Chapter 16

LIAM:

Her weight collapsed against me, heavy and unyielding, like she'd poured every last drop of strength into that final move.

"Lauren..." I shook her, too hard, my voice already breaking. Her head lolled against my arm, braid unraveling, strands of hair sticky with blood. My chest squeezed so violently I thought it would split open.

Her body was going limp. Too limp.

"No, no, no...stay with me," I begged, my hands frantic, trying to press against the wound at her neck, my palms useless against the hot spill soaking through my fingers. Her blood. Her life. Right there, leaking away while she lay in my arms.

"Don't you dare..."My throat closed, the words half-choked, half-snarled. "Don't you dare leave me like this."

Behind me, boots thundered into the room,Julian shouting orders, guards flooding the hideout,but they were ghosts at the edge of my vision. All I could see was her. All I could feel was her slipping away.

I cradled her closer, rocking her like movement could anchor her to me. My hand kept pressing, uselessly, desperately, to the wound. Her breathing was shallow, each inhale a fight.

"You saved me," I whispered, voice ragged. "You...you were supposed to come back. You can't just… you can't just do this."

She didn't answer. Her lashes trembled once, then stilled.

"Sir….we need to move her!" Julian's voice cut in, sharp, panicked. He crouched beside me, eyes flicking to the blood soaking her jacket. "If we don't get her to the medics now..."

"I'm not letting her go," I snapped, clutching her tighter. My voice cracked on the last word. I couldn't let them pry her from me. Couldn't trust anyone else to carry her when she'd carried me through every danger.

Julian's hand gripped my shoulder, firm, grounding. "Liam, listen to me,if you want her to live, you need to put her in the car. Now."

Her pulse fluttered weakly under my fingers,fading, but there. Barely.

My heart slammed against my ribs. I bent close, my forehead pressing against hers, my voice breaking into the blood between us. "Hold on, Lauren. Please. I can't lose you. Not…... Not like this."

For the first time in years, I prayed. Not for myself. Not for revenge. Just for her to open her eyes.

And then, because I had no choice, I lifted her into my arms, the limp weight of her body shattering me, and carried her toward the waiting guards.

I laid her down in the backseat of the SUV, my hands trembling so hard I could barely unclench them from her jacket. Blood smeared across my palms, my cuffs, my skin. Her blood.

She didn't stir.

Her chest rose in shallow, broken pulls that rattled against my ears like sandpaper. Every second felt like a countdown I couldn't stop.

I reached up,slowly, almost afraid,to brush the strand of hair plastered to her cheek. My fingers hovered just above the mask, the same damn mask that had haunted me since the moment she appeared in my life.

And God, I wanted to rip it off. To see her. To know who she was. To put a face to the voice, to the eyes that were somehow familiar in a way that gutted me.

My hand lifted. Inches from the edge of the mask. Inches from the truth.

But then her voice echoed in my head,the last thing she'd rasped before the darkness dragged her under.

"Don't… don't take it off."

I froze. My hand curled into a fist mid-air.

She trusted me enough to ask for that. Trusted me enough to bleed in my arms, to take a bullet for me, but not enough to show me her face.

I let my hand fall, jaw tightening until it ached.

The mask stayed on.

Julian barked something to the driver, the car jerking forward with a squeal of tires. I barely noticed. All I could do was watch her, fighting the panic that kept rising in my throat.

Her mask was streaked with blood now, dark against the fabric. Her braid had nearly unraveled, strands clinging to the edge of the mask. She looked like she'd been dragged through hell,and she had,but she was still here. Barely.

"Stay with me," I whispered, not caring if Julian heard. My thumb brushed her sleeve, a useless comfort. "Don't leave me, Lauren. Please."

And as the estate's lights blurred into the distance, I kept my eyes locked on her still form, my chest tight with the weight of everything unspoken.

Because the mask remained.

Because the truth was still out of reach.

And because, even now, with her life bleeding out beneath my hands—I couldn't shake the feeling that the girl beneath it was someone I'd already lost once before.

The estate's private clinic doors banged open, and suddenly she was gone from my arms, swallowed by a blur of white coats and gloves.

"Critical! she's losing too much blood!" someone shouted.

My chest tightened, but I couldn't move, couldn't breathe. My hands, still slick with her blood, just hung useless at my sides.

Julian grabbed my shoulder. "Liam..."

"Don't." My voice cracked like glass. I yanked away from him, my eyes glued to the gurney being wheeled down the hall.

The mask still clung to her face, soaked at the edges with crimson. Even now, even as she was fighting for her life, she held on to that secret.

And I… I honored it.

Every instinct screamed at me to tear the damn thing off, to know who she was, to stop drowning in this ache of not knowing. But I didn't. I stayed rooted to the spot, letting her vanish through double doors that slammed shut before I could take another step.

I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes, dragging in ragged breaths. She had jumped in front of me. Taken the bullet that should've been mine.

Her body had crumpled against me like it weighed nothing at all. And in those last seconds before she blacked out, she'd looked at me like….like she knew me.

"Damn it," I whispered, slamming my fist against the wall. The sharp sting barely registered. "Why would you do that? Why would you save me?"

I slid down against the wall, chest heaving. The metallic tang of her blood still clung to me. My shirt, my skin, everything reeked of her sacrifice.

And I realized something terrifying in the pit of my gut.

I couldn't lose her.

Not this girl with the mask. Not the shadow who had haunted every corner of my life since she appeared.

Not the only person who had ever thrown herself in front of a bullet—for me.

The door ahead stayed closed, silent except for the muffled chaos inside. I pressed my head back against the wall, jaw locked, eyes burning.

"Stay alive," I muttered under my breath, each word a prayer I wasn't sure I knew how to make.

"Stay alive… whoever you are."

"Liam," Julian's voice cut through the storm in my head, steady but edged with something urgent.

I didn't answer. Couldn't. My eyes were glued to the doors she'd been wheeled through, like if I stared hard enough, I could will them to open.

Julian crouched beside me, his hand hovering before it finally gripped my arm. "You're bleeding too."

I blinked, glancing down. My wrist was raw from the restraints,my side throbbing from all the blows.My shirt clung wetly at the waist, and for the first time, I realized it wasn't all her blood staining me.

"I don't care," I muttered, dragging in a shaky breath. "She's in there. I'm not moving until…."

"You'll be no good to her if you collapse here," Julian cut in firmly, his tone sharper than usual. "Let the doctors patch you up. I'll stay, I'll get the news the second it comes out. You have my word."

I shook my head violently, jaw tight. "No. If I leave...if something happens….."

Julian's gaze hardened, unflinching. "You think she'd want you bleeding out on the floor like a fool while she fights for her life? You think that's what she nearly died for?"

My chest tightened. His words pierced deeper than I wanted to admit.

"I promise you, Liam." Julian's voice softened now, steady, unshakable. "The moment the doctors step out, I'll find you. You'll know everything as soon as I do. But you have to let them take care of you first."

I clenched my fists, torn. Every instinct screamed at me to stay planted, to keep vigil until those doors opened. But the pounding in my head, the sting in my ribs, the slow trickle of warmth at my side,reality was catching up.

With a low curse, I finally let my shoulders sag. "Fine," I ground out. "But if you break your promise….."

Julian held my gaze. "I won't."

I let him haul me up, though my legs felt like lead. My eyes stayed locked on the operating doors as long as I could, even as a nurse guided me down the hall.

Every step away felt like betrayal. But I held onto Julian's promise like it was the only thing keeping me upright.