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He lets out a resounding roar, a frightening predatory sound that reverberates between my temples. “Fucking whore! You’re nothing like her! You’re a—"
Crack! Crack! Crack!
I’m not taking any chances.
Luca collapses to the floor, his body crumpled, torn, and bloody.
Dead. Retribution for all of his sins is finally granted.
His gruesome acts will be judged, his soul forever caught in a fiery hell for eternity.
He took so much from so many. Now he will suffer the same fate.
The gun clatters to the floor, and I crawl around his massive body, salty tears stinging the scrapes and scratches as they stream down my face.
“Nico,” I whisper, reaching out to grasp his hand. “It’s over. He’s dead.”
One of his eyelids float open, the other already swollen shut. His lips are split and bloody, his jaw bruised and shattered. And that’s only what I can see on the outside.
“You did it,” he rasps, wincing as he shifts himself on the floor. “I thought you were…fuck, I don’t even want to say it.”
Lily’s screams get louder and louder as she scrambles down the stairs and collapses on the floor next to her brother. He struggles to a sitting position, lifting his arm and draping it over Lily’s shoulders, his face twisted into an agonizing mask of anguish.
“Try not to move. You’re pretty mangled, babe. We need to get you to the hospital.”
“I don’t care. I need to keep my girls close,” he chokes, holding out his hand to me.
I lace my fingers with his and bring it to my lips.
I didn’t think anyone could save him.
But I was so very wrong.
I did it.
I saved him.
And he saved me back.