The problem is, I don’t feel the pain anymore.
The cold is gone, too.
But then her words spark what remains of the little embers that cling to my lifeblood. “I hate you.”
More tears fall freely from my eyes, cascading down my nose and soaking the carpet that is now saturated with my blood.
My slowing heart thuds just once in my chest.
I know I told her to tell me an ugly lie, but if this is my last moment with her, shehasto know my truth. I cannot allow death to wrap its arms around me until she knows how I’ve felt from the very first moment she emerged into my life.
With the last of my strength, I push my head forward until my forehead rests against hers. Nudging her until her head tilts up, I place one last kiss upon her lips as I murmur the words with clarity, “I know, but I’ll love you enough for the both of us.”
Her cry is enough to rip my soul from my body and shred it, but she can have all of what remains if it will help to keep her whole.
On a heavy exhale, my body goes lax, completely free of pain and blissfully numb, which sends Collins into a state of panic.
“Riley,please!”She begs against my lips, but I can’t comfort her, no matter how hard I try.
My eyes fall closed, and Creed’s face lights up the forefront of my mind. I hope and pray to whatever entity is out there watching over us that he’s able to save her, to bring her home and keep her safe. To live a long, long life together, so he can love her the way she deserves. They’ll need one another to move on and find peace once I’m gone.
I want to tell her to be strong.
To fight like hell…but I can’t.
Each breath is slower than the last, and it only sends Collins further into hysteria.
Pulling in a shallow breath, I release it and my body rocks forward with the compression of my lungs and it allows my forehead to press against hers. I hope she can feel the words I so desperately want to say, but my lips refuse to craft the words.
Thank you, Snow, for showing me what unconditional love should feel like.
Chapter 2
Collins
“I AM NOBODY. I FEEL NOTHING.”
I’m clinging to Riley, holding his shirt in a vice grip between my zip-tied hands, crying and begging him to stay with me. My entire world goes silent as I feel the exact moment his body goes completely limp.
Oh, God.
No.
“No, no, no.” My panicked words come rushing out. “Riley?”
Nothing.
“Riley?!”More silence greets me. He feels so cold beneath my touch, and he’s entirely too still. “Wake up! Baby, please wake up and stay with me,” I cry, my words barely more than a broken whisper with the feeling of utter loss clogging my throat. “St-stay—stay with me, Riley, wake up. Come on,please—”I barely grit through my teeth.
Refusing to accept the fact that he’s gone, I beg. Beg, and beg, and plead for him to come back to me. I have no idea how much time passes before I feel the car come to a sudden stop and the engine is cut. My lips clamp shut in terror, but my grip on Riley only tightens. My own injuries have left me weak, and I don’t have any fight left in me to turn away from the bright light that assaults my eyes when the trunk is whipped open. Theonly strength I do possess is my hold on Riley’s shirt and the will to stare down the light shining directly onto my face, hiding the coward who hired another man to take me.
“There she is,” the voice I hoped I’d never hear again in my lifetime slides across my skin with a sickening timbre. I say nothing, but my nostrils flare in anger when he reaches down to grab Riley by his hair. I snarl and growl at him, but he just laughs. When he stops, he turns the light onto the sickeningly pale and too-still form of Riley. “And the little fucker who dared to sully mylittle girl.”
I want to spit at him, to curse his name, but panic grips me when Riley is ripped from my hands and shoved to his back. I can’t look away. The cold stillness of his features makes him so unlike himself, and my heart aches frantically in my chest. I fear it may stop right alongside his.
He’s. Not. Dead.
He doesn’t even react to their rough handling; his head just lolls heavily to the side. Guy scoffs, ignoring me completely. Although, right now, I wish more than anything he’d turn his attention on me and leave Riley alone. “Is he even alive?”
