Page 266 of Ruins
Jude smirks, eyes half-lidded with amusement. “Sarkisian will.”
I raise a brow. “So youareworking for him?”
“No,” Jude grins, “but I know he’s going to kill you—by breakingher.”
Ice slides down my spine. “No one will ever get near her.”
Jude’s grin widens. “I did.”
I punch him in the face. Hard. His head snaps back, a deep groan ripping from his throat.
I grab the pliers.
“Sarkisian is going to fuck your little whore,” Jude sneers, “and pass her out to every single one of his men until she’s nothing more than a broken shell of—”
Romeo grabs the back of his head, yanking it back hard. Luca forces his jaw open.
Jude chokes on his own breath, his body jerking violently as I clamp the pliers around his lying, filth-ridden tongue. My mind is fire, pure fire, burning through my skull. His words, their disgusting, harrowing filth, aboutmywife,myVasilisa. No one. No man. Will ever touch her.
A beep cuts through the air.
Jude goes still. His eyes lock onto something behind me.
A gasp.
I know that sound. It’s soft, breathless, but it cuts through me like a blade. Iknowit because I’ve spent monthscravingit,chasingit, memorizing every way she breathes, speaks, sighs.
I know it because it’s hers.
Dea.
My stomach drops. My pulse slams through my veins. I don’t want to turn around. But I do.
And there she is.
Her eyes are wider than I’ve ever seen them. Her chest rises and falls in panicked, uneven breaths. Her mouth parts, trembling. Her body shakes. The snack cake in her hand drops.
She turns and runs.
Chapter 53
Vasilisa
Idon’tknowwhyI’mrunning, but I’m running.
I went down to the kitchen got my snack cake, heard some noise from downstairs and thought it was Santo. So I went to the basement.
It wasnotSanto.
That monstrous thing, covered in blood was Scythe. Santo told me he didn’t want me around Scythe.
So I ran.
IknowSanto wouldn’t hurt me. Even if he’s in some kind of fugue state, even if he’s lost in this violent, fractured version of himself—he wouldn’t hurt me.
But my feet won’t stop moving and my body won’t stop shaking.
This is too much trauma for one person, right?
