Page 27 of My Violent Valentine

“He’s dead,” I say. “So no contract.”

The guy shakes his head. “It’s not that simple, Sloan. He set up a trust, and the money’s in escrow. It doesn’t matter if Dante is alive or dead. This contract is bigger than him. The contract is open until you’re dead. They’re just gonna keep coming for you, you sad, sad motherfucker.”

I pull my knife, the one I used to cut Mina’s clothes off what feels like a lifetime ago, and stab him in the throat. He gurgles and flails for a moment before hitting the floor, His blood spilling out to mix with all the others.

I should have asked him how he found us out here at this diner, but obviously they were watching us, probably put a tracking device on the car. It doesn’t even matter anymore.

I glance up at the clock. 11:59. Somehow I have lost the only thing I have ever loved in under thirteen minutes. My ears are still ringing from too much gunfire in such a small space. I can barely hear my own sobs, my own screams as I lose what’s left of my quickly fraying mind.

I kick over a table and then start throwing chairs back at the kitchen. I smash every fucking plate. Every glass. I hurl forks into booths, and then start dragging them down the vinyl, ripping out the insides the way I desperately want to rip out my own insides. And I scream like the wounded and broken animal that I am.

I pick up one of the guns and start shooting at the windows, just to hear that satisfying shatter of glass. And I think about Mina shooting bottles with me out on my gun range. And it only makes me cry harder.

My ears are still ringing from these last gunshots, and I finally completely break down. I’m kneeling in a pool of blood sobbing. It’s not hers. I still can’t even look over at her. I can’t. I need to pretend for just a little longer.

“Mina, why? God, why? Why take her? She didn’t deserve it. It should have been me.”

It should be me. It still could be. There’s no point in any of it anymore. I’m so fucking tired.

I pick up one of my guns that I dropped. I can barely see through my own tears. I slam a new magazine in and turn the gun on myself. I’ve got no reason to be here. I just want to be where she is. We could never have our happily ever after here. I’m too dark and broken for that… but maybe in another life, another world… some place that’s not this place... This sick fucked-up world where monsters like me are allowed to run free destroying people’s lives, killing other people’s loved ones. Maybe this is my karma.

I rack the slide, still trying to shake off the ringing in my ears, trying to think… as if I need strategy anymore. My thinking days are done.

“Brian, No!”

I freeze. I swear I heard her. But I’m afraid to turn around. If I turn around and she’s still just lying there, lifeless, I won’t be able to take it.

“Brian…” she says, through tears. “I’m right here… I’m fine. I’m okay. Everything is okay, just put down the gun.”

I shake my head. “No. You’re not real. You can’t be. I saw it. I saw you go down. There was no life in you.”

“Just turn around, Brian. Turn around and look at me. I’m sorry I didn’t move. The Kevlar took the bullet, but I stumbled and fell. And when I went down, something inside me said to stay down, so I listened so they’d forget about me and you would have a chance... so we both would have a chance.”

I drop the magazine and clear the chamber. Then I turn slowly to find Mina standing there, alive.

“I tried to say something after the last one was dead, but you didn’t hear me. You just kept going. So I was going to just wait it out, wait until you ran out of steam, so you could hear me.”

“It’s the ringing,” I say pointing at my ear as I make my way around all the dead bodies and through the endless pools of blood to reach her.

When I finally get close enough, I cup her face in my hands. “Are you really real, Mina? Are you really here right now?”

“Yes, Brian. I’m here. I’m so sorry. I was afraid if I did anything else, we’d both end up dead.”

I press a kiss to her forehead, smearing the blood from the old man. “No, you did the right thing. Smart. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.”

I pepper kisses over her face as I tell her over and over the words I should have told her a long time ago, the words I thought I wouldn’t have the chance to say. The only real deep feeling for anyone I can feel.

Her corset has the hooks in the front, and I carefully unhook it, to reveal the Kevlar and the embedded and flattened bullet. I can’t believe what I’m seeing.

“I think I have a bruise,” she says.

“Where did this come from?”

“The Kevlar factory,” she snarks.

“You know what I mean.”

“You told me to pack extra vests. Remember?”

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