Page 110 of Beautiful Obsessions
I hit him hard, throwing all my weight and momentum at him.
We went down in a violent tangle, his grip tearing free from her as I slammed him off balance, driving him into the ground.
Tone stumbled.
My heart lurched—but she caught herself, regaining her footing.
Machado wasn’t down for long.
He twisted, too fast—rolling, scrambling back to his feet with a snarl that didn’t match his polished exterior.
A demon.That’s what he was.
He lunged at me again.I sidestepped, letting his momentum carry him forward, his footing faltering just enough—but he recovered quickly.
When he turned, there was a gun in his hand.
Time slowed as I saw it and everything moved in slow motion.
“Noooooooooooooo!”
Tone’s voice split open the moment it left her throat, stretching into something raw and unrecognizable, something that didn’t belong to language anymore.It tore through the space, jagged and violent, rising higher and higher until it fractured into a keening wail that seemed to scrape against the walls themselves.
It echoed—too loud, too sharp—filling every corner until there was nowhere left to breathe.
The sound didn’t just carry.It lingered.Hung there in the air like smoke, thick and suffocating, curling into every silence that followed.
There was pain in it—blinding, absolute.The kind that hollowed a person out from the inside and left nothing behind but grief.It was the sound of her soul breaking.
But it was too late.
The gun went off.Once.Twice.
The impact of the bullets slammed into me, white-hot and violent.
My body jolted, breath ripped from my lungs as the world tilted sideways.
I hit the ground hard.The sky fractured above me.Sound dulled—muted, distant, and I felt like I was underwater.
Another shot cracked.Clean.Precise.
I watched as Machado jerked.
A perfect hole burned through his temple as he dropped where he stood, lifeless before he even hit the ground.
The fight around us started to die with him.Gunfire slowed.Then stopped.Voices replaced it.Shouting orders.Running feet.But it all felt like it came from too far away.
I tried to breathe, but couldn’t.
My chest burned.It was wet, warm.
I looked down.Blood soaked my shirt.There was too much of it.
Of course it had to end like this.
“Archieeeeeee—!”
Tone’s ravaged voice reached me again, closer this time.
