Page 124 of No Saint

I search for her, eyes blurry but then her shape comes into view, and I focus everything I have on her. She’s on the floor, bound with rope to a pole. She’s bloody, pale but alive.

“Where are you hurt?” I demand.

“Gabriel,” she cries, “Why did you come!?”

I hear footsteps.

“I’ll always come for you.”

“We’re going to die, Gabriel,” she cries softly, “We’re both going to die.”

“No,amore mia,” I vow, “No we are not. I’ve got you, Amelia.”

She laughs wetly without humor, it’s not a cruel or angry laugh, but one filled with this gut churning sorrow, “I love you.”

“We’re not saying goodbye!” I growl.

Her bloodshot eyes, glistening with hot tears meet mine but she’s defeated. She believed this was the end.

The door opens and my head snaps around, teeth bared.

And Asher walks in.

“Hello brother.”

“I should have known,” I grit.

“Yes,” Asher nods, “You should have and yet, here we are.”

“Why?”

“Why, Gabriel?” Asher scoffs, slowly taking steps towards me, “Because you fucking took everything!”

His fist slams into my solar plexus, knocking the wind from my lungs. I choke, trying to drag in air.

Amelia cries.

“Did you know I recorded that message myself?” Asher says casually as I wheeze from my chains, “Back at the casino all those weeks ago. I slit a man’s throat and recorded that message and then I brought it to you.”

I think back to that, to the warning I didn’t listen to. Regret churns so hard inside of me it’s worse than any pain he could inflict.

“And you did nothing Gabriel. I watched you listen and then you walked away like this damn city meant nothing. You brushed off the attacks because you genuinely believe you are un-fucking-touchable and yet here I am proving you wrong. I took your shipments, burned your warehouses and orchestrated all the attacks and still, you did nothing.”

He wanders towards Amelia, crouching in front of her and grabbing her chin, forcing her to look at him.

“Take your fucking hands off her!”

“You are nothing, Gabriel, but an entitled cunt. You don’t deserve this power. This city. Your brother didn’t either.”

“You killed him.”

He studies Amelia’s face as she glares at him, “It wasn’t easy.” He says, “He fought and staging that accident, fuck, I almost got caught.”

He finally lets Amelia go and I relax a little until his hand slides to her thigh. She swallows, jaw clamping closed.

I needed to get him away from her, to focus on me.

“Asher,” I growl, “what did you hope to achieve!?”

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