God, my lip trembles as I bite back the agony I feel. “I’m right here. You aren’t alone. I’m right here, okay? Focus on me, nothing else.”
“You . . . You were always my family. Not them. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry—” His voice cuts out as he struggles to breathe. Blood flows from his mouth, and his eyes widen as he panics.
It’s horrible, and there’s nothing I can do. I just lean into him, softly pressing my lips to his. “I will always love you, Faiz. It’s okay . . . It’s okay to stop fighting now. It’s okay.”
His hand flexes on mine, then his chest expands and stills. It isn’t quick, but he finally takes his last breath. Kissing him softly once more, I sit up and swallow my tears as I stare into his dead eyes. “I forgive you,” I whisper.
That’s when I remember his parents.
Picking up Faiz’s fallen gun, I aim at his mother and father, but they are slumped against the table.
Their entire family was wiped out this night.
The four sons of Pine Valley have become three.
I know I’m in shock as I sit on the steps of Faiz’s parents’ house with a blanket draped around my shoulders. My gaze is on the gurney as Faiz is wheeled to the van in a body bag.
He’s dead.
They all are.
His entire family is gone.
I know it was either them or us, but it doesn’t stop the agony inside.
Nikko crouches before me, blocking my view, and gently starts to cleanse my face and hands with some wipes he must have found. He is silent, but his soft touch makes tears well in my eyes again.
He wipes them away with his fingers as he cleans my lips. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay,” he chants as I sit here, covered in my dead lover’s blood, and he never once says anything else.
Footsteps sound at my side, and I lift my heavy head to see the police commander. My father called him to the scene when the first officers arrived since he’s on our payroll.
“A terrible family accident,” he remarks as he looks at me and then my father, who is silent behind me. “That is what we will rule it as. You were never here. Any of you.”
“Thank you, sir.” My father shakes the police commander’s hand, and he looks at me. “Let’s get my boys home, okay?”
I nod but can’t stand, so Nikko scoops me up and holds me againsthis chest as we walk to my father’s car. Sliding into the back, Nikko puts me in the middle and buckles me up, wrapping the blanket tighter around my body as I shake.
What Faiz’s family said is true. I’ve killed and stolen.
I’m not a good man, and I know death better than most, but I’ve never lost someone I loved like that before, and I feel like I’m falling apart. As my dad slides in and closes the door, I know it’s okay to feel this way right now. Nikko and my dad can handle anything else.
It’s over, but at what cost?
I never wanted that to happen. I just wanted them to stop. I thought I could scare them in line or maybe buy them off. Their greed was their weakness, but I was wrong about how deep their anger and sense of betrayal went.
I never thought they would hurt their own son, and the fact that Faiz killed his own parents for me?
My heart lies in ruins.
“Dad,” I croak as I lean into his side.
“I know, son. I know. I’m so sorry. Let it all out. We are right here.” Sandwiched between the two most important people in my life, I cry for what I have lost.
No matter what happened between Faiz and me, he was a big part of my life. He was my first love, my best friend, and my constant, and now he’s gone.
He died to protect me from his own family.
Nikko holds me on the other side as I cry for the death of someone I always thought would be in my life.
