Page 74 of Ruthless Savage

His brother died. He couldn’t have done anything to him. Could he?

“Get in. We need to get out of here. Now.”

“What? Why?”

His anxiety level causes mine to soar.

“Stop asking questions and get in, Eriu.”

He grabs the keys from me, but when he starts the car remotely, there is a beep that wasn’t there before.

The rest happens in the blink of an eye.

One second, I’m standing on the sidewalk beside him. The next, he’s pushing me out of the way as my car explodes in a wild blaze.

I fall hard, my back throbbing with stinging pain.

“Devlin!” I shout, not seeing anything besides the fire.

Tires screech, vehicles beeping.

My body quivers, panting, as I stare wide-eyed in horror and shock.

“Devlin!” I scream, jumping to my feet, needing to know that he’s okay.

I run toward the car, whizzing past a crowd of people gathering in the middle of the street, traffic completely halted on both sides.

“Devlin!”

I can’t see anything from the fire.

When I brush past more bodies, I find him unresponsive, lying on the concrete with a large gash on his forehead and blood pooling around his head.

“Devlin! Can you hear me?” I place a palm on his cheek, registering the loud ring of sirens coming closer. “Please, please wake up!” I cry, calling his name over and over.

But he doesn’t even move. And his pulse? It’s faint, as though slowly dying.

This can’t be happening. He can’t leave me. My tears fall down my cheeks.

This can’t be over before it’s even begun.

DEVLIN

“Help me!” His eyes plead, but I’m unable to do a goddamn thing.

My brother is gonna die. I know it’s comin.’ And there’s nothing I can do, because I did this to him.

“He can’t help you. He’s the one that got you into this mess.” Francis Palmer holds the knife to Keegan’s throat while I fight the men holding me down, another with a gun to my head.

“Just let him go! I’ll do anything you want!”

Francis’s malicious grin cuts into me, and I know this is the end. My brother and I are both going to die. I should’ve done things differently. I thought I was helping him, but instead I’ll be killing him.

“Please, Palmer. Just kill me. This isn’t his fault!”

“I know. It’s yours.”

“No!”

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