The Marriage Debt (Underworld Kings)

“No! I’m not risking your life too!”

“Do what I say!”

She shakes her head. “I’ll never make it. Please … Luca.” Tears form in her eyes, and I dread the words she’s about to speak. Because I know, better than anyone else, what she’s thinking right now.

“Let me go.”

The words strike harder than any knife or bullet ever could.

“No,” I bark back, grinding my teeth.

“Let me go, or you’ll die with me!” she yells, her shoulder-length, blond bob flaring in the strong wind. “Please! Save yourself! Don’t worry about me.”

“I will never give up,” I growl back, putting in all my strength to keep us suspended in time for a little while longer. “I can’t.”

“Why? Why can’t you just let go?” she begs.

I look her dead in the eyes, adrenaline coursing through my veins. “Because I fucking love you.”

Her pupils dilate, and the fire that once blazed behind those eyes is gone.

Just like all the hatred I once felt in my heart.

“Luca,” Liam groans, crawling closer.

“LIAM!” Jasmine’s picked up the gun behind me and points it at Liam with tears staining her eyes. “Whatever you’re thinking—don’t!”

But all I can focus on is Jill. Her fingers begin to loosen, slowly but surely, and I cannot fucking hold on no matter how hard I try.

“Luca,” she says, a soft smile forming on her face. It’s a smile of death. “I’m sorry.”

Her fingers release mine.

I grasp.

My fingers hook underneath her collar, and I hold on for life.

Snap.

There she goes, falling, the collar still lodged firmly in my hand.

Without a second thought, I jump right after her, throwing the collar away so I can catch her instead.

Her peaceful face changes to complete shock when I grab her midair and hold her tightly against my body, wrapping my arms around her in a cocoon, protecting her with all I have left to give.

My life to save hers.

Jasmine peers over the edge and shrieks, “JILL!”

But it’s too late.

We’re already on our way down faster than the wind can take us. And right before we hit the water, I look up at the horrified look on Liam’s face.

“LUCA, NO!” he yells, his hand reaching down to me.

Too fucking late.

Jill

* * *

When my body hits the water, everything suddenly goes silent. The air stops moving in my lungs, but I’m strangely okay with it. Seconds feel like minutes, maybe hours. There is nothing but darkness, and it’s almost serene, as quiet as I imagine the afterlife to be.

Am I dead?

Or merely floating in empty space?

The cold engulfs my body, and I curl up into the arms holding me tight.

But when they flinch, my eyes instantly burst open.

Luca.

He’s floating right beside me in the vast emptiness of the water, his emotionless face frozen in time. The memory of us falling and him grabbing me springs to the forefront of my mind.

I released his hand.

On purpose.

Because I knew he’d never be able to lift me before the cliff gave way.

And then he decided to jump in after me.

History is about to repeat itself.

No, I won’t let it happen.

In a moment of clarity, I grab his arms and lift him up while swimming as hard as I can toward the surface. His body isn’t easy to carry against the harsh flow of the tides, but a surge of adrenaline helps me to push through until I finally crack the surface tension of the water and suck in a fresh breath of air.

It feels like revival, a rebirth after death.

And I drag Luca up to the surface and lift his head.

But there is no sound.

No breath.

No nothing.

“Luca!” I yell, slapping him to try to wake him, but there’s no response.

I hold him as best as I can while swimming to the shoreline, wet clothes sticking to my body, dragging me down. But I refuse to give up as I push my muscles to the limit, coughing up sloshes of water I’ve accidentally swallowed.

Fuck.

When my feet land on the gravelly sand, I force myself to lift Luca above the water and drag him all the way to the muddy ground where I lay him down.

“Luca, wake up!” I yell, tears filling my eyes.

I push open his eyelids, but there is nothing behind them. No fire. No soul.

Nothing but raindrops pitter-pattering down on his cold, blank face.

The sight tears open a wound in my heart.

I press my ear to his chest.

Nothing.

Not a single thump.

The lack of sound is like a void, sucking me in.

I plant my hands on his chest, crossed, one over the other, and start applying chest compressions.

“C’mon, Luca!” I yell, pausing only to tilt his chin, pinch his nose, and breathe into his mouth.

His chest rises and falls.

Then nothing.

I apply more compressions, shoving my hands into his chest until sweat beads down my forehead.

“JILL!”

My sister’s voice in the distance doesn’t even manage to tear my attention away from Luca’s lifeless body.