Page 194 of Grand Love

Please don’t leave me.

I look up, spotting a paramedic entering behind Lance, and I stand to rush them. “Help me, please!”

“We can take it from here,” they tell Scarlet, but she doesn’t move. Her lips are moving but nothing is coming out. She’s completely checked out.

I move on autopilot and pull her away, even though my head tells me to let her carry on. She stands off to the side, looking down at where Nina bleeds.

I place my hands on the back of my head, praying to the gods that she will be okay. She has to be okay. She promised me.

“Sc-car-let.”

“Stay fucking still!” Lance shouts at Joey from behind me.

“Put the gun down!” I hear the paramedic shout, forming a shield around Nina and getting low to the ground.

I turn to see Joey barrelling towards Scarlet with the knife still clenched to his chest. “Nina! Oh god, N-nina. I-I’m so sorry!” Joey shrieks.

I turn as Lance’s voice shakes with warning. “Stop!”

“Sc-ar-l-let. I-I didn’t mean to, I—”

My body jolts as the gun fires. I blink slowly, my heart thudding faster than any rhythm that’s healthy as Joey’s body crumbles to the ground with a sickening thump.

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