A Kingpin Love Affair: The Complete series(47)

The blade pierced his skin as his eyes popped open. He reached upwards, blood filling his throat. I could hear the gurgling as I pulled the blade from his body. I could see his eyes begin to turn vacant as thoughts of him invading my body clouded my mind.

I sat there, crouched over him as I leaned in with the knife still in my hand. I rotated my wrist, slicing him across the throat.

Blood seeped out of the wound, purging my soul of his intrusion. The light in his eyes dulled before dimming out completely and glazing over. The rising of his chest slowed. I watched as he exhaled, waiting for his next draw of an inward breath, but it never came.

I took everything from him with one stab and slice of a knife. I watched him bleed out, and with it, so did the fear he once caused to stir inside of me.





Chapter Twenty-Seven


Jared

A muffled scream traveled through the air bringing me back to the here and now. I could hear every noise, even the rats scurrying across the floor—the men snoring, the chains clinking together as I tried to move, but all I could think of was the scream I had heard. I knew it was hers, and that caused my stomach to clench tightly. What was he doing to her to cause such a sound to escape her lips? I jerked against the chains, trying to break free as I stifled my moans, just barely able to keep quiet. Pain radiated throughout my body. I was sweating, probably running a fever from my injuries. My clothes clung to my skin along with my own blood. The air around me stirred as coldness settled into my bones.

The realization there was no way I could get out of these chains without help forced me to sit in silence, my chest aching with every breath that escaped my lips as I looked up at the high window to the right. I begged for something, anything to happen so I could get out, so I could save Isabella and escape.

I scanned my surroundings, one of my eyes was swollen shut, and the other was barely open. I attempted to blink, a shadow cast across the window through the moonlight and into the warehouse. I knew something was going on, I could feel it in my bones. It couldn’t be, could it?

I watched through unfocused eyes as two men pushed through the window. They did so with little effort and no noise. They were as quiet as the air I was breathing. As the window opened, two ropes fell from the opening. I forced myself not to move or scream out and tell them I was here down below, afraid the men next to me would wake up and see them before they could get inside. I couldn’t risk blowing their cover, couldn’t risk the lives of not only all of them, but mine and Isabella’s as well.

How they found us is out of my mind, but if anyone could, it would have been them. I don’t even know how they knew we were missing—let alone how they could pinpoint our exact location. My only guess was Zerro had a man on us or some sort of surveillance.

The men landed on the floor just as I heard the opening of the door to the room I knew held the one person who was keeping me alive. I was praying nothing had happened to her, but I knew better. I just hoped she was still alive.

Angling myself sideways, causing the chains to dig into my wrists, I saw her. It was for a brief second, but I saw her. The moonlight falling against her body as I wondered how she had escaped from Israel and where he was at this very moment. Those are the thoughts that ran through my mind until my eyes caught on blood. It covered her hands and the knife that she gripped tightly as the blade was shining in the moonlight.

Her eyes were vacant, far from the woman’s eyes I once knew. I watched silently as she took a step forward and her hand shot out, stabbing the guard in front of her. I witnessed the need for her to survive the moment the knife entered his flesh and I knew Israel’s fate.

A scream filled the silent room causing everything to come to life all at once.

“Get up,” someone yelled as everyone came to a stand. I couldn’t tell where the men who had come in had gone. My eyes were stuck on Isabella’s as I saw tears trickle down her cheek, the knife dripping with blood and still clenched in her grasp.

In a blink of an eye, guns were pulled and drawn. Bullets began to fly, whisking through the air. A chill ran over my body the moment I witnessed one hit her in the chest. My heart grew cold as the first tear leaked from my eye. It was at that moment I died.

“If you’re ever alone, look to the sky and know that I will always be there.”

The words played back in my mind as gunfire continued to surround me. My body was numb, my eyes glued to her lifeless body against the floor. I could see blood pooling as people screamed and yelled around me. How helpless I truly was as I was not even able to be there for her last breath.

“Kill them all,” someone yelled over the fire, but I didn’t care. They could kill me now. The one thing keeping me alive, the one thing fueling me to keep breathing was now laying on the floor dead.

“Jared!” I could hear someone screaming my name, someone who sounded very much like Alzerro. I couldn’t respond, I was falling, falling off the edge. The cliff was right there, right within my grasp. If only I could reach it… if only I could push myself off it, to feel the wind beneath my body.

“I love you,” she whispered, her lips falling against my cheek. It was as if I were being kissed by an angel. Her body was covered in white, her eyes bright. She was so warm, so beautiful, so alive…

“Jared! If you’re still in there, listen to me, okay?” I could hear Alzerro, but I couldn’t feel him. My body felt cold, my mind felt gone, and I wasn’t sure if he was real or not. He stared at me with worry in his eyes.