Page 140 of Merry Fake Bride

I run.

With my heart hammering and my feet pounding, I sprint down the road as fast as I can, leaving Axel behind me to get swallowed up by the storm.

I just have to get away.

Get distance.

Then I can think of what to do next.

I have to get away.

Wooziness from the crash sweeps up and I stumble, slipping on the snow and crashing down hard onto the road with a yelp.

With my head spinning, I push myself back up and brush my sticky hair out of my face just as two glaring bright headlights skid around the corner and charge straight toward me.

I’m too tired.

I’m too slow.

I’m sorry.

36

KAIRO

“Look out!”

Martin reacts to my yell before the words have fully left my lips and he wrenches the steering wheel to the left as hard as he can.

Racing recklessly to the ping from Devon’s cell phone was a risk in itself, but the glimpse of her in the middle of the road came almost too late.

I brace on the dashboard as my heart flies up into my mouth, praying with everything I have in me that Martin’s reaction time was fast enough.

He slams on the brakes, causing the car to whine and skid in the snow, and as it begins to screech to a stop, I’m ripping my seatbelt out of the holster and shoving open the door.

My foot slips the moment I step out of the still-moving car, but I catch myself just in time and sprint toward where I estimate Devon to be in the dark.

“Devon? Devon!”

As luck would have it, Martin brings the car to a messy stop with the headlights flooding the road and the mound of Devon’s body lies in the center of the snow.

“No, no, no, no!” The cold doesn’t touch me, the wind means nothing, and the snow is nonexistent as I throw myself across the road and reach the mound of unmoving clothes.

If Martin hit her, I’ll never forgive myself for urging him to drive faster than he was comfortable with.

“Devon! Oh my God, no, no, no?—”

Solid, frozen ground cracks my knees as I land and grab Devon’s shoulder, and for a single chilling moment, I’m too scared to roll her over.

Luckily, my body doesn’t listen to the fear rampant in my mind and I pull her into my lap, my body tense.

Her eyes open and she looks at me with such intense fear that I almost crumble.

Relief and worry crash together in my mind, creating an unstable fog of tension in my chest as I draw her tighter in my arms and bury my face in her hair.

“Oh my—thank God. Thank fucking God.”

“Kairo?”