Page 188 of Surfer's Paradise

There was blood.

There was so much blood.

Rosie didn’t know whose it was.

She was screaming. She was crying. She was clawing out of Chris’s grip and racing toward the wreck of bodies on the ground.

Isaac.

He was on top of Troy, knee in the man’s chest. Both of them were soaked in red. Troy wasn’t breathing anymore—eyes closed, body still. Dead.

Isaac looked up at her. Just once.

“Rosie.”

Her knees gave out.

He caught her before she hit the ground.

“I told you,” he whispered, his breath ragged, his voice wrecked. “I wasn’t gonna let anyone hurt you again.”

And in that moment, through all the horror, the chaos, the blood—

She knew.

He’d always loved her.

And this time, he’d saved her.

Chapter 36

Isaac felt the bullet before he heard the shot. A brutal, burning punch to the right side of his torso—just below the ribs. It ripped through muscle, stole his breath, lit his nerves on fire.

The museum lights blurred. Someone screamed. Glass shattered. Chaos bloomed in his periphery—but Isaac only saw her. Rosie. Frozen, wide-eyed, hands over her mouth.

He staggered away from the dead man on the ground, guiding Rosie away from that. Still needing to protect her, even though it was done.

“Isaac—” Rosie was in front of him now. Pale. Panicked. Grabbing at his shirt.

“I’m fine,” he ground out. “You good? You’re not hurt?”

“Stop talking, you’re bleeding out—”

“Don’t care.” He caught her wrist. “Long as you’re okay.”

He dropped to one, grit his teeth, and forced himself upright again. Fuck. Fuck. His hand clamped down over the bleeding. Hot. Wet. He was losing it too fast.

Then Chris was there, yelling into his phone. Shay beside him, waving security over. Amy was crying. Someone was shouting about a gun. Sirens were already echoing in the distance.

Rosie knelt beside him, pressing harder against the wound. “Don’t pass out,” she whispered, voice shaking. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

He looked at her. Everything slowed.

There was blood on her hands. His blood.

Her eyes shimmered, glassy with fear.

Isaac exhaled. Managed a smirk. “Can’t pass out,” he said hoarsely.

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