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“My boss killed her.”

“He did what?!” Donte roared.

“He killed her because I wasn’t paying attention to the mission,” I wept. “He’d been tracking me the whole time, and found out that I was actually trying to protect you from him, and prove your innocence. And he was so fucking mad…

“He told me he specifically wanted you behind bars. But I was so fucking mad at him for killing my mother. I stopped investigating. And that was the day that I started pursuing a relationship with you.

“Because I’d wanted you for so damn long, and I’d been keeping myself away from you for the sake of the mission, but after what my Boss fucking did, I didn’t care about the mission anymore. I just wanted you. I wanted to be happy, after losing the only family that I had left. And you made me so damn happy. You made me feel so good about myself. You made me feel on top of the world. I love you so damn much, Donte. I swear to you… I swear to you, it was all real.

“You have to understand it from my point of view. You have to understand why I did what I did.”

Tears fell out of Donte’s eyes as he stared at me, letting his walls break down. Letting his naked, raw emotions out on the surface.

I put my hands on Donte’s chest gently, sobbing against him. Soaking him with my tears. Tears continued to slide down his own cheeks. I traced the scars on his chest, which were weeping with blood.

“I’m so sorry he hurt you, baby…” I breathed, feeling my heart shatter into millions of tiny pieces. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

I left a soft kiss on his scar, and broke into fresh tears. I knew he wanted to reciprocate. I could feel his walls breaking down again, his heart thumping against his chest as I touched him. I knew he could never hate me.

But he was handcuffed to the wall. He could barely move.

“It’s gonna take more than a few punches to hurt me,” Donte murmured. “It was the pain of the thought of losing you, having to live a life without you, that was really hurting me…

“I love you, Sapphire. I can’t live without you. I can see you love me too. I understand why you did what you did…”

I broke into fresh tears at his words. Even after what I did, he was so forgiving and understanding. I looked up at his face, all bruised and bloody. And I couldn’t stop my tears from falling.

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his mouth. I softly cupped his face with my hands, rubbing the bruises gently, and I started crying again. Knowing how much pain I’d fucking inflicted upon him. He kissed me back softly, tears sliding down his own cheeks. I could feel my heart break into millions of pieces.

“I love you, baby…” Donte mourned. “But I can’t let you get hurt. You’re putting yourself in danger by being here. Please get out of here… Let me die on my own.”

“Never!” I shouted. “I’ll never fucking leave you! If anybody’s dying today, it’s me!”

“It wasn’t a request, Sapphire,” Donte sneered. “It was a demand.” He trailed off his sentence, shaking his head. “You’re too late. I’m handcuffed to the wall… You can’t get me out of this. At least I’ll die in peace, knowing that what we had was real.

“Please, get the fuck out of here! He’ll be back soon, and he’ll fucking kill you!”

And then I felt my heart leap to my throat in terror, as I heard the cocking of a gun behind me. The movement of a body. The loading of bullets. I slowly turned around, my heart thumping at two-hundred miles per hour, knowing that I wasn’t ready for what I was about to see.

“Well, well, well,” Boss snarled in a low tone. “What do we have here?”

51

maya

I let out a blood-curdling scream, boiling with rage. Wanting to kill this bastard.

Wanting to make him beg for his life.

Wanting to make him suffocate.

To torture him.

To rip his eyeballs out.

To sever his balls.

To torch him and leave him to fucking burn.

This bastard…

This fucking bastard…