Page 85 of Devious
“Please don’t say th—”
“I want to spend my last couple minutes staring at you,” he murmurs. “I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry for bringing you into this predicament, and I’m sorry that he raped you and I couldn’t protect you, and I’m sorry you got caught in my plan for vengeance.” He strokes my cheeks. “Your father was the mastermind of this all and everyone suffered.” He sighs. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t say this earlier, but I love you, Roselyn Marie Vitali. I love every fiber of you. I fell in love with you the moment I laid eyes on you. I thought it was an obsession that I couldn’t shake, but I was hiding how I really felt for you. Do you remember when you asked me why I spared your life after you tried to kill me?”
I nod.
“It’s because I was in love with you and I couldn’t bring myself to kill you.” He kisses my forehead. “This is my final goodbye to you. My vengeance is getting me killed. It caught up to me.” He closes his eyes, tipping his head up to the ceiling. The only thing I hear is our labored breaths. I don’t want to believe that he’s going to die. There has to be another way. “I hope when we meet in the next life, we will live a normal life, and I’ll court you and give you so much more. You deserve so much more than this shitty life. In the next life, I hope we can grow old together, surrounded by our babies and grandbabies. I hope in the next life you would choose me, even though I don’t deserve your love.”
I can’t believe this is happening, that this will be the end of our lives. I’ll never love Cashel the way I love Devious. “I hope you remember me as the man that fell in love with you and not the crime lord who kidnapped you because of a stupid-ass debt. I.” A kiss on my forehead. “Love.” A kiss on the cheek. “You.”
He kisses me deeply, and I want to remember everything about this wonderful man. I sob harder as I clench my jaw shut.
“Please just sit here.” He continues to stare at my face. “You have thirty eyelashes, and three moles on your face. One on your forehead, the other above your top lip, and one on your cheek. Sometimes, I watch you sleep.”
I cry at his words, laying my head on his chest, because I want to hear his heartbeat one last time, so I can always remember it. I’ll never forget the man who makes my heart beat fast. I’ll never forget his woodsy scent. I’ll never forget the essence of him.
“You kind of snort when you laugh. You feel so warm at night when I hold you.”
Thump, thump. His heartbeat is loud and strong.
“You love to wrap your arms around me at night and use me as a teddy bear. You look cute when you have paint all over your nose.”
Thump, thump.
“You’re cute when you’re angry. You smell like cherry blossom soap. You have a beautiful soul. Grant me my dying wish, please.”
“What is it?” I whisper.
“Don’t let him break your beautiful soul. Don’t let him hurt you, and fight back. Run as fast as you can and don’t look back, Roselyn Vitali.”
The door opens and Cashel rushes inside. “Time is up.”
He yanks me by the arms, forcing me to the door, and I scream for him to let me go. A guard grabs me by the arm, and I smack him in the face and kick him in the stomach.
“Let me go! Please! Let me go!” I scream at the top of my lungs.
I kick my feet as he drags me down the hallway, then I bite the guard on the hand, and I rush back to the basement door and open it.
Once I run down the steps, Devious looks me in the eye.
“I love you,” he says as Cashel aims the gun to his chest, pulling the trigger. Devious’s body slumps to the ground as his eyes close.
Villainous
Ifinally track my brother down at another location—a mansion in the middle of nowhere. I pull up outside of the gate to find cars littering the driveway as if there is a big event going on. I asked for reinforcements from the American Gods. Most of our soldiers died when Cashel kidnapped Roselyn and Devious, and by the time I made it to the basement, they were gone. I found them because Jameson hacked the nearest camera back at Cashel’s mansion and we followed the city’s CCTV cameras.
My hands tighten on the steering wheel. Keanu is in the front beside me, and Irvin and Jameson are sitting in the back. King and Max and about fifty soldiers are behind us. If Cashel killed my brother, I’m going to kill Cashel myself, hang his head on a spike.
I’m killing anyone on-sight.
“What’s the plan?” Keanu asks. He removes the knife from his holster, rubbing the blade against his red hair.
“We get Devious and Roselyn out of here, and we’ll kidnap Cashel.”
Once we’re out of the car, we load up our weapons, and Irvin places his hands on my shoulder. His silver hair shines in the sunlight. “We’ll get your brother and sister-in-law back.”
I betrayed my brother by marrying the girl that I once loved, and I don’t know if I will ever have the chance to say how sorry I am.
I nod. Jameson brings out a blueprint of the mansion, placing it on the hood of the vehicle, showing us every room and how to get inside. King and Max dress as servers, ready to pretend to work with Cashel’s staff.
