Page 170 of Devil Mine

“Tess!”

“I’m not leaving you to die.” Her voice is muffled against the crook of my neck. My throat is wet from her tears, but her tone is undeterred. Determined.

Behind her, Marco laughs cruelly.

“How touching,” he jeers.

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Chapter Sixty-One

Tess

Idon’t choose to stay.

That implies there was a choice to begin with. But there was no world in which I was going to run out of the bomb shelter to save myself and leave him behind.

I’m crying as I hold on to Thiago’s neck like my life depends on it. In many ways, it does.

He didn’t hesitate to offer himself up to save me. He sacrificed himself blindly for me when he has a father who loves him, a sister who might still be alive, and an adoptive sister who worships him.

He’s ready to give it all up just so I can walk out of here freely, and I’m supposed to leave him behind?

If I walk out, then he’s walking out with me.

And if he dies here, then so will I.

But not without me finally admitting the secret I’ve been holding onto for far too long. Facing my death makes me realize I should never have hesitated to say it in the first place.

I turn my face and bring my lips up to Thiago’s ear.

“I love you,” I breathe the confession. “I’m sorry I never told you earlier. I should have.”

“No!” he shouts when the words are barely past my lips. He throws his body forward and tries to trap me against the floor. Hovering above me, his hands still handcuffed behind his back, his eyes roam my face wildly. “Don’t say it like thatamor, don’t say it like you’re telling me goodbye. I won’t accept it.”

I blink and a tear squeezes out of the corner of my eye and down my cheek. My lips part but hands reach out and grab me, then brutally drag me away from him before any words can leave my mouth.

Thiago lunges forward, a roar of pure demonic rage tearing from his throat. Tied up as he is, he can’t get far. He slams into the ground, immediately rolling onto his side, his frantic eyes tracking me upside down as I’m dragged by Julio back towards Marco.

“Get the fuck off her! I’ll kill you, you hear me? I’ll fucking kill you,” he roars before the two other men come down on him.

I’m yanked up to my feet to stand in front of Marco.

“You had your chance to run, you didn’t take it,” he croons, a hand reaching out to stroke my cheek.

I spit at him.

Satisfaction ripples through me when it lands on his face, momentarily stunning him.

I smirk defiantly at him. “If you’re killing him, kill me too.”

Julio slaps me. My face flies to the side, a loud ringing explodes in my left ear. Behind me, I hear Thiago thrash on the ground.

Marco only smiles, a grin that twists my stomach into knots, and wipes my spit away with his thumb.

He grips my jaw, crushing it in his fist.

“Kill you? Oh, baby, no.” He chuckles, the sound sending a draft of cold down my spine. “No, that’s changed now.” He grabs my jaw, his grip bruising and painful. “Why kill you when I can fetch a good price for you? Just like Rocco did with Adriana.”

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