Page 117 of Ruthless Game

“You fucking bitch,” he spat, directly on my face. “I’m not even going to drown you, I’m going to kill you right⁠—”

He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. A dark shape came hurtling at him, knocking him away.

“Don’t you touch her, you sick fuck,” Max growled to the sound of punches. I rolled onto my side, trying to figure out how to help him, entranced by how beautiful he was when he fought. He landed punch after punch on Jeffrey, who tried to fight back, knocking Max on his back, only for Max to immediately flip them over and start wailing on my brother again. It wasn’t even close to a fair fight. Max had been taken over by an enraged animal, one whose mate had been threatened and who would stop at nothing to protect and avenge her.

Thank god I was that mate.

“You sick asshole. You're going to die for even touching her. For hurting her. For hurting both of us. I’ll fucking kill you,” Max seethed as he scored hit after hit. It should’ve been enough, I should’ve stopped him, but I was feeling a little bloodthirsty myself.

Instead, I silently cheered him on.

Jeffrey stopped fighting, lying back. Max rose onto his knees, chest heaving, turning to look at me.

“You okay, Starburst?”

I nodded.

“You?”

“Now I am. I was so fucking worried⁠—”

Jeffrey’s hand rose, and something glinted in the dark.

A knife?

“Max!” I screamed, but it was too late. The small knife came slashing down, slicing over Max’s neck, who fell backward with a low cry.

“Fuck!” I heard voices in the shadows, but couldn’t focus on them. I rolled onto my belly and started to crawl toward Max so I could stop the blood. How bad was he cut? Was he bleeding out? I tried to shove my way over dirt and stone to get to him.

“Not so fast, little sister,” Jeffrey coughed, dragging me backward. “At this point, I think it’s best to just kill both of you.”

Two men appeared out of the shadows. Isaac ran toward Max, dropping to his knees and ripping off his shirt to press it to Max’s throat. Jack ran toward us, probably to stop Jeffrey, but he wasn’t fast enough. I felt empty air under my head. Jeffrey had dragged me to the path’s edge; below me was a solid eight foot drop into the gorge. Water pounded below me, roaring as it moved downstream and broke over rocks.

I was going to die.

I was going to die without getting to tell Max I loved him one more time.

I couldn’t die like this.

I was supposed to tell him I loved him forever.

We were supposed to have forever.

“This is goodbye, Em,” Jeffrey said, blood dripping off his face and onto me. “All my love, little sister.”And then he was pushing me off the ledge, and I began to fall.

But not yet.

I couldn’t die yet.

Not without taking him with me. Not without making sure Max got to live—even if it was without me.

I screamed hell at the heavens, which chose that moment to open.

Rain came pouring down on me and Jeffrey. On all of us.

Wrists still tied, I grabbed at whatever of Jeffrey I could reach. I caught his ankle and held on hard⁠—

—taking him with me, down, down, down into the dark freezing depths.