The warehouse spins around me through tears, panic, and horror.
Hayden groans weakly but still manages to look for me afterward.
“Don’t cry,” he whispers brokenly.
“How can you say that right now?!” I scream. “You’re fucking dying!”
He actually smiles. He smiles that crooked grin that completely fucking shatters me.
“Still pretty,” he whispers to me.
A broken sob tears from my chest so violently I nearly choke on it. Because Hayden is literally dying on the floor… and he’s still trying to comfort me.
Brayden looks disgusted now. Angry even.
Like he hates that Hayden still owns pieces of me he never will.
So, he grabs my hair hard enough to yank my head backward.
“You love him that much?” he hisses in my ear.
“Yes!” I scream instantly. “I love him! I’ll always fucking love him!”
The entire warehouse goes still for one terrifying second.
Then Brayden loses it.
He pulls a gun from his waistband before shoving it against Hayden’s forehead.
Everything inside me stops.
“No!” I scream as Hayden stares directly at me.
Not scared.
Not panicked.
Just heartbroken.
There are moments in life that split a person clean down the middle.
Moments where every lie, every secret, every ounce of hate, grief, and love crashes together all at once.
Where the world before and the world after can never exist the same again.
This is one of those moments.
Every fight.
Every kiss.
Every promise whispered beneath the stars.
Gone in the space between one heartbeat and the next.
And somewhere deep in my soul… I know whatever happens after this will change us forever. Because he knows exactly what this will do to me.
“Close your eyes, Firefly,” he whispers softly.
