“There’s no talking, not with him. I tried,” Luca growls, stepping closer and closer. “He won’t be happy until you’re dead.”
“NO!” Jasmine shrieks, and her eyes immediately drop down to her hands again as they squeeze and tighten, all the muscles in her body freezing.
Her emotional turmoil reaches a breaking point.
And it’s happening all over again right in front of me.
So I look Jasmine dead in the eye and say, “Remember our promise.”
Her pupils dilate, her soul singing to me loud and clear.
And I know right then that there is only one decision I can make.
I always thought there were two paths to take in life. Two choices. Life and death.
That there was nothing I craved more than to kill the one who was responsible for all of my misery.
But it turns out my heart had made my choice long ago.
No matter how badly I’ve wanted revenge and death for everything that’s been done to me. If Jill hadn’t driven that car off the cliff, I would’ve still been there. I would’ve still been me.
But I realize now I would’ve never had the one thing I truly wanted.
The only thing I would give my life for.
Her.
So I lower the gun away from Jill and throw it away into the forest beyond.
Everyone gasps, even Luca. “What the f—?”
“I may be a monster …” I say. Nothing has ever felt more right. No decision has ever felt better than this. “But hurting the only person I ever loved is the last thing I want to do.”
Because the pain in Jasmine’s eyes as she thought of doing that horrible thing again wounded me.
Even if she’ll hate me for doing what I did, for chasing her, locking her up, making her fall for me … all of it was meaningless if I kill the people she holds dear.
If her heart will forever be locked away …
If she hurts herself because of me.
So I release Jill and push her forward without a single regret.
If this is it, so be it.
At least I made the right choice for once in this short life of mine.
My eyes lock with my brother’s.
Luca refocuses. Aims.
Jasmine’s loud scream fills my ears. “LUCA, NO!”
BANG!
Jasmine
* * *