Page 75 of Dark Consequences

A quick glance above makes my stomach drop. We’re sinking farther and farther from the surface.

When Xiao grabs for me again, he reaches for the knife buried in my shoulder. I can’t let him get it, so I lift my elbow and sock him in the jaw before wrapping my hands around the knife and yank it free.

Searing-hot pain explodes from my wound, causing black dots to dance in my vision, but I force myself to focus. Swinging my arm forward, I bury the knife in Xiao’s neck. His eyes go wide, and his mouth falls open as all the air escapes his lungs. I watch the life leave his body, and the light disappear from his eyes.

Kicking his dead body away, I watch him sink farther down into the dark abyss, a cloud of blood surrounding him as he disappears into the black.

Xiao’s gone.

He’s dead.

He’ll never be able to hurt Lily or Mei or anyone else ever again. The memories will fade in time, and Lily can rest easy, knowing he can never make new ones.

I turn my attention to the surface, illuminated only by the yacht’s lights. It’s so far away.

I’m not going to make it.

My lungs already burn from a lack of oxygen.

My strength is waning.

The sound of my rushing blood fills my ears.

I float in the water, weightless and numb, unable to keep going.

Black blurs my vision as I stare at the world above.

Lily’s up there.

She’s safe. They both are.

My family will make sure they stay that way. Even though I can’t be with them, knowing they’ll be okay, knowing that Xiao can never hurt her again…is enough for me.

I’ve always wondered what death will feel like. I always imagined that it would come from the end of a gun.

But this…death by drowning? It’s almost peaceful. It’s not the worst way to go, I suppose.

Death comes for me. Approaching from above, like a pale figure, here to take my dark soul back to hell where it belongs.

As I close my eyes, my last thought is a wish. A wish that I had gotten to tell Lily that I loved her.

36

Lily

Leaning desperately over the railing, my hands trembling and my breath shallow, I stare at the water, waiting for Michael to reappear with Raphael. Every second that passes is another second Raphael spends in the water without air. And as a doctor, I know the facts. A human being can hold their breath anywhere from thirty seconds to a minute and a half but very rarely any more than that.

“How long has it been?” I ask Enzo without moving my eyes from the water.

“Not long,” he answers vaguely on purpose. Because we both know Raphael’s been under for longer than a minute, at least.

Hot tears spring to my eyes, blurring my vision. Every heartbeat hurts, every breath burns. It feels like half of my body and soul is dying.

Bowing my head, I close my eyes, feeling the weight of the lingering truth press down on me.

“Lily, look,” Enzo says, stepping forward just as Michael breaks through the surface with Raphael cradled safely in his arms.

“Help!” Michael coughs as he struggles to tread water while holding his brother. “I don’t think he’s breathing.”

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