Page 238 of Ruin My Life

Stay awake. You can do this.

That voice—it doesn’t sound like mine.

It sounds likeAmie.

I smile, tears dripping from the corners of my eyes.

Maybe she’s waiting for me. Maybe not.

But while everything else fades, one thing stays sharp.

This time,I won.

Chapter Forty-Three

Damon

IGUIDECHAVEZ DOWN THE WINDING DIRT ROAD,my jaw clenched so tight I can feel it creaking in my skull. The trees blur past—nothing but streaks of dark and frost—and the silence between us is louder than the tires grinding over gravel and ice.

When we skid to a stop outside my mother’s house, I scan the property fast. No cars. No broken windows. No signs of forced entry.

But that doesn’t mean shit.

I grab my gun from the console, jerk my chin at Chavez. He does the same—no words needed.

We move in sync up the porch steps. I punch in the lock code, don’t even flinch when I kick the door open and it slams into the wall behind it.

“Mamá!”

My voice cracks out sharper than I mean it to.

My gun is up. Finger tight on the trigger. Every muscle wired to draw blood.

“Damon?”

Her voice freezes me mid-breath.

I turn—

And there she is.

Wrapped in her ratty housecoat and slippers, a small pistol in her shaking grip—pointed right at my skull. She’s trembling, but she’s still the woman who raised me alone. Solid and unyielding.

Her eyes widen when she registers my face—then flick past me to Chavez.

Safe. She’s safe.

I exhale slowly and lower my gun. Chavez follows suit. Only then does she flick the safety back on hers and set it on the hall table.

“What’s going on?” she demands, stepping closer, her eyes searching mine like she can see the war behind them.

“You’re in danger,” I say, scanning behind her for any shadow that shouldn’t be there. “Have you seen Brie?”

“Brie? No—she’s not here.”

My heart plummets like it just dove off the cliffs into the icy black waters below.

I hoped—god, Iknew—Brie would find a way to keep Connor from reaching my mom.