Page 22 of Gathered Sparkle

“Veronica killed Oscar.”

There, I said it.

Probably not my smartest move. But it’s hard to think straight when I feel like half the blood in my body has gone missing, and my arm hurts like a bitch.

“What?”His eyes widen, shock rippling across his features. “What the hell are you talking about?”

He really doesn’t know.

“There’s no time for a full explanation,” I urge. “We need to get Levi out of here. She wanted to hurt him too.”

Nicholas takes a shaky step back. “You’re lying,” he accuses, though there’s uncertainty in his eyes.

“Look at him. Shealreadyhurt him.” His gaze wanders to Levi, and I press more. Ineedhis help. “Can you honestly say,deep down, that you don’t think your mother is capable of this?” Nicholas pauses, his face tightening as if he’s trying to fight off the idea. I can see the war raging in his mind. “I know you’re a good person, Nico,” I plead. “You don’t want something bad to happen to someone when you could’ve helped. I can’t get him out on my own.Please.”

His jaw clenches, his eyes moving from Levi to me and back. Seconds stretch on, feeling like minutes, before he finally lets out a ragged breath, the fight in his eyes softening. “What do you need me to do?” he whispers, and relief crashes over me, almost making my knees buckle.

“I need you to carry him out of here,” I say quickly. “To the service entry. Koen is waiting there. No one can see you. You have to get Levi to Koen, okay?Notto the police,notto your mother.Just Koen.”

Nicholas nods, though doubt still flickers in his eyes, a shadow of uncertainty. He’s scared, andfuck,I am too.

“Okay. Help me get him on my back.” He crouches down beside Levi, and we work together, maneuvering Levi onto his back so his arms are looped over Nicholas’s shoulders. Nicholas grips them firmly, taking Levi’s weight as he stands.

Footsteps echo down the hallway, distant but growing louder, reminding me that time is slipping through our fingers. I glance out, my stomach dropping at the sight of the security guards returning.

“Fuck,” Nicholas whispers. “They’re headed the way we need to go. What do we do?”

I look at Nicholas, and the feelings in his gaze mirror my own—uncertainty, regret. But there’s something else, too, something softer beneath the surface, something that makes me ache to protect him, to make sure he doesn’t pay for being here, for helping me.

“What you made me feel was real.” I rise on my tiptoes, my fingers brushing lightly against his arm as I press my lips against his and taste the way he sucks in a breath.

I want to stay there, to let the warmth of his lips and his bergamot scent swallow me whole. To believe, just for a moment, that what was between us isn’t shattered, so I linger, feeling the way my heart tugs toward him.

Losing him is the karma I deserve.

His eyes search mine as I pull back, confusion swirling in their depths. I know he wants to say something. I can see it in the way his lips part, the words caught somewhere in his throat. But there’s no time, and maybe it’s better this way.

“Thank you,” I whisper, the weight of everything between us hanging in that breath.

Then, before I can let myself hesitate or get lost in his eyes any longer, I turn and bolt.

“Rosie, wait!” Nicholas hisses after me, but I burst out of the storage room and out of the gym, my legs propelling me down the hallway in the opposite direction of the guards. I let my feet slap hard against the tile floor so the noise echoes through the air like gunshots.

Each step takes me farther from Nicholas, but I can still feel the ghost of his lips on mine, the warmth that refuses to fade, a reminder of what I’m running for—who I’m trying to protect.

It doesn’t take long for the security guards to hear me.

“Hey!” one of them shouts and jolts me back into the present. Their footsteps skid and pivot, the thud of boots gaining speed as they tear after me down the hallway.

A muffledcracksplinters the air, and the hiss of a bullet slices past my ear, close enough that I feel the air shift. I duck, instinct wrenching me low, and my hands fly up to cover my head as fear crashes into me, a wave of adrenaline pushing me forward.

I glance back only long enough to see Nicholas with Levi on his back, slipping away in the other direction, and I hope,God, I hope, he’s the person I think he is.

I won’t let his fragile trust in me be in vain. I won’t let the guards catch me, not until they’re out and safe.

I push myself harder, the hallway starting to blur around me, but I keep running, the sound of the guards behind me fading into nothing but background noise. All that matters is giving Nicholas and Levi the time they need.

Every step sends pain shooting through my arm, and I press my hand against the wound, trying to dull the ache as I pull my head low, ducking when I hear another bullet whiz by. To my right, there is a staircase, and I run up it, taking two steps at a time.

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