“Yeah. Go.”
My boots echo towards the concrete as I jog by means of the warehouse and out into the marina, leaving Domani on cleanup. My world narrows all the way down to a singular mission: get to Karina.
Inside minutes, I am racing towards the college and the fiery little angel who wants me.
Fifteen minutes later, Northwestern College looms forward, its grandeur doing nothing to ease the dread clawing at my intestine. I park haphazardly, scanning the shadows for any signal of hazard—or worse, any signal of Alessepo. All I discover are college students, blissfully unaware of the darkness lapping on the edges of their sanctuary.
She did not inform me the place on campus I would discover her, so I take off at a jog, checking each shadow. It would not take me lengthy to search out her—a lone determine huddled beneath an outdated oak tree. Her physique shudders with silent sobs, her honey-blonde hair a matted veil hiding her face.
The sight breaks my fucking coronary heart.
I could kill Alessepo for this second alone. I’ve spent the final three days avoiding her as a result of she deserves extra—she deserves laughter and sunshine and happiness. All of the shit I do not know the best way to give her. I am a goddamn monster, falling in love with a lamb.
And by some means, in these three days, she’s develop into worse off than she was once I was at her aspect. That is on Alessepo. And it is on me.
By no means once more. I will not ever permit her to cry like this once more.
“Karina.”
She lifts her head and sees me standing in entrance of her. “Coda.” A recent flood of tears pours down her cheeks as she flings herself at me, clutching my jacket with determined fingers.
I catch her to me, pulling her into my arms.
Her physique trembles—the distinction between her smooth physique and my hardened body is a stark reminder of the hole that lies between us. It would not matter. Not any longer.
“Take me away from right here,” she pleads, the vulnerability in her voice ripping at my coronary heart.
“Wherever you need to go, cara,” I promise instantly, guiding her towards the protection of my automobile. “You are secure now.”
As she nestles into the passenger seat, I steal a look at her.
Who knew that Miles Alessepo’s princess would discover solace within the arms of a person like me? However she has, and now there isn’t any turning again. I am her defend towards the darkish, her security. I am going to fucking kill anybody who tries to take her from me.
“Coda…” Her voice is a thread.
“Shh,” I soothe, operating my fingertips throughout her cheek. “Simply let me care for you.”
We drive off, leaving the relative security of the campus for a actuality the place survival is the one lesson that counts.
Town blurs previous us, a smear of lights and shadows as I attain over and slip my hand into hers.
“Karina, have a look at me,” I command gently.
She obeys, her large, watery eyes assembly mine.
“You are secure with me, cara.”
“I do know,” she whispers, her phrases so faint they’re virtually misplaced beneath the engine’s purr.
I hear them, although. She steals the most important fucking piece of my coronary heart when she whispers them.
The drive to my place is silent, the streets emptying as we enter the Gold Coast neighborhood, a extra prosperous a part of the town. The high-rise that homes my residence looms forward, a stark white monolith towards the night time sky.
“The place are we?” she asks, her voice steadier now.
“Dwelling,” I say merely.
Her gaze flits to me, looking. Ultimately, she nods.
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