Kylie Bray (Love, Hate and Billions) novel Chapter 60

The engines coming from the top of the dock get louder and though I am tired and my heart is skittering in fear of getting caught I run faster, trying to find what I am searching for.

The cars get closer.

My time is running out.

Ducking down, I see them jumping out of the cars. My knees make a cracking sound, as I bend into a crouching position as to not be seen.

Four men arrive in four different cars. No bodyguards, which shocks the hell out of me.

Peeping out from the red tin container I am currently leaning on, I check to see if I can make out one of them.

Hearing some scratching noises from behind me, I spin on my heels and crawl over to the next container.

That is when the beep and green dot goes off.

“Hey you,” the yelling coming from the men jot me in to a frenzy and I run.

My legs are already screaming from the amount of exercise it was given earlier today.

I grab my phone just as a shot rings out and press speed dial one as Michael said.

The pain in my leg burns as another one assaults me further. I fall to the ground.

My legs are screaming in pain, as my shoulder gushes with blood.

“If it isn't Vincent's little fuck toy, pity you have to find out about your fate this way, I'm sure Vincent still had a month or two before he eventually sold you off, you should ask Catrina, poor girl.”

I stare up into Roberto's eyes not understanding why he would betray his family.

Until his words click into place.

It is a cold day in hell to find out, you have been betrayed, and though I hear the words, I want to tell myself that Vincent wouldn't do that, not my Vincent.

I try to slide back and Roberto rewards my effort with two solid kicks to my stomach.

Time passes as I hear shouts as he orders them to get me out of here.

Whoever these people are, don't want to.

My legs are numb, I can't feel the fresh blood seeping through my jeans.

I try to push myself up, but it's no use, my legs were both fucked.

One bullet lodged into my right thigh, the other my left calf.

I should scream, I should curse.

I should've done lots of things differently.

“I warned you to stay away, I told you what would happen.” He snarls, spitting on the ground, “You rich kids are too fucking spoilt, thinking you can have it all.”

I groan.

My body aching.

I can feel the blood, hot and pulsing through my thigh.

I don't swear him, I don't curse.

I'm not stupid, I know he'll finish me, I know my limit.

My only hope is that the cops would find me.

They knew where I was, I had barely managed to call them before the first bullet echoed through the air.

Hitting me.

My hair matted to my forehead from the sweat drenching my skin.

But I don't move my hand, I don't dare move it from my shoulder.

I have to keep the pressure on the wound or I am going to die.

The sound of a helicopter approaches, lights flickering over head.

It's so bright, that if I didn't believe in God already I am going to now.

It isn't long after I hear my assaulter’s shoes rushing off that I hear the cars speed by.

Relief floods me as I allow the pain to rush through me tenfold and finally break screaming.

Life was unfair, it was fucked up. I curse as the pain takes over me, I welcome it.

Our parents never told us that the monsters were real, they never warned us that there is no happy ending.

Only death and heartache. I thought love could conquer all. I thought I could overcome any hurdle to be with the one man that I love. The man that stole my body and possessed my heart. But life had a different plan for me. It is evident as I'm lying down on the ground of an empty dock with three bullets stuck in me bleeding to death.

There is no familiar person here to console me, no savior to protect me. It is just ME.

I thought I had all the answers. I thought I was strong enough to walk unscathed on the path of darkness.

The only person I was, the only one I ended up being, was a foolish twenty-year-old who thought she could play with the big boys and got fucked up her ass in the process.

He told me to walk away, he warned me that it wouldn't end well.

I knew Vincent Stone was a bad person.

I just didn't know how bad he really was until I was already too deep, lost to the maze of OBSESSION.

Now,

I can't find my way out, no matter how hard, or fast I try because now I have sealed my fate.

Now he has claimed me, tainted me, marked me as his knowledge that he would never be mine.

He was a made man, I was his muse and I hated him for it.