Page 171 of Savage Don

Fucking hell…

We’re on the side of the highway, surrounded by smoke and wreckage and at least two other bodies.

Just up ahead, I see a man. His corpse is so twisted that there’s no way he isn’t dead. That must be Roberto.

A little closer to us, propped up against a shredded guard rail, is a bloody woman I recognize all too well. And she hasn’t quite been sent to hell just yet.

Sonia’s chest heaves as she calls on the last bits of her remaining strength to point her gun at me.

“You bitch…” she curses, her voice so raspy that she sounds like a demon. “I was going to be free…”

“You never wanted to be free,” I hear myself cough, remembering all that she confessed. “You wanted to be alone.”

It’s hard to say if Sonia can hear me or not, but she doesn’t shoot. Not yet.

“There is no power in love,” she rasps. “Only weakness…”

There’s something in her voice that makes me think she’s trying to convince herself more than she’s trying to convince me.

“No,” I whisper back, fear gripping my aching chest as Sonia straightens her gun and clicks down on the safety. “Weakness comes from being on your own… Weakness comes from not allowing yourself to love...”

If Sonia hears me, she doesn’t react. But that’s alright. Those words weren’t for her. They were for me. They were for Ray.

In this dark world, it’s a special kind of mercy to die next to the one you love. It’s powerful. And it makes me feel at peace.

This is better than what was going to happen to me if Ray never showed up.

“Goodbye,” Sonia says.

My eyes snap shut, and I hear a single gunshot cut through the smoky air.

I feel no pain. Only a soft acceptance. I’ll die with love in my heart. I’ll die being loved.

That’s not something I ever thought would happen to me.

Ray gave me that. And for it, I’ll forever be thankful.

Holding my breath, I wait to die. I wait for the pain to flash over me one last time before I’m taken away from him forever.

But the only pain I feel comes from holding my breath for too long.

“Francesca…”

Ray’s voice rips my eyes back open.

The first thing I see is Sonia’s dead body. She’s slumped over, her back still propped up by the shredded guard rail. There’s a fresh bullet hole right between her eyes.

I feel a heavy hand fall on my shoulder. I recognize that touch.

I’m still tied up, but I’m able to twist my neck around just enough to see the gun that Ray has pointed at Sonia.

“You’re here…” I whisper. “You saved me.”

“No,” Ray says. Dropping the gun, he wraps his arms around me. “You saved me, Francesca. I fucking love you so much.”

For a serene moment, all of the pain and agony melts away, and I can only feel Ray’s loving embrace; I can only feel his lips as he kisses me on the top of the head.

“I love you, too,” I sob, overwhelmed. “Thank you so much… for everything…”