Page 115 of Hunted By Valentine

My eyes snap open at the sound of my name being shouted, and I frantically scan. My heart stops as I see Jack’s determined form sprinting toward us, his gun aimed directly at Valentine. But he remains oblivious to the imminent danger closing in on us, and a strangled scream escapes my throat as I realize my brother’s intentions.

“Val—”

“Do you still trust me, Pet?”

My heart races as I struggle to comprehend his question. “You have to get out of here,” I plead urgently, my eyes darting to where Jack is slowly advancing toward us.

Refusing to relent, he pulls me into his chest, his grip tightening like a vise. “Have faith in me one last time.” His lips crushing mine with an urgency that ignites a fire within me. “I’ll follow you anywhere,mypet. This is not the end, but the start of our journey together.”

I want to tell him he doesn’t know what he’s saying. His back is to Jack, so how can he know? It doesn’t matter, though. I trust him implicitly.

“Don’t let go,” I sob.

“Never.”

A split second later, Jack’s finger tightens around the trigger and a deafening explosion echoes through the air. Valentine’s body convulses violently, as a searing hot bullet pierces my flesh with agonizing force. The pain is excruciating, ripping through me like a fiery inferno, and I try to scream, but only gurgles escape my throat as I collapse to the ground.

“Ruby! No!” Jack’s anguished scream pierces through the chaos of the battle still raging all around us. The battle I forgot everything about the second Valentine reached me.

I try to process his words, but all I feel is a searing pain, like fire spreading through my body. With blurred vision, I see that I am lying in a pool of crimson, my own life force pouring out onto the ground. The world around me fades as I struggle to stay conscious, fighting against the darkness that threatens to consume me.

“Ruby!”

My breath sounds like something caught between a wheeze and a rattle. “V-Va—” I can’t even force his name out.

I try again and again, but he doesn’t answer me. I already know he won’t, but I still have to try. Using every bit of strength that I have left, I turn my head, looking straight into Valentine’s unseeing eyes.

He’s dead and his lifeless body lies flush against mine. Tears blur my vision as the pain becomes too much to bear. I open my mouth, intending to scream out my heartache, but no sound or movement follows. My vision fades, my awareness barely existing. I’m cold and immobile—I’m dying next to the man I love.

“Ruby, please!” Jack sounds closer now. “Why the fuck didn’t you get out of the way? This is… no. Ruby, come on. Youhaveto be okay.”

I want to tell him that it’s okay, that it isn’t his fault. But I can’t. I can’t do anything but lie here, entombed in my own body, waiting for the clock to tick down and the curse to claim me.

“Rubes! Come on, speak to me. Hey, it’s going to beokay. You’ll be fine, I promise.”

Darkness takes over, and my very last thought is a happy one; I was lovedby Valentine.

Epilogue

Jack

My eyes are locked on the twin caskets of Ruby and Valentine as I stand at the edge of the Knight mausoleum. My hands tremble slightly around the folded funeral program, the weight of my guilt pressing down on me like a physical force.

The cold wind whips around me, stealing my breath and chilling me to the bone. It feels as if even the elements are mourning today, yet it’s nothing compared to the icy knot in my chest.

A storm of emotions swirls within me—grief, guilt, and a desperate need for absolution. My thoughts drift back to that fateful moment when I accidentally caused Ruby’s death.

I had tried to shoot Valentine, convinced he was about to kill her with the knife pressed against her throat. But after seeing the state Ruby’s body was in, Nick is sure that Valentine pressing his knife against her throat was meant to be a mercy killing.

That might also be why Valentine never shoved her away, and instead allowed my bullet to kill both of them.

Fuck… her body. If I’d known the state she was in, what John Simmons did to her, I’d have given him a lot more than a bullet between the eyes. But I didn’t know then. It seems there’s a lot I didn’t know—like the extent of Ruby’s feelings for Valentine, and, I suppose, his for her.

I can’t shake the scene from my mind—the flash of the gunshot, one bullet; two bodies. Ruby’s lifeless form, the blood staining my sister’s once beautiful face.

Nick stands like an immovable statue, his dark eyes unreadable. His features and stoic demeanor make it impossible to discern his thoughts—a skill he’s mastered over time.

Carolina, in contrast, looks fragile and anxious, her delicate fingers worrying the edge of her black shawl. She catches my eye for a moment, and there’s a flicker of sympathy in her gaze before she looks away.

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