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Chapter Eighteen

Emery

Curled up in a ball, I felt the wind as Marcos body fell to the ground with a thud. My eyes were sealed shut, refusing to see another dead man on the floor.

Strong arms wrapped my shoulders and hugged me tightly. “It's alright, I'm here, Baby, he won't hurt you anymore.” Porter kissed the top of my head as he pushed my skull into his chest with his hand. “You're alright, it's all going to be alright.”

I heard a long drawn out groan, and it forced me to peek out from the corner of my eye. Marcos was on his back with his hands covering his stomach. He was rolling around, his face scrunching up in anguish as blood began to seep up between his fingers and drip down over his knuckles.

Kicking Marcos' gun away from his hand, Porter stuffed his hands under my arms. “Come on, get up, we need to leave.” Helping me to my feet, he looked me over. “We have to get out of here.”

Marcos groaned again, so Porter turned on his heels swiftly. Dropping down to his knees, Porter cracked Marcos on the side of his head with the butt of his gun, forcing him into silence.

“He's not dead, at least not yet. I'm trying, Emery, I didn't shoot to kill, even though I wanted to.” Swooping his arms around my back, he guided me towards the door. “But we need to go now.”

“Was he really lying? You really didn't kill those people?” Stopping short, I flicked my eyes up to his. I wanted the truth, I wanted him to answer me either way.

I wasn't sure why I wanted to hear him say it. I knew I believed him, I knew by the tone in his voice that he wasn't lying. But hearing the words meant something to me.

Gripping my arms, Porter looked me straight in the eye. “I didn't do that, Emery. That's the whole reason this is all happening to begin with. I couldn't kill that family, there was no way in hell I was going to do that.” Dropping his head into his chest, he took in a deep breath. “I have killed people, a lot of fucking people. But I would never kill anyone who was innocent. And when I saw them, when I figured out that he expected me to kill all of them, I couldn't do it. But someone did, he had someone else finish what I couldn't. He tried to set me up, leaked info to the police that made me look guilty. But I swear on my brother's grave that I didn't do that. You have to believe me.”

There was so much weight in his voice, a pained hate that he felt and lived with. But I believed him.

Porter wasn't a good man, he wasn't a saint in true form. But he wasn't bad either, he had been misguided. A lost boy in a world full of evil. And that evil had attached itself to him, it brought him into its clutches and taught him how to kill.

But he wasn't meant for this life. This wasn't the man he wanted to be.

I didn't fall in love with a killer.

I fell in love with a man.

“I believe you.” Touching his chest, I held his eyes with mine. “I can feel your heart, Porter, and it's not black.”

His hands cupped my face, thumbs stroking gently back and forth against my jaw. “I love you, Emery, and I'll live every day showing you how much I love you. You changed me, you made me a better person. You helped me to see the life I can have, and not the one I thought I was left with.”

Porter pressed his lips to mine, and I knew. . .

We were meant to be.

I found love in the darkness.

And I'd do it all over again if it would lead me back to this man.