass!” Eagle’s words make me groan.

Haley is thrown down on the concrete next to me. I grab her, cover her body with mine, and turn her towards the pool away from the Russians.

“Quiet him,” Winter’s father says.

Two large men grab Eagle and stand him up as straight as possible, while a third man comes up behind him with what I think is a machete.

Oh no, oh no, no, no!

Eagle’s eyes never leave mine. He doesn’t see it, doesn’t know what is coming. I try to look away, I do, but I can’t. My eyes are his focal point and I can’t force myself to let him see what is coming.

The Russian looks at me over Eagle’s shoulder as he raises the machete, and the f**ker smiles at me as the blade rips through Eagle’s neck. My stomach revolts as his head hangs on by a thread, and blood gushes everywhere in huge spurts. The Russian pulls back and whacks again, this time severing the last muscles and causing Eagle’s head to fly across the concrete. Its movement resembles bloody tumbleweed, and at that thought, my stomach contents pour out onto the ground. The thudding echo of his headless body slamming against the concrete is a sound I’ll never forget. I look over, gagging at the blood squirting from what used to be his neck.

Haley removes herself from my back, screaming when she sees what just happened. She goes to stand, taking me with her. There is no way I’m letting her in front of me. They want to hurt her, and they’ll have to go through me first. I don’t bother to fight back with words, either. There is no point to it at all. I try to calm Haley the best I can with her behind me but it’s no good. Her cries and screams worsen when one of the men grabs Eagle’s head while another cuts off the top of a tiki.

God, no! Please, tell me they aren’t going to do that! Please no!

As the top of the torch impales Eagle’s head, the slurping sound of his skull cracking on the stick reverberates through the air.

“No!” Haley screams and pushes me away from her. Before I can get her safely behind me, gunshots go off, hitting her right in the stomach.

I reach for her, but she stumbles backwards, twisting in mid-air, and lands face first into the pool. Crimson spreads through the turquoise waves as I hold my breath, praying she’ll cough and stand up in the shallow water. My shoulders slump as what feels like minutes go by. Anger seethes through my body and I flip back around, screaming at the top of my lungs.

I spot Eagle’s gun on the ground and take off towards it. I fall down as I reach it, put my finger on the trigger, and just start shooting blindly as bullets rip through my body. When I see a man fall, I smile through the pain. When the click of the clip tells me it’s empty, I fall backwards onto the concrete. My head hits hard enough that it dulls the pain from the bullets embedded in me, and my ears fill with the sound of my heart thumping and my labored breathing.

I don’t know how much time goes by before I realize it’s dead quiet. I find myself alone, gasping for breath. This is my moment. That one moment where a person thinks back at everything she’s ever done, and there is always one thing, that one thing, she regrets never doing or taking a chance for. Well, this is that moment for me.