Page 83 of Vicious Addictions

My heart pitter-patters in my chest at the unforgiving sight before me.

Jude’s face is drenched in blood, streaked in crimson like some vengeful specter. His gaze is wild and completely unhinged, yet eerily calm as he strides toward us, unaffected by the gun being held to my head.

“Take one step closer, and I’ll kill her. I swear,” Pavlin spits, his grip tightening.

Jude cocks his head, his lips curling at the edges into a cruel smile as he drops the two daggers he was carrying to the floor. He then pulls out his gun, his fingers flexing around it as if he had all the time in the world.

“Did you hear me?! I’ll kill her!” Pavlin shouts out again.

“I believe you.”

And just like that, Jude pulls the trigger.

One shot.

That’s all it takes for Pavlin’s body to go rigid behind me as a stunned, choked sound leaves his lips before he crumples to the ground, the gun slipping from his fingers and clattering to the side. And then silence falls on us both. The only thing I can hear now is my own heartbeat, thundering in my ears.

My brows furrow as I watch Jude step closer, ensuring his gaze never meets mine. He reaches for the cables, his fingers brushing my skin gently as he starts untying me, his hands steady and sure.

“Let’s go,” he murmurs, his voice low, his face still unreadable beneath all that blood.

I don’t move right away.

I just sit there, staring at him, the weight of everything that happened finally settling in.

Pavlin is dead. And Jude… Jude didn’t even hesitate to blow his brains out, ending the threat to my life and my virtue with just one bullet.

“Jude,” I whisper raggedly. “Look at me.”

His head remains bowed as he sits on his haunches.

“Look at me,” I repeat softly, placing my hand on his bloody cheek.

“I can’t,” he mutters, pain and anguish in his voice.

“Please,” I say, fully knowing how that word holds power over him.

His head lifts slightly, his gaze trailing up my broken body to land on my bruised face. His hands ball into fists while his glare shifts over to Pavlin’s corpse, cursing for not being able to kill him a second time. But now is not the time to curse the dead. Now is the time for celebrating the living.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

I then lean in and gently press a chaste kiss on his lips.

Jude’s gaze softens as he takes a deep breath, probably the first one he’s taken since he heard the news of my capture. Then he pulls me to my feet ever so gently and lifts me into his arms, nestling my head onto his chest, his rapid heartbeat a reminder that we are still alive.

“Take me home.”

Chapter 14

Mina

Twenty-years-old

Four hours later, I stand freshly showered in front of the sink and look at the mirror, eyeing the damage Pavlin did to my face.

Aunt Pippa applies more ointment to my bruises, her touch lighter than her mood.

“Nothing like this would have happened if you just knew your place. What were you thinking about being inducted into the Firm? Didn’t it ever cross your mind that something like this was bound to happen? That your father’s enemies would use you to get to him.” She shakes her head in disappointment. “I was sure your father was going to have a stroke when he heard you being rammed off the road. If he died, where would that leave the rest of us, huh, Missy?”

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