She breaks past the guard like she’s possessed. Her scream tears through the night as she lunges, arm raised, the blade catching the light again before I can even move. My instincts tell me to run, to duck, to do anything,but my body doesn’t listen.Fear roots me in place, breath trapped somewhere in my throat.
Then, suddenly, a body slams into mine as the girl reaches us. The force knocks me backward, and the sound that follows is one I’ll never forget, a wet, sickening thud, followed by Ryan’s sharp, strangled gasp.
The world seems to tilt sideways.
I stumble, disoriented, my ears ringing as the crowd erupts into chaos. There’s shouting, the muffled crackle of a radio, someone screaming for help. I blink hard, trying to focus, but everything feels like it’s happening underwater.
When I catch my breath and my vision clears, Ryan stands in front of me, his body blocking mine. His face turns pale, hislips part like he’s trying to speak but can’t find the air. His eyes, usually bright and warm, are distant now, glassy, as if he’s looking through me instead of at me.
“I l-love y-you,” he breathes out, the words breaking apart in his throat.
It’s the first time he’s said them, and they come out like a confession torn from somewhere deep.
He glances down, and my eyes fall to where his hand presses against his side. He slowly pulls it away, and the sight steals the breath from my lungs. His fingers are slick with blood, dark and heavy, seeping through the fabric of his shirt and running down his ribs in a torrent.
“Jesus, R-Ryan—” my voice fractures on his name as he sways forward, his knees buckling. I reach for him, catching him before he hits the ground. “No, no,no, don’t you dare leave me. Don’t you dare!”
He collapses into me, his weight folding us both down to the pavement. My knees scrape against the rough concrete, but I barely feel it. My hands press against the wound, desperate, useless, trembling as warm blood seeps between my fingers. Around us, security moves in, shouts blur together, sirens wail in the distance, and camera flashes paint the scene in violent bursts of white.
But all I see is HIM.
His lips part like he wants to say something else, but the words don’t come. I cradle his head against my chest, my tears falling so rapidly it’s hard to see, mixing with the blood staining my hands.
In the chaos of the night—screams, sirens, flashing lights—everything narrows down to the impossible stillness between heartbeats.
And I know, with crushing certainty, that he didn’t just save my life.
He gave up his own for it.
“I love you, Ryan. Stay with me.” I keep repeating these words like a mantra, but as he looks at me, his eyes glass over and his eyelids shut.
I scream out as Danger rushes to my side.
Chaos ensues around me as he feels for a pulse.
“It’s okay, Tillie, the ambulance is nearly here. He’s gonna be fine. Hehasto be fine!”
Chapter Twenty-One
RYAN
Black.
An endless, consuming void surrounds me, pressing in from every direction, yet a sharp, searing pain lances through my right side. It’s as if reality is trying to break through, but none of it makes sense. My thoughts are scrambled, distant. My eyes are too heavy to open, and my limbs are leaden, as though I’m trapped beneath an invisible weight, paralyzed and powerless.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The sound drills into my skull, a relentless, grating noise echoing in the emptiness. It’s so damn irritating, an anchor pulling me further into the void. I’m not sure which is worse, the throbbing pain, the darkness imprisoning me, or this maddening sound that makes me want to scream, to tear my own ears off for a second of relief.
A faint sense of peace washes over me for the briefest moment.
Then, nothing.
Black.
Chapter Twenty-Two
RYAN
