Page 111 of Lunar Crest University

Shoving my gun back in my jeans, I rush over to Oscar, kneeling next to his body as I examine him thoroughly. His chest rises and falls just barely, indicating he’s still alive, but there’s a giant stab wound to his chest that’s pouring blood like a fucking water spigot.

“Hey, hey, hey,” I say, patting his cheek gently. “Look at me. Hey. Look at me,sí? Can you hear what I’m saying?”

Why is Javier leaving all this mess behind? It’s like he’s begging to be caught. His business, his empire—it means too much to him. None of this makes any sense.

The realization of what’s happening to him etches into Oscar’s face, his hand coming to hover over his wound as his eyebrows knit. He has lost too much blood, and his skin is pale—an ambulance would never get here in time, and there isn’t anything I can do for him now. The fear is evident in his dark eyes.

“Don’t touch it,” I tell him, grasping his hand as I lower my face even closer to his. I need him to focus on me. “What happened? Do you remember what happened?”

“I-I’m dying.”

“I know,” I whisper, and I squeeze his hand tighter. “I know, but you have to listen to me. I need you to tell me what happened. Where is Finley? Do you know where she is?”

Oscar’s eyes grow wider, and he starts to breathe heavily as he grips my shirt with his other hand. “She…she was up front. These men attacked me when I was t-taking out the…the trash. Stabbed me.”

They took her.

It’s what I already knew, but that doesn’t make it any easier to digest. They took my fucking girl. The thought is enough to make me want to embark on a murderous rampage and bathe in the blood of every single man associated with Javier. When I get my hands on that motherfuc?—

“They took her,” Oscar groans, “didn’t they?”

I grit my teeth so hard, pain soars through my jaw.

He moans. “We have to call the police.”

A growl rumbles through my chest, and I press the back of my hand to my lips, but it bursts out anyway. Standing, I swing my foot toward the nearest object, kicking over and over andoveragain until my chest is heaving with pants.

“We can’t call the police.” I swallow thickly. “If you call the police, they will kill her. Do you understand? If you tell anyone what happened here, Finley isdead.”

“But—”

“Listen. To. Me.” Crouching down next to him again, I shake my head faintly as I meet the devastated look in his eyes. “The police can’t help her, just like an ambulance can’t help you.”

“S-someone has to help her.”

“I’ll take care of it,” I say.

He frowns unsteadily up at me. “How?”

“I’m going to go get her.”

“You?” He sounds skeptical. “Against all those men?”

Of course, he’s skeptical. Normal people like Oscar can’t fathom the possibility of one man going up against a dozen. More than that, but he doesn’t understand. He also doesn’t understand that he’s spending his last moments with a man who has taken on six people at one time. A murderer. A man responsible for all this.

“Yes, me,” I reiterate as I pull myself to stand once more.

Oscar frantically grabs my ankle. “Don’t l-let anything happen…to her.”

There’s a glassy gleam in his eyes, and I know Finley is going to hate this. She’s going to be heartbroken. His death will hurt her in more ways than I can understand, and because of that, I kneel with him again, and I stay there.

She’d want me to stay with him in his last moments.

“She has to b-be okay,” he mumbles. “You make sure…she’s okay. Whatever you have to do.”

“She’ll be okay.” His eyes flutter as I speak, almost in relief at my words. “I promise you. She’ll be okay.”

She has to be okay. If anything happens to her, I will kill everyone, literally every person in my path until I’m physically unable to keep going.

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