Page 95 of Sin of Love

Slowly, finger by finger, I release my grip on Gideon. His eyes—glowing with love, desperation, fear, urging—remain fixed on mine. He thinks I’ll run. He believes he can sacrifice himself, give me time to escape. Maybe even steal the gun, turn it on the man behind him. Take vengeance. End it all for good.

But he can’t see what I can. Gideon doesn’t need to die today, because he doesn’t matter. Not to Julep. Only I do, and it’s my death in his eyes. Gideon will live, because Julep wants him to suffer my loss as he suffered it. Obsession and love, love and obsession.

At least I know the difference, now.

“Hello, doll.”

“Let him go, Julep. He isn’t a part of this.”

Julep might be shorter than Gideon, but he’s wiry and fast and running on hate. I don’t see the movement of his arm so much as feel the displaced air, then I hear a sickening CRACK as the butt of the gun meets the back of Gideon’s head. The aim is true, and Gideon falls instantly, unconscious, graceless, his body thudding against the wall before slumping awkwardly on the floor. Catching a scream in my teeth, I stare at his back until I see it rise and fall.

Alive.

I turn my attention to the Devil.

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