AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Who was she talking about? What was happening?
Blood. Everywhere. Walls. Floors.
A man standing over her. A knife in his hand. He brought down his arm over and over again.
“Baby…” my mom managed. “Run…”
As the man slowly turned his head in my direction, the glow of moonlight streaming in through the open window allowed me to see his silhouette of his face.
“Don’t worry, bitch. You’re next. And I’m going to enjoy every single minute.”
The fight was no longer in me. As the light began to fade, sweet peace began to take over.
And I saw his face one last time.
The boy who’d saved me.
The lover who’d awakened me.
The man I’d fallen in love with.
CHAPTER 20
Two minutes earlier
Diego
I pressed down on the accelerator, listening intently to the sounds coming from my phone. My gut had told me she was in danger thirty minutes before. Hearing her screams and the brutal sounds of something attacking her was horrific. Being unable to protect her at this moment was even worse.
“Goddamn it, boss,” Ivan huffed from the passenger seat. “What the fuck?”
I wanted to reach through the phone, ending the life of the man responsible for hurting her. The fucker wouldn’t die easily or quickly. He would learn that hurting my woman had put an end to his life. I swung around the corner just as I heard his pained grunt, another crashing sound right after.
The woman was a fighter. My woman. The girl I’d longed to see again, the one I’d promised to protect. What the fuck was wrong with me allowing her to leave? Snarling, when I took the last corner leading to her house, I almost lost control of the vehicle, two tires popping off the road. As soon as they fell back to the road, I pushed harder, slamming my hand on the steering wheel as I flew into the driveway. There was no time to lose.
The moment I stomped on the brakes, cutting the engine, I was out of the car, racing toward the front door. I heard my soldiers behind me, Ivan telling Jacob to head around to the back of the house. After trying the door and realizing it was locked, I placed both my hands around the weapon, kicking in the door. The breeze and sound of the rain drew my attention to the open back door.
“The bastard cut the power,” Ivan barked from behind me.
“Outside. Now!” I raced outside, taking a few seconds to stop and listen.
“They went through here,” Jacob yelled, using his flashlight to highlight the way. I was able to see a clear path, broken limbs indicating heavy footsteps.
There was no stopping me. I barreled forward. “Fan out. If you find the fucker, leave him for me.” There was no time to waste. I sensed her presence, could feel her all around me. And she was calling to me, to the man who’d saved her before.
Cause and effect.
Behaviors and consequences.
The sentiments played over and over again in my mind like a skipping record, reminding me that every good deed didn’t go unpunished. I’d done so many bad things in my life, killing an indiscriminate number of people all for the sake of business and control.
All for keeping the powerful hold in a glass empire my father had built. He created a world of violence and bloodshed, building wealth on the backs and deaths of others. I’d followed in his footsteps, acting as if life didn’t matter. All the while I’d been haunted by the fact that I’d saved a beautiful young girl so long before, trying to hold onto a goodness I didn’t understand that had eventually been beaten out of me.
Now I was paying for my sins, losing the one beautiful thing that had happened in my life. I was to blame for taking what was left of her innocence.
And her life.
I was a dangerous man, one who’d prided himself on removing as many worthless souls from this earth as necessary. My hands were permanently stained red, my soul painted black. I wasn’t the kind of man who deserved love or a family, watching the concept vicariously through my brother’s eyes.
