Carlo spins and returns fire, bullets tearing through the doorframe where Sabine was standing a moment before. She ducks into the room, closing the distance and driving her fist into his injured shoulder. He roars and swings at her with the gun, catching her temple and sending her stumbling backward, but it's just the distraction I need.
I surge to my feet, kicking Carlo's gun from his hand as he raises it at her, but he spins on me, slamming his elbow into my ribcage so hard I double over and all the wind is knocked out of me.
Sabine recovers and pulls a knife from her boot, but Carlo turns on her with a wicked grin, as if he thinks he can take her out too. They grapple for control of the blade. I see it flash between them, see blood bloom across fabric, but I can’t tell immediately who is injured.
Then Sabine yelps and stumbles back with the knife buried in her side, and rage consumes me. I move before conscious thought can form, grabbing Carlo's head and twisting with all the strength I possess. The snap is sickly and violent, a grotesque sound of cartilage and bone breaking, and he drops to the floor, neck broken and eyes staring at nothing.
Sabine collapses against the wall with her hand pressed to the wound, blood seeping between her fingers. I rush to her side, pulling her hand away to assess the damage, and my stomach drops when I see how deep the blade penetrated.
"We need to get you to a hospital." My hands shake as I try to apply pressure to the wound. "Right now, Sabine. You're losing too much blood."
"No." Her voice is weak but determined. "This is my plan. I need you to listen to me."
Sirens wail in the distance, growing louder with each passing second. Someone must've heard the gunshots and called the police, and we have maybe two minutes before they arrive. I look around frantically for a way to carry her out, but she grabs my wrist with surprising strength.
"Stop." Her eyes lock onto mine. "You can’t take me out of here. The police are coming and they're going to find me with these bodies. Let them find me…" She's almost gasping for breath.
"You're bleeding." This is killing me. I can't leave her here. "I need to get you to a hospital."
"The military won’t let me die if they know I'm guilty of something." Her breathing is labored but her logic is sound. "You know they want their pound of flesh."
The sirens are closer now, maybe a minute away. I can hear multiple vehicles approaching from different directions, and I know we're out of time. But everything in me rebels against the idea of leaving her here bleeding and surrounded by corpses. I don't want this. This isn't the way it's supposed to happen.
"I won’t leave you." I'm trembling. I swear I'm close to crying.
"You have to." Sabine reaches up and touches my face with her blood-stained hand. "Take the phones to Hannah. She'll get them to the right people…" Blood leaks from her mouth now, and I touch it. "Please go before they take you too…"
"Sabine, please…" I love her. I can't just walk away.
"Please, Jace. Trust me. This is the only way to get my story heard and make sure Bryan faces justice. You have to let me do this."
The sirens are on the street now, multiple vehicles converging on this location. I have seconds to make a decision that'll determine whether we both get arrested or I escape and can continue fighting for her freedom from the outside. The logical part of my brain knows she's right, but the part that loves her screams to stay and fight.
"Take the phones," she whispers, and I hear a rasp. The blade has punctured a lung. They're filling with blood. "Get them to Hannah and make sure she understands how important they are. The videos, the evidence, everything we need to prove what Bryan did. Don’t let them get destroyed or lost in the chaos."
I stand, my entire body trembling with the effort of making myself move away from her. "This isn't over, Bean…" I touch her face again and press a kiss to her forehead. "I love you."
"I know." She smiles despite the pain etched across her features. "I love you too. Now go before they trap you here."
The words shatter something inside me, but I force my legs to move toward the back door. Every step feels wrong, every instinct screams to turn around and stay with her, but I keep walking until I reach the yard and the fence beyond. Behind me, I hear car doors slamming and voices shouting commands, and I know Sabine's about to be surrounded by police and taken into custody.
I run through the neighboring yards and reach my truck with lungs burning and tears streaming down my face. The bag of phones sits on the passenger seat where we left them, and I start the engine with hands that shake so badly I can barely grip the steering wheel. The truck lurches forward and I navigate away from the sirens and the flashing lights.
Two police cars pass me heading toward the scene, but I force myself to maintain a normal speed and not draw attention. Every fiber of my being wants to turn around and go back for her, to storm through the police line and carry her out regardless of who tries to stop me. But she asked me to trust her, so I have to do that.
When I'm far enough away that the sirens have faded to nothing, I pull into an empty parking lot and lose control. My fists slam into the steering wheel over and over while I roar my frustration and fear into the silence. The impact bruises my knuckles and cracks the hard plastic, but the pain feels insignificant compared to the agony of leaving Sabine bleeding on the floor of a stranger's house.
She could die. She could bleed out before an ambulance even gets to her, alone and in pain while I drive away to safety, andthat thought threatens to destroy whatever sanity I have left. The image of her slumped against the wall with blood soaking through her shirt burns behind my eyelids, and I can’t make it stop.
But Sabine Hart is the strongest person I've ever met. She survived rape and betrayal and weeks of running for her life, and she'll survive this too. She has to.
Because the alternative is unthinkable, and I refuse to accept a world where she doesn’t exist.
28
SABINE
Pain is the first thing I register when consciousness begins to creep back, a burning ache in my side that pulses with each heartbeat. Voices drift around me, though they're distorted as though I'm underwater. I try to open my eyes but the effort feels impossible. My body's heavy and unresponsive like I've been drugged or tied down, and both are distinct possibilities right now.
