Page 159 of Taint My Soul

It’s Saint.

White bandages wrap his injured hand. His face carries the scars of his father’s wrath. An unexpected wave of relief hits me like a ton of bricks. I leave Tobias behind and surge toward Saint.

The impact of my embrace makes Saint grunt as he closes his hand around me. “Fuck!” I cry out. “Fuck, I missed you.” I grab his face, and he winces. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” I smile, tears rolling down my cheeks.

He doesn’t utter a word.

“I gave you another chance.” Tobias whispers, looking at his son.

Saint steps away from me. My heart shatters into pieces. I went through all this for nothing.

“Reinforcements are on their way. These bastards will pay for what they’ve done. All you have to do is prove to me how much this family means to you.” Tobias goes on and on.

“Saint… we need to go.”

He doesn’t answer. He doesn’t answer me. He turns away from me. “You have ten seconds to vacate this building.” Saint declares. “Or your bodies will bleed out on the floor when our soldiers get here.”

A gasp scrapes out of my throat, and my knees threaten to give out. The realization settles deep within me. I’ve lost him.

SAINT

The gun I’m holding with my uninjured arm drops to the ground when I see Elio standing in a black uniform with my father trapped between his hands.

That’s enough to pull his eyes to me.

And he doesn’t waste a fucking second before he hurries toward me. When his hands close around my frail body, sunshine bathes my skin. He still smells the same. He still smells like mine. All fucking mine.

But he left me.

He left. That’s what Father said. There is enough evidence to prove that he left. Yet here he is, his arms around my broken and battered body.

“Fuck, I missed you.”

Before I can revel in the thrum of joy buzzing over my skin, my father’s disapproving gaze zeros on me. Then his gravelly voice echoes off the steel walls. “I gave you another chance.” My heart sinks, torn between the need for duty and the want for the man I love.

I walk past him and hear the way he gasps quietly.

My father’s soldiers are on their way to the island. If Elio isn’t out of here in ten minutes, he’ll get caught. Men like me don’t get to love. We keep our heads down, do what duty wants of us.

He stands behind me even as he calls my name.

And it breaks my heart. It breaks my heart that I even have to question what I feel for him.

Family matters more. The syndicate matters more. I might have lost sight of that because of him. But no more. No fucking more.

“You have ten seconds to vacate this building.” I assert. “Or your bodies will bleed out on the floor when our soldiers get here.”

Elio pulls out his gun and holds it to me. “Cyrus, we have a deal. Take your prisoner and leave. Be careful.” He gestures toward the exit.

Cyrus snatches my father from the wall and drags him down the hall with his last soldier.

“You’re just going to let them take me away.” Tobias barks at me.

Elio waits for me to move, but I don’t. I can’t. I stand there, watching the man who humiliated me disappear down the hall.

Elio’s steady arms fall.

“What are you doing?”