Chapter 73 A Life For A Life
Evelyn’s POV
I didn’t even know how my legs carried me. One minute I was kneeling beside him, my heart falling apart, and the next minute I was running out of the hallway like something was chasing me. My breath was breaking in my chest, coming out in sharp, ugly gasps.
“Help! Somebody please…..” My voice cracked but I kept running.
I turned the corner too fast and slammed into a hard body. Strong hands gripped my arms before I fell It was Gideon.
“Ms. Martins?” he asked, his eyes dropping immediately to my face. “What happened?”
“He….” I pointed back with a hand that wouldn’t stop shaking. “Lorenzo. He fell. He passed out. Please come, please.”
Gideon didn’t waste a second. He held my wrist and took off immediately, dragging me with him in long, fast steps. I almost tripped twice trying to keep up.
When we reached the hallway, Lorenzo was still there, on the floor, not moving.
My heart fell to my stomach.
Gideon rushed to him and bent down, checking his pulse, touching his chest, his forehead, then his neck again. His face tightened so much it scared me.
“Gideon, please talk,” I begged. My voice was barely a whisper. “What’s happening to him?”
Gideon looked at me like he wished he didn’t have to say the words.
“It’s been weeks and he hasn’t hunted,” he said slowly.
I stared at him, confused. “Hunted? Like….?”
Gideon hesitated for only one second. “He hasn’t taken a life in days. His strength is draining. When they drain too long, his body…. shuts down.”
Suddenly, the air around me suddenly felt colder.
My mind went back to the same day he took me to one of his hunting and he called it making deals with greedy humans.
So this was all it was about?
A life for a life? Like he needs to take someone’s life every time for him to live longer.
I returned my gaze to Gideon who was still checking Lorenzo’s body like it would somehow revive him.
“So what you're trying to say is that he needs to make a deal?” I asked quietly. “Like he needs to… kill someone again?”
Gideon rose up and came closer enough to where I stood. “Yes, Ms. Martins.” He didn’t sugarcoat anything.
My throat went dry. “And for him to make that deal…. I have to be there, right? I have to touch him like every other time. Be close to him. Help him get the strength to kill.”
“Yes.”
He said it gently, but the answer hit me like someone slapped my chest from the inside.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I can’t do that. Gideon, I am not helping him kill anybody.”
“If you don’t,” Gideon said calmly, “he dies.”
The world around me blurred. I looked down at Lorenzo, he was supposed to be my enemy, but now my weakness, the one person who confused my heart more than anything.
He looked so different lying there.
He doesn’t deserve death. He deserves to live.
My voice shook. “We can take him to the hospital. The doctors……can’t we? They might have a solution.”
“They won’t see anything,” Gideon cut in. “Lucifer doesn’t have a normal body. Machines won’t pick up a heartbeat. Needles won’t push into his skin. They can’t treat him.”
I swallowed hard. “Gideon, I can’t help him kill someone again. That’s not who I am.”
“But it is who he is,” Gideon said. “And without you, he can’t be anything at all.”
I slowly knelt beside Lorenzo again. I don’t know why. Maybe I needed to see him up close, to make sure this was real. His breathing was weak. Shallow. Like each breath was a fight he was losing.
“Lorenzo…..” I whispered, touching his cheek. It was too cold.“I hate you for all you have put me through, for playing with my heart. But Please don’t leave me?”
His fingers twitched under mine. Just a little. Just enough to break something inside me.
Gideon stepped back and exhaled painfully.
“He’s almost gone, we need to do something.”
“Okay,” I said suddenly, blinking tears away. “Okay fine. I’ll do it. I’ll come with him.”
Gideon nodded once, relieved. “We need to move him now.”
He lifted Lorenzo into his arms effortlessly, like Lorenzo weighed nothing more than a stick. I ran behind him, my legs numb, my mind spinning.
Before we even got outside, Gideon was already barking orders like the whole world was on fire.
“Boss has fallen! Move! Now! We need to save him!”
The entire compound exploded into action instantly. Men who were standing guard sprinted. Engines started. Doors slammed. Convoys rolled themselves into a sharp, perfect line as if they had been waiting for this exact moment all their lives.
Everything happened so fast that it barely felt real.
When we reached the black SUV, Gideon didn’t waste time. He swung the door open and with the help of two more men they lifted Lorenzo’s body into the back seat. Lorenzo’s head fell limp against the leather, his skin still pale, still frighteningly cold.
I didn’t wait for anyone to open a door for me. I rushed around and climbed into the back, barefoot, my robe barely holding onto my body. The cold night air hit my skin, but I didn’t even care. My whole mind was swallowed by one single thought.
What will be my fate if he actually dies?
The moment the doors shut, the car jerked forward.
It was the fastest drive I had ever experienced in my entire life, with no traffic or hesitation.
Just speed so terrifying it felt like my heart was trying to crawl out of my throat.
I held onto the seat in front of me, breathing hard, my eyes locked on Lorenzo’s chest. Watching for any slight movement of his breathing.
“Please….. hold on,” I whispered to myself. “Don’t leave me.”
The convoy rolled into a hospital compound with a loud screech. Before the car even stopped, the doors flew open. Men rushed toward us, grabbing Lorenzo, lifting him with urgency I had never seen before.
It was pure, sharp chaos.
Voices everywhere. Footsteps pounding the ground.
Someone shouting instructions I couldn’t understand.
Everything around me felt blurry, like my mind couldn’t keep up with my own fear.
I turned quickly, searching for Gideon. When I saw him stepping out of the front seat, I almost ran into him, grabbing his arm like I needed him to hold me up.
“What’s wrong?” My voice shook. “Gideon, what are we doing in a hospital? I thought you said he doesn’t…..”
“Ms. Martins,” he cut in sharply, looking straight ahead instead of at me, “this is where we will find his next deal.”
I blinked. “What?!”
Deal in a hospital?
Gideon didn’t give me another glance. He didn’t bother explaining anything further.
Instead, he just gave a single firm nod.
And immediately, the men carrying Lorenzo pushed through the hospital doors like they owned the entire building.
I watched them disappear inside, my pulse pounding in my ears, my head spinning.
I swallowed, my throat burning.None of this made sense, but Lorenzo’s life hung on every step they took.
So I had to follow them still barefooted, terrified, and shaking, because turning back was no longer an option.
When we got to a particular ward, I was expecting someone older, maybe an enemy, or someone who had lived enough life to be part of Lorenzo’s world.
Instead, I saw a little girl.
Something in me cracked open.
They couldn’t be serious. How does it make sense that they were about to take this young girl’s life just so someone as old as Lorenzo could steal more years. My stomach twisted, and for a moment I hated myself for even standing there.
But that wasn’t all.
Gideon walked to the bed. He paced around the girl with slow, heavy steps, his eyes darker than I’d ever seen them before. It took him a moment to speak.
“Ms. Martins,” he said quietly, “you will have to touch the boss now so he can regain strength for the next step.”
I wanted to give up. I wanted to run out of the room and pretend none of this was happening. But then my gaze fell back on Lorenzo, slumped in the chair they had placed him in, lifeless, pale, barely hanging on.
My throat tightened before I swallowed hard and shut my eyes. “Forgive me, oh Lord,” I whispered.
Then I faced Gideon. “I’m ready.”
He signaled the men, and they lifted Lorenzo to his feet. Just like before, my hands moved on their own. I opened his belt and slid my hand into his pants, giving him enough of that faint strength his body always reacted to.
Gideon stepped back to the girl’s bedside. He gently turned her over. And the moment her face shifted into view….. My whole world stopped.
“Daisy?”