Page 132 of Beautiful Secrets

Surprising—I’d honestly thought it would be green or black. Still can’t believe all it took to kill him was a bullet and not a fucking stake too.

I’m dimly aware that there’s a shit load of commotion around me, but none of that matters right now.

The only thing I care about is cradled between my palms.

Until the pain comes back, of course.

That overwhelms me faster than I thought possible. My grip weakens. Mika slips out of my hands. The world falls over.

All the racket, the movement—it blurs, drones.

The only thing that stays with me is Mika. Her bright blue eyes, her pale, blood-splattered hair.

Her mouth is wide, her lips moving. A frantic look in her eyes.

But it’s okay.

Everything is gonna be fine.

Wish I could tell her that.

But my body isn’t responding anymore. My lips are sealed. My tongue heavy and wooden in my mouth.

Wish I could have told her just how much I loved her.

How much she means to me.

But the darkness moves too quickly. It claims me like the ocean at night, dragging me under. Suffocating me.

Mika’s eyes are the stars, but they’re too far away to guide me back to shore.

48

Mika

Istare at the suitcase on my bed, and for a moment everything blurs with the threat of tears. I blink them back a second before Lev steps into my room.

“Ready?” It is more a statement than a question, but I nod anyway. “You have everything?”

Another nod.

I don’t look Lev in the eyes when I pass him, and twist aside when he wants to take my suitcase. He has been trying to make me forgive him for weeks now, but I am not interested.

For a moment I think he will come and walk beside me, perhaps try to talk me out of leaving—again—but he keeps his distance this time.

I suppose he realizes by now that I will not listen to him.

He thinks I am making a mistake.

Everyone does.

But this is the only thing I have ever been confident about in my entire life.

Lev’s obedience only lasts a few moments though. Then he’s at my side, wrenching the suitcase from me before I can fight him off.

“You are in no condition to carry heavy things,” he mutters.

“I am pregnant, not paraplegic.” I glower at him, but it bounces off him without leaving a mark.