Page 83 of Velvet Corruption

She took a deep breath before abruptly stopping her sentence.

She should’ve been thanking me. I had just saved her. But that was the problem, wasn’t it?

Because she thought I only saved people by controlling them. She had told me as much before. She had even called me creepy.

I saw the exact moment she realized, the exact moment she put it together. And what had I done? Threatened a man’s wife and kids like it was nothing. Like my name meant more than their lives.

Just like my father. Just like my brother.

But…I had still saved her. She had been in trouble, and I had still saved her. Sure, my methods had been unconventional, but she was alive because of me, wasn’t she?

“This is why I don’t listen to you. Because when I do, I end up in situations like this,” she spat, her breath coming in ragged bursts.

“I don’t see how your clumsiness has a damn thing to do with me showing up,” I shot back. “And…again,you’re welcome.”

“No…no. You don’t get to do this,” she said, her voice hoarse, her breath ragged. “You don’t get to play the hero. Not after everything.”

I swallowed hard, my pulse hammering in my throat. “This is exactly why you should listen to me. When you do, you stay alive.”

The dinghy rocked beneath us as Ruby struggled to her knees. I reached for the ladder, gripping the rusted metal rung.

“Come on,” I said, voice rough. “Up.”

She shot me a look that could've curdled blood, but she climbed.

It must have been hard as hell with an injured hand and the rest of her freezing, but she was carried by adrenaline, and she climbed the ladder as if she was a pro.

We finally stepped foot on the docks when she turned to me, her brow furrowed. “What did you say down there?”

“I said when you listen to me, you stay alive.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Clearly, that was the last fucking straw.

She took a step back, jaw tight, fists clenched. And then she said it, each word a clean cut to the throat.

“I never want to see you again.”

My jaw clenched. My pulse thundered.

She meant it.

There was a pause—just long enough for her to take it back. One breath, one second. She didn’t.

“I’m taking the Callahans down,” she said.

“Ruby—”

“No. We’re done. This is done. Never again. Stop following me. Goodbye, Kieran.”

She turned on her heel, walking away like I was nothing.

Like I hadn’t saved her life. Like I hadn’t had her soaked and trembling in my arms a heartbeat ago. Like I wasn’t the one who knew every inch of her skin, every sound she made when she came.

She didn’t look back.

And that… that was what undid me.