Page 124 of Beautiful Ruins
“Yes.”
I didn’t ask who.I already knew.Nathan.
A strange, hollow feeling moved through my chest.Not grief.Closure.
Raze stepped toward me, stopping just short of touching.He was careful like that after nights like this.As if he thought the violence might transfer through skin.
“You shouldn’t see me like this.”
“Like what?”
“After.”
After.
The word hung between us.
I looked down at his hands.The water had washed most of it away, but there were still traces at his cuticles.A thin red line beneath one nail.Proof.
He followed my gaze.
For a second — just a second — something vulnerable flickered in his expression.
“I did what I had to do to protect those I care about.”
Something inside me stirred then.Because that was the truth of him.
He didn’t kill for chaos.He killed with purpose.Selective.Restrained.
He was a monster.But not indiscriminate.And that was the frightful part.
“You did it for me,” I breathed.
“For us.”
My chest tightened.There it was.The line I’d been circling for weeks.I wasn’t afraid of him.I was afraid of how little I wanted to be.
I stepped forward.
He tensed.
“Izzy—”
I reached for his hand.
He froze when my fingers wrapped around his.
His skin was still warm from the water.Rough.Slightly damp.
I lifted his hand between us and looked at it.
At the hand that had done unspeakable things tonight.
“You think this makes you unlovable.”
His jaw flexed.
“You deserve a better life, Izzy.You don’t deserve the chaos that comes with being with someone like me.”
