Chapter 146 Truly His
The day that began with romance, that was initiated with a promise of a better tomorrow, turned into a nightmare by night.
Peach ran blindly, her breath converted into pants, sobbing gasps that burned her lungs. The thick air was hitting her skin, her sight was not clear, she had no idea where those heft steps were leading her.
A distraction.
The words looped in her brain, stealing her ability to perceive, only cries emitting, hating the point her life left her.
"I'm not his second chance," she whispered into the dark, her voice breaking, tears spilling, "I'm just a shadow."
She reached for her phone, her hands shaking so violently she nearly dropped it into the depths of a passing canal. She needed to call someone, anyone- but who?
Who was there to listen to her tale? Who was there to console her? Who was truly ever there for her?
None.
Her world had been Luke, and Luke was a lie.
She didn't know where she was going; she only knew she had to get away from the look in Luke’s eyes- the look of a man who was mourning someone else while holding her.
She couldn’t endure being a ‘side character’ in her own husband’s life.
“Hey, bella... why so fast?”
The voice was low, rough, and drifted from a dark archway, halting her aimless roaming.
“Huh…?”
Peach’s heels clicking sharply on the damp stone. Three figures emerged from the gloom, their silhouettes threatening.
They weren't tourists. They were the kind of shadows that lived in the belly of the city, the gutter of everyplace.
“Where are you going?” They asked in Italien, since Peach learned all potential languages for her business, she glared, wiping her eyes.
“Stop right there. I'm just trying to get to my hotel. I don't have anything on me."
"You have plenty," The tallest one sneered, his hand reaching out to catch her arm. His grip was a vise, bruising her skin instantly.
“Damn you, you will regret-” She tried to scream, but a heavy hand slammed over her mouth, tasting of salt and grease.
She was shoved back against the cold stone of a wall, striking against her delicate skin roughly.
One of them tore at her silk blouse, the sound of the fabric rending like a scream in the silence, worsening her already heart-stricken state.
“See. You have a lot more than you think,”
Hands- rough, repulsive, and terrifying- groped at her waist and neck, checking for jewelry, checking for her. Hurting her through the harsh probing, causing her to let out muffled, miserable sobbing.
"Help!" she managed to shriek through a gap in his fingers.
The man holding her snarled, striking her across the face with a backhand that sent white sparks dancing across her vision.
The world tilted. She felt the cold bite of the stone against her back and the heat of their breath on her skin.
Panic, pure and primal, surged through her.
With a strength born of an uncontrollable terror, she brought her knee up sharply, hitting her captor in the groin. He gasped, his grip loosening just enough for her to duck under his arm.
"Bitch!"
She didn't look back. She sprinted.
Away. Far away from this mess. From her agonizing circumstance. Far away from her life.
Her heart was hammering. She burst out of the alleyway onto a wider, paved quay that ran alongside a main canal, seeking shelter.
The lights of the city blurred into streaks of gold and red. She could hear the heavy thud of boots behind her.
They were chasing her. They weren't finished. They were determined to get something out of her.
"Luke!" She screamed, her voice breaking, the resonance of her pain filling the air, "LUKE!"
She saw the headlights first. A rare sight in the water-locked city, coming from a service vehicle on a bridge ramp.
Blinded by tears and the blinding light of the lamps, she didn't see the slick patch of algae near the edge of the stone.
Her foot slipped.
The world went into slow motion. She lurched forward, her hands reaching out for a railing that wasn't there.
She tumbled into the path of the oncoming vehicle, the screech of tires a high-pitched wail that merged with her own cry.
The impact was a dull, sickening thud.
She hit the cobblestones yards away, her body a broken, discarded thing under the amber glow of the streetlights.
Peach felt a moment of weightlessness, the cold night air rushing past her, before the world went black.
Unaware-
Luke was a hundred yards away, sprinting, breathless, repentant, searching for her.
“Peach!? I am sorry, come back!” His voice fretfully called out, hands turning cold to fathom where she must have disappeared without her things.
The sting on his cheek was nothing compared to the sudden, icy realization that he had just destroyed the only person who actually cared for him.
"Peach!" he roared, his voice bouncing off the ancient stone, losing himself by each passing second when the darkness grew, "Peach, please!"
He turned the corner, his eyes scanning the street, and that’s when he saw her, certainly in an unpleasant way. Without her expensive, delicate silk blouse.
“Pe-”
She was stumbling out of an alleyway, her dress torn, her hair a wild halo of distress that dropped his beats into appall.
She looked terrified, looking back over her shoulder at the shadows she had just escaped. She didn't see the headlights.
"PEACH! STOP!"
Luke’s scream was drowned out by the screech of tires, his hand extended, steps automatically moved forward to save her.
But, it was too late.
Time didn't slow down; it snapped. Luke watched in paralyzed horror as the car struck her.
"No," Luke whispered, the word dying in his throat, "No, no, no..."
He collapsed onto the pavement beside her, his hands hovering over her, shaking so violently he couldn't touch her.
The blood was starting to pool, dark and thick against her dress. In that moment, Luke saw not only his wife, but ‘their’ future spilling
"Peach? Peach, look at me!" Luke sobbed agonizingly.
He pulled her into his lap, ignoring the way her blood stained his hands, the same hands that had held her with such cold indifference only minutes before.
He remembered his last words to her. ‘What other purpose do you think you have in your pathetic life?’
The guilt hit him like an irrecoverable blow, more violent than any accident, frantically calling for an ambulance to save her.
"I didn't mean it," he choked out, pressing his forehead against hers, his tears mixing with the blood on her skin. "I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please, don't leave me with those words. Peach!"
The sirens began to wail in the distance. The same soul-piercing sound that had haunted his childhood.
But this time, there was no William to be his shield.
There was only the cold, hard reality that he had broken the only thing that was truly his.