Page 116 of Lunar Crest University

“You don’t…h-hate me?” I ask him.

“God, no, Finn.” He presses his lips to my knuckles as he sniffs. “I don’t hate you. I’m sorry I ran off on you like I did. I should’ve stayed and talked it out.”

I shake my head faintly. “You had every right…to b-be mad at m-me.”

“I wasn’t mad at you.” His voice wobbles. “I was just being an ass. I’m always such an ass. I’m sorry.”

The smoke is thick in the air. Just looking at him is like looking through a haze, and it’s harder and harder to take a deep breath. Maybe it’s just me, though. Is this what it feels like to die? You get cold, your vision blurs, and you can’t breathe?

“You’re freezing,” he comments, pressing my hand to his face before he scrambles up into a seated position and props my head in his lap.

His clammy hands feel good against my face as he cradles my cheeks, brushing my forehead with his thumbs and then massaging my scalp. It’s the most comfort I’ve felt since I got here, and I want to close my eyes, but I don’t. If they close, I don’t think I will have enough energy to force them back open again.

“Yeah,” I whisper, blinking slowly up at him. “I g-guess I’m pretty numb…now.”

There are so many questions bouncing around in my head: how did he get here? Where did they take him from? How long has he been here? But I don’t ask them, because I want to use the strength I have left to just be here with him, soaking in his warmth as much as I can.

None of it matters, anyway. We’re here, and there’s nothing we can do to change that.

“I’m here,” he tells me. “I’m not leaving you.”

Tears fill my eyes. “You’re my b-best friend.”

Levi whimpers as he presses his forehead down on mine. I want to lift my hand to comfort him too, but it doesn’t move. That should scare me, but I’m not scared at all. I’m too tired to feel anything, really.

“I love you, Finn,” he mumbles into my forehead.

It’s getting harder to keep my eyes open.

“I l-love you…too.”

My eyes flutter closed as he brushes my hair from my face. It’s so soothing, I can’t fight the lull of sleep that wants so badly to take over. His touch and his warmth are comforting enough for me to be at peace with falling into nothingness. Into the black.

There’s a tiny, broken part of me that screams at the thought of never getting to see Luca’s face again, never getting to tell him goodbye.

The gunfire ceases as a loudboomsounds around us, but I’ve faded into the nothingness before I can even figure out what it was.

Dark, empty,nothing.

Chapter Forty-Four

LUCA

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22ND, 2023

The smoke burns my lungs, stinging like a bitch and making it hard to see, but I have to get to her. I know exactly which room he’s holding her in—he’s a creature of habit and things with Javier never change—but it takes me longer than I wanted to get there after the explosion. I have to get through all of his little minions.

He has alotof fucking men, more than I remember him having, but once I started this plan, it was like a domino effect. There was nothing I could do to stop it.

Between my pistol, pump-action shotgun, and hunting knife, I clear the thick crowd of them in just under four minutes. I’m a little rusty, but it’s like learning to ride a bicycle. You don't ever really forget how to do it.

The lock on the metal door is broken off when I get to it—of fucking course. Javier wants to make sure she never gets out of here. So, I take my boot and kick it, over and over again until my leg hurts and my grunts are raspy. When it finally bursts open, Ihave to pause for a moment to take in a slow, shaky breath. My lungs can’t take much more of this.

The red glow of the emergency lights illuminates two people in the middle of the room, lying on the floor. I immediately recognize that curly head of hair, and I’m two seconds away from questioning why the fuck Levi is here until I see Finley’s still body lying next to him. My steps slow as I gape down at them, watching as Levi twists his head to look up at me. His eyebrows furrow in anger for a moment before he sits up quickly, in a panic. His eyes are wide and his pupils are dilated, and now I have a terrible feeling in my stomach.

“Help,” he croaks.

I circle them, and my chest seizes when I see the pool of blood around her. Everything that happens after feels like a weird fever dream. Collapsing to my knees on the concrete, I cradle her head in my hands, waiting for those green eyes to flash open and look at me, but they don’t. When my palms graze her cheeks, a weakened groan escapes my lips at how cold they are.

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