Page 88 of Queen of Ruin

She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met in my life. The sweetest and the softest. She’s also the strongest, even if she doesn’t know it. Just thinking about her ignites warmth in my chest and the strongest urge to protect her when I think about how scared she was when she got in my car. How beaten and broken.

They did this to her.

If she can take it, then so can I.

And I deserve it more than she ever did. She keeps the city safe, if I understand her people correctly. She saves lives and protects the little guy while preventing this entire city, this entire state, from descending into bloodied chaos.

I just kill people.

My brother’s dead. Tech is dead. God knows what’s happened to Mindy. The people in my life end up destroyed because that’s what I am. A curse. A hindrance. A bad omen. It’s lucky that I left Valentina when I did or she’d be next.

“We have other ways,” Stain said finally. “Other sources to give us what we need. But I liked you, Diego. I wanted to give you a fair chance.”

I tiredly roll my eyes and gaze at him through the beads of sweat clinging to my brow. “Fuck… you,” I snarl. “You’re a f-fucking pussy tryna a-act like we’re friends⁠—”

In a fit of anger, Stain slams the crowbar into the side of my head and something cracks inside me.

Defeat.

The metal of the bar cuts into my cheek as the impact forces my teeth down into my tongue. Flesh splits and blood pours like a fountain while my head hangs to the side, utterly dazed from the force of the blow.

“Oh, shit.” Stain cackles suddenly. “Oh, dude, I think this might be it.”

Blood floods the back of my mouth and burns on the way down as reflex makes me swallow, but there’s too much blood and not enough space behind my teeth. My lips part and blood sluggishly pours out, dripping hot and wet onto my bare chest and down onto my thighs.

“F-Fuck you,” I slur, choking on a mouthful of blood while searing pain cuts through my tongue from trying to talk.

This is how I die.

And I die happy knowing I never said a word about Valentina. She might be the only person in my life that I’ve managed to save.

Dull thuds echo somewhere beyond the darkness that shrouds me, and a noise of confusion rises up from Stain. Several more thuds are followed by several short, sharp bangs. Stain approaches the door, his crowbar clutched in one hand, and the two other guards behind me suddenly move forward.

They block my view of the door, not that it matters because as I’m gazing at the back of the bald, burly man responsible for almost drowning me, the door flies off its hinges and collides with Stain, sending him crashing to the ground. He becomes trapped under the door as someone leaps onto it and opens fire on the two other men. Three shots are fired, then something clicks loudly and the gun is tossed aside. The stranger darts forward, leaps onto the bald man, and locks their legs around his head, then uses that momentum to dive forward and bring them crashing to the ground with a sickening crack.

Two more people enter the room and Stain, trapped under the door, cries out, only to be silenced as one of the people on the door shoots through the wood and kills him.

Then… silence.

I blink and choke, unable to swallow any more blood, so I just let it pour out of my mouth until soft hands cup my cheek and lifts my head.

Eyes as gold as the morning sun lock onto me, framed by dark brows and long, amber hair flowing over one shoulder. I breathe in, and the sharp sting of alcohol catches in my nose, making me jerk slightly.

“Diego!”

It’s her. Valentina. Like something out of a dream, she’s suddenly standing before me and cupping my face while blood drools past my lower lip and stains her fingers.

“Val?” It’s too painful to talk and her expression crumples as she glances down at me, then back up.

“Fucking hell, I could slap the shit out of you right now,” she snaps breathlessly. “You left! You left without talking to me, and look what happened! God, I could just kill you!”

She could and I’d accept it with a smile on my face.

“Val…” I try again, but there’s too much pain and far too much blood in the way.

“Help’s coming,” she gasps. “You’re going to be okay, alright? I’m going to take care of you. God, when you’re better, I might actually kill you for scaring me like this. Fuck!” She leans forward and presses her soft lips to my forehead, instantly soothing my suddenly racing heart.

Maybe I have died already and this is my heaven.