Page 155 of Diamond Kisses

A heart made of coal.

No embers.

No cinders.

The fire completely burned out.

Ily was dead.

And…I was done clinging to life hard enough for both of us.

I let go.

I put my existence in the hands of fate and had to laugh at how easy it was.

How fuckingeasyit was to drive away.

How convenient it was to find a bag in the trunk of my stolen car with spare clothes for a doctor who travelled often. He favoured black slacks and black shirts which suited me fine. We even wore the same sizes. Where I was going, I didn’t want colour. I didn’t want light.

The darkness seeped out of my skin and turned me as black as the borrowed clothes I wore. The beast inside me no longer had to crawl through my veins and search for a way free.

I let it take me over.

I sank deep into my rotten soul and gave in.

I stopped on the side of the road and input Q’s passcode into his phone. I pulled up the list of traffickers again. I ignored the endless ringing as he tried to contact me and put the stupid device on flight mode so he couldn’t get through.

Iitchedfor retribution.

I felt as if I’d tear myself apart if I didn’t tear someone else apart instead.

How lucky for me that a few names on Q’s little list lived in France.

I chose the first one. A man with a membership to a club called The Dolls.

I drove all night.

I pulled up outside his house at daybreak.

I knocked on his door with no weapons, no protection.

And fate once again intervened by delivering him right into my hands.

He was home alone.

Rambling about in a huge townhouse with a ridiculous giant poodle for company.

I didn’t bother to fake my way in.

I merely looked down the street, grabbed him by the throat, and shoved him inside before kicking the door closed.

He begged.

I remember that.

He fought and tried to run, but…that was the thing about a man fighting for their life and a man who’d lost his. My strength came from hell. My power from the ever after.

He was no match.

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