Page 90 of One Forbidden Moment

Jillian

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Asudden flare of blindinglight erupted in the distance.

Jillian spun toward it, her hand clawing into the suffocating darkness.Her fingers searched frantically, reaching for Moe and found empty air.

A deep sob rolled out of her, leaving her hollow.

He was gone.

"I love you," she whispered, the words barely surviving the silence.

The veil convulsed, coiling around her like a living thing, crushing her ribs until every breath became agony.Panic ripped through her as invisible forces seized her body, wrenching her forward.Her knees gave way.Pain exploded through her as she was dragged into the void.

With the last shred of air left in her lungs, she screamed Moe's name.

Then, instantly, her feet slammed onto something solid.

She hit the ground hard, catching herself on trembling hands as the world lurched violently around her.The earth seemed to tilt beneath her, her vision swimming until she could no longer tell where the horizon ended and the storm began.Her stomach churned.

"Where..."Her voice broke."Where is he?"

Thunder exploded overhead, shaking the air.Forks of lightning ripped across the sky, illuminating the world in violent flashes before plunging it back into darkness.The wind howled with feral rage, tearing at her hair, her clothes, clawing at her skin.

She barely felt it.

"Moe!"Her scream vanished into the storm.

No one answered.

Only the relentless roar of the wind and the vast, unbearable emptiness where he should have been.

Her chest tightened until every breath burned.She forced herself upright, her legs quivering so violently she nearly collapsed again.Panic surged through her, cold and suffocating, drowning every rational thought.

"Please," she whispered, tears stinging her eyes."Please don't be gone."

Lightning flashed again.

For the briefest instant, a solitary figure stood against the storm.

Then the darkness swallowed it.

Jillian froze.

Hope ignited inside her with such violent force it hurt.She stumbled forward, one shaking hand reaching into the rain as if she could pull the figure back from the night.

"Moe?"she whispered.

The wind stole his name before it could travel.She squinted into the darkness.

Lightning split the heavens.For a heartbeat, the world blazed white.

A body lay sprawled across the soaked earth.

Motionless.

Face down.