Pick Your Three

Valerie’s POV

The echo of my scream still clung to the air when my voice broke again, this time quieter, trembling, but reaching toward him like a hand stretched through fire. “Malachi… wait. Don’t do it. Please. If I come with you, if I follow you, you let them all go. All of them.”

The words felt jagged in my mouth, tearing at my throat as I pushed them out. I could hardly breathe as I said them