Page 6 of Beautiful Ruins
The hand around my neck tightened.
Just a fraction—but enough.
Enough that a sick, lucid thought cut through the noise:This is where he squeezes.This is where I stop breathing.
My brain started to misfire, panic short-circuiting everything at once.The men began talking over each other, voices stacking and blurring, and suddenly all I could think of were those stupid horror movies Nathan loved.The ones I’d sat through pretending not to be scared, burrowed into his side while he laughed at my jumps.
I could see it now.The ending.
A headline.A statistic.A body no one bothered to look too hard for.
So this is where following my lying, secret-hiding boyfriend lands me,I thought wildly.A wooden box.A slab of concrete.Forgotten.
The man holding me stepped closer.
I tried to twist away, instinct taking over, but the hands on me locked tighter, crushing the movement before it began.My breathing went sharp and frantic, each inhale scraping my lungs like they were already failing me.
“Please,” I whispered.
The word tasted like defeat, and I hated myself for it.
Something crossed his face then—but it wasn’t sympathy.It wasn’t regret.Something cold and detached.Like he was weighing the risk of keeping me alive, nothing else.
His other hand came up.
There was a syringe in it.
Oh.God.For the love of all that is holy?—
I wanted to scream.The sound built in my chest, clawing for release, but my lungs seized, panic strangling it before it ever reached my throat.My vision tunneled, black spots dancing as he saw the terror on my face.
“I’ll be gentle.”
Gentle,my ass.
The needle skimmed my skin before piercing my neck, a sharp sting followed by the unmistakable sensation of something warm sliding into my bloodstream.
Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.
I tried to curse out loud, to fight, to doanything—but my tongue wouldn’t cooperate.My body betrayed me completely, strength bleeding out of me as the world tilted.
Cold rushed through my veins, fast and merciless, like someone had pulled a plug and drained me from the inside out.My knees gave way.
I didn’t hit the ground.He caught me.
Strong arms came around me—firm, uncompromising—keeping me upright as everything inside me slipped loose.My cheek brushed his chest for a heartbeat too long.He smelled immaculate.Not cologne-heavy or sweet, but precise: clean soap, faint smoke, and something colder underneath.Danger.
The last thing I saw was his face above mine.Focused.Intent.Lethal.
And devastatingly handsome, because apparently my brain hated me.
Then the edges of the world softened, folded inward, and went dark as I melted into his arms.
3
Raze
She was still out when I went into the office.Seeing her there irritated me more than it should have.She didn’t belong in my space, didn’t belong anywhere in my house—but I didn’t know enough about her yet to trust her anywhere else.If she was going to wake up, it would be where I could see her, hear her, and end things fast if I had to.
