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Like floating jewels.
Then, I see two splashes break the water, and the shining jewels turn red with blood.
I want to see who fell into the water and who is bleeding, but my eyelids are too heavy.
I try to force them open… but I am so tired.
There’s nothing left in me to fight.
So I stop moving, let go completely as the darkness takes me.
CHAPTER 24
KNOX
Julian shoves Cillian over the cliff’s edge, and my entire world stops.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t think.
My body shivers as a wave of anxiety and a level of panic I’ve never felt wash over me.
“Björn!” I scream, not knowing what to do.
My training tells me to protect my brother until backup arrives. I know they’re close… but every instinct in my body tells me to drop everything right now and save the man I love.
“Save him! I got them!” Björn grins, giving me a quick thumbs-up as he kicks a mercenary in the chest, sending the man flying.
And for the first time in my entire career, I abandon my post.
I sprint past four new mercenaries, dodge Julian, and throw myself off the cliff.
“No!” Julian yells furiously, firing at me six times… but his aim is shit, and only one bullet grazes my leg.
THWACK!
Halfway down the cliff, I hear the unmistakable sound that Law’s sniper rifle makes as it cuts through the air and hits its target.
Two seconds later, Julian’s body plummets down behind me.
I hit the ocean first and frantically scan around me, looking for Cillian, but the water is too fucking dark.
Please, God…!
Please take me, but let him live.
I close my eyes and calculate.
Okay, Knox…
If he fell two meters from where I jumped, and his body curved to the left, add the time he’s been sinking, the current, and—I look toward the eastern side of the cliff, and I see him.
Rays of moonlight shine through the now bloody waters and the darkness of the sea, cradling Cillian in a beam of light.
His hands and feet are tied, his skin glows pale, and his ashy-blond hair floats around his face like a halo.
It’s an image that is both terrifying and breathtakingly beautiful.
