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Each press of his joined hands wrung a sob from him.

“Come back, Dalli,” he begged. “Please come back to me.”

He was a mindless machine as he performed CPR, attempting to blow air through her crushed trachea and declaring his love for her with each breath.Part of her had to hear him, right?He hadn’t possessed the power to decimate her soul, and if she transitioned to the Otherworld, part of her had to be aware of what was happening on this plane.

“You must move, Mr. Blane,” Jordon Brothers urged softly. “I can’t treat her if you don’t move, sir.”

Rough arms dragged Trev away, and he fought like a madman to return to her side.

“Dalli!”he cried.

A glowing light extended from Jordon’s palms to the entire column of Soleil’s neck as he tried to repair the damage Trevor had inflicted.

Ceasing to struggle, Trev stared at his hands, disbelieving of the devastation they’d caused.

Red Guards rushed him, but his Sentinel teammates formed a line, blocking them from reaching him for an arrest. With his back to the wall and arms resting on his raised knees, he stared at Soleil’s unmoving form through a curtain of moisture.

“Trevor.”

Hearing Mattie next to him, he turned his head, but his unseeing gaze remained locked on Soleil.

“Trevor, you need to ask your friends to stand down.” Her statement was kind and filled with compassion. “It will be worse for everyone if they don’t.”

“Stand down,” he croaked. Mainly because he didn’t care what the fuck happened to him now. If the Authority decided to end his life, it would be a blessing. There was no recovering from what he’d done.

Amid angry protests but no physical scuffles, the Red Guard dragged him to his feet and shackled his arms. A sympathetic look from Brooke Ellis made him want to vomit. He didn’t deserve any kindness. He was a stone-cold killer.

“What’s going to happen to him?” Simon demanded to know. “Dad? Where are they taking him?”

“For reprogramming.” Ben’s voice was rough, and his pallor gray. “Iftheydecidehe canbe rehabilitated.”

From his father’s grim statement, it wasn’t likely the Authority would favor reprogramming over an end-of-existence sentence. The truth, they both knew, was Death Dealers were expendable. They were too dangerous not to be.

“That’s ridiculous! Trev!” Simon fought the crowd to get to him, shoving his way through the Red Guard. Knowing what hewas capable of, the fainter-hearted ones stepped back to allow his brother access.

“It’s okay, Si.” Trevor’s throat ached with all the words he wanted to say but couldn’t. “Tell”—he inhaled deeply—“tell her family… I didn’t mean it. I loved her, and the monster who did that to her wasn’t me. Tell them, okay?”

Simon nodded jerkily as he cast a desperate glance Damian’s way.

The Aether was granite-faced, giving nothing away as he coolly observed them.

Trevor choked back his need to beg forgiveness. It wasn’t due to someone like him. A man who possessed a black hole of a soul, constantly consuming and destroying everything within reach.

“If they can’t bring her back, Si,make surethey rule against reprogramming, okay? I don’t want to live in a world without her.” When his brother would’ve protested, he cut him off. “If it were Evelyn, you’d feel the same.”

“She could pull through, Trev.”

“She could, but she’s lost to me either way now.”

Damian would never let him close to her again, should Trevor manage to escape the Authority’s brand of justice. But the truth was, he’d murdered an innocent in front of a roomful of witnesses, and his dayswere numbered.

“You’re the best brother a person could have, Trev,” Simon said through his apparent grief. “Thank you for all you’ve done to ensure I had a normal life.”

“I’ve done one thing right, at least.” They pressed their foreheads together in their shared understanding. “I love you, little brother.”

“I love you, too, big brother.”

Trevor cleared his throat and growled, “Now get the fuck out of here and get home to Evelyn. Fuck this place and all in it.”