Page 192 of Sexting the Boss

“You chose to follow me.”

“No,” Roman sneers. “I chose to believe in you. Big mistake.”

My grip tightens. “So what now? You shoot me? Walk away with Lev’s corpse still warm and what—build something off the scraps?”

His finger rests near the trigger.

“You don’t have the guts to shoot me,” he says. “You never did. That’s why I always did the dirty work.”

He thinks that’ll push me. He’s testing me.

And the worst part?

It almost works.

Because the betrayal runs bone-deep. Roman was the only one who knew everything. My past. My pain. My weaknesses.

“I trusted you,” I say.

He tilts his head. “That was your mistake.”

Then—two gunshots crack through the trees.

Roman drops like a stone.

“FUCK!” he roars, crumpling to the ground. “You?—!”

I spin around.

Sasha is standing there, Lev’s gun clutched in both hands. Her arms are shaking. Her face is pale—but her aim was perfect.

Twice in the shin. No fatal shots. Just enough to put him down hard.

Roman tries to grab for his weapon, but I’m already on him.

I slam my boot into his ribs, send his arm sprawling, then hit him across the temple with the butt of my gun.

He slumps.

Still breathing. But out cold.

I step back, panting. My gun hand is still raised, but everything in me trembling.

Sasha drops the pistol. It clatters onto the forest floor.

I look at her—really look at her.

She’s still shaking. Her hair wild, her lips parted, her chest rising and falling. There’s a smear of dirt on her jaw, blood on her sleeve.

She walks toward me without hesitation and throws her arms around my neck.

I catch her like she’s all that’s keeping me on my feet.

“You didn’t kill him,” she whispers. “You could have. But you didn’t.”

I bury my face in her neck, breathing her in. “I couldn’t. No matter what he did…I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

Her fingers brush the back of my neck.

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