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I level the gun, my hands shaking. I take a deep breath, my finger tightening on the trigger. And then...
I fire. Once, twice, three times. The bullets slam into Dante's back, punching through flesh and bone, and he jerks, his grip on Enzo's throat going slack.
He falls, his body hitting the ground with a dull, meaty thud. And then...silence. A ringing, deafening silence, broken only by the rasp of Enzo's breath, the thundering of my own heart.
I drop the gun, my hands numb. I stumble forward, falling to my knees beside Enzo's prone form. "Enzo," I whisper, my voice cracking. "Enzo, please. Please be okay, please don't leave me."
He stirs, his eyes fluttering open. They're hazy, unfocused, but when they settle on me...they warm, a soft, wondering light filling their dark depths.
"Luca," he rasps, his hand reaching up to cup my cheek. "You...you saved me. You saved us both."
I nod, tears streaming down my face. "I had to," I whisper, my forehead pressing against his. "I couldn't let him take you from me, couldn't let him win. I love you, Enzo. I love you so much."
He smiles, a weak, bloody thing. "I love you too," he murmurs, his thumb brushing over my lip. "Always. Forever."
And then his eyes roll back, his body going limp in my arms. I scream his name, my heart shattering in my chest. I gather him close, rocking him back and forth, my tears mingling with his blood.
In the distance, I hear the wail of sirens, the shouts of men. Dante's goons, fleeing like rats from a sinking ship. The police, the ambulance, drawn by the sound of gunfire, the scent of death.
But I don't care. Don't care about anything, anyone...except the man in my arms, the man who holds my heart, my soul.
The man I'll love until my last breath, my last beat of my heart.
The man I'll fight for, bleed for...die for.
My Enzo. My love. My heart.
Please, God. Please don't take him from me.
Not now. Not like this.
Please...let him live. Let him come back to me.
I'll give anything, do anything...if only he'll open his eyes, if only he'll breathe my name.
If only he'll stay with me, stay by my side...forever and always, in this life and the next.
Please, Enzo. Please...
Fight. Live.
Come back to me.
I love you.
CHAPTER 9
ENZO
Darkness. It's all I know, all I am. A yawning, endless void, cold and empty as the grave. I float in it, weightless, formless, a shadow among shadows.
Is this death? The final, eternal silence, the peace that comes with the ending of all things? It must be. I've certainly earned it, a hundred times over. The lives I've taken, the blood I've spilled...they weigh on me now, a crushing burden that drags me deeper into the abyss.
I see their faces, the men and women I've killed. They stare at me with hollow, accusing eyes, their mouths gaping in silent screams. They reach for me with skeletal hands, their fingers clawing at my skin, my hair, my clothes.
They want retribution. Justice. The pound of flesh owed to them, paid in the currency of my own suffering. And I...I welcome it. The pain, the torment, the agony. It's no less than I deserve, for the monster I've been, the demon I've become.
But then...a light. A glimmer in the darkness, soft and warm and achingly familiar. It calls to me, a siren's song, a melody that tugs at my battered, blackened soul.
