Page 116 of F*ckboys

The word resonates, Grave's voice echoing in my memory.We can't cross this line, Fallon. If we do, there's no going back.

My hand trembles against his throat. The knife slips, just for a moment, and he sucks in a sharp breath.

In this instant, I glimpse the shadow of the woman I once was. The one who didn't resort to murder for vengeance. The one Grave believed in.

The one who committed to an eye for an eye. And nobody has been killed by Harvey Maxwell, to my knowledge.

The knife clatters to the floor, released from my trembling fingers. I stumble back a step, staring at the crimson-stained silver metal.

"You're going to regret this," the captive rasps, a triumphant gleam in his eyes. "Should've killed me while you had the chance." Arrogant and cocky despite the power imbalance, exuding the expected and misplaced confidence of a mediocre white man.

My gaze lifts to his, defiance etched into every line of my face. "No," I say softly. "I won't."

And I know, with stark certainty, that I've made the right choice. My revenge remains incomplete, but perhaps I've salvaged one of the parts of myself worth saving.

The woman Grave once admired isn't gone, after all.

I find Grave in the dim light of the quiet dive bar I know he frequents, a tumbler of whiskey clutched in one hand, his brow furrowed. He glances up at the creak of the door, startling when he sees me on the threshold.

For a long moment, we stare at one another, the silence thick with unspoken questions. The knife, cleaned but not yet sheathed, feels heavy in my pocket.

Finally, Grave rasps, "Did you—?"

"No," I say softly. "I didn't."

Relief flickers in his gaze, quickly replaced by wariness. "What now, then? We can't keep him forever."

"I agree, it's time to let him go." I meet Grave's startled look with steady resolve. "He's suffered enough, and I believe we've got what we need from him. What Claudia needs from him. It's time to move on."

"Just like that?" Disbelief colors his tone. "After everything we did to get to this point, you're really just going to let him walk away? I thought you were going to try to keep him as a forever pet or something."

"We went too far," I say quietly. "Iwent too far, and I nearly crossed a line I can't come back from. I won't do that to myself, and I won't ask that of you."

Silence falls between us again, heavy with uncertainty. At last, Grave sets his glass on the bar and rises in a rustle of movement.

He stops before me, conflict etched into the lines of his face. For a long moment, he hesitates, and I wonder if this will be theend of us. If the Harvey situation will prove too much to move past even though I pulled back before ending his life.

Then he reaches out, his large hand squeezing my forearm, the height of him expressing physical affection. "Come on," he says roughly. "Let's go and figure out how best to let him go."

Relief floods me, and I lean into his touch. He awkwardly embraces me in a side hug, his body dwarfing my much smaller frame. The foundation of our partnership may be scarred, but apparently it remains intact.

We walk out of the bar together into the shadows of night. A reset, hard-won and imperfect, but ours all the same.

Chapter 65

Aksel

Iwalk into my condo, each step an echo of happier times. Memories of Fallon assault me from every corner. Laughter we once shared. Intimacy we once craved and enjoyed. Love we once nurtured within these walls, now shattered into a million pieces.

My fingers instinctively reach for the light switch. The light flickers on, casting shadows in the empty space that was once filled with her presence.

The silence is deafening.

Music, television, the hum of the city—none of it fills the void she left behind. Her absence resonates in the walls, a constant reminder of the love we once shared in this place.

Seeing it usually works, I try to lose myself in a workout, in the burn of each rep and the ache of strained muscles. But her face haunts me. Her eyes stare back at me, reflected in the sheen of sweat on my skin. My heart races with the memory of her touch, her kiss, the feel of her body pressed against mine.

The silence persists.

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