My stomach rolls, and bile rises up my throat. I shove it down, unwilling to allow this man to know how much I’m affected. I won’t give him the satisfaction.
Then they leave him to die.
Not long after, Gideon appears on the camera.He’s angry at first. Taunting him. His back straight and his jaw tight.
But then something changes . . .
Tears fill my eyes as Gideon wraps his arms around him.
He tries to help him, but it’s no use. My brother is dying.
My brother speaks, begging Gideon to find me and keep me safe. To protect me.
The man I love promises my dying brother the world, and then he stands up.
Roman’s breathing is labored, his chest caves in; his lungs are collapsing.
“Take it away,” he says.
On the camera, Gideon watches him, and then, with a look of regret that I have seen before on Gideon’s face, he takes out his gun.
Gideon might’ve pulled the trigger, but it was a mercy kill…
My brother was painfully dying, and Gideon gave him peace.I was so wrong about him.
The past month drifts through my memory.
The way he held me.
The way he encouraged me.
The way he loved me.
Everything was real.
We might not have started out that way, and yes, maybe it started off as a lie, but from the moment he tried to save me, it was all true.
Gideon loves me.
And despite it all, I still love him.
He might be a monster.
But he’s my monster.
53
GIDEON
My heart thumpshard in my chest.
Roman lies on the cold concrete floor of the warehouse, gasping for breath and clutching his bleeding chest. His face is a pale mask of agony, and his eyes glint with fear as he gazes up at me.
The air reeks of dust and sweat, giving it an acrid taste that clings to my tongue like glue.
The darkness of the room threatens to swallow us both whole, and I feel like I’m standing on the edge of a precipice, teetering between life and death.
I go to leave, turning back to my men, when the sound of a cough stops me.