Page 84 of Bought By Santa

“You should try the lasagna, Willow,” Nick suggests with a warm smile that is both natural and unnatural on his handsome face. “It’s legendary here.”

“Ooh, sold!” she giggles, her eyes dancing with delight. She’s always been easy to please, always seen the light in the shadows.

I watch them, my heart swelling at my sister’s laughter, yet it’s laced with a pang of guilt. How do I shatter this moment with the truth? That the man making her laugh is the head of the Knight Mafia? And that because of that, she’s now going to be watched twenty-four-seven? Yeah, there’s no easy way to say any of that.

“Are you okay? You look a bit… I don’t know, lost?” Nick leans in, his voice a low rumble that vibrates through me.

“Fine.” I force a smile, but my hands tremble beneath the table. “Just thinking about dessert.”

“Always planning ahead,” he teases, and I can’t tell if he sees right through me or if he buys my act.

I open my mouth, ready to spill it all to Will when the universe decides it has other plans. A waiter, bustling by with a tray piled high with steaming dishes, clips the edge of our table. My phone skitters off the edge like a stone over ice, slamming onto the floor.

“Dammit!” I hiss, and Nick’s hand shoots out to grab my wrist.

“Let me,” he insists, but I’m quicker. I duck down, my fingers closing around my phone.

The sound of a gunshot rips through the chatter, a cruel blade slashing the fabric of normality. Screams erupt around us, a symphony of terror that threatens to suffocate. Instinctively, I jerk upright, my heart slamming against my ribs with the force of a caged bird desperate to escape.

“Carolina! Get down!” Nick’s voice is a command, hard and unyielding, but my body rebels. My eyes dart to Will; her smile, just seconds ago so vibrant, now a fading echo on her lips, replaced by sheer terror.

“Will!” My voice is a raw scream as another shot pierces the air, its deadly whisper close, too close.

Nick’s arms are iron bands trying to drag me away, but I twist in his grip. “Let me go!” I’m half-sobbing, my voice tearing at the edges. He’s trying to protect me, but doesn’t he understand? My sister is exposed, vulnerable, and every cell in my body screams to shield her.

“Carolina, please—” His plea cuts off as I break free, lunging toward Will.

Time slows, each moment a torture, each second an eternity. I see the panic in her eyes, the way her mouth forms my name—a silent call for help. And then the unthinkable happens. A third shot rings out, the bullet finds its mark, and she crumples like a marionette with snipped strings.

“Willow!” Her name is a prayer, a curse, as I drop to my knees beside her. She’s so still, too still, her eyes wide and unseeing, her chest eerily motionless. Blood blooms like a crimson blossom against her pale sweater, and something inside me shatters. “Stay with me, Will. Please, stay with me.” My hands shake as I press them to the wound, a futile attempt to stem the tide of red. Tears blur my vision, hot and relentless.

This isn’t happening. It can’t be happening.

“Help her!” I scream, turning to Nick, to anyone who will listen. His face is a mask of rage and sorrow, a mirror of the agony tearing through me.

He says something, but his voice is distant, swallowed by the chaos surrounding us.

“Will! Come on, talk to me.” But she doesn’t respond, doesn’t move, and something vital within me withers.

The light, her light, flickers out, leaving me in darkness. My world, once filled with the hope of a better future—for her, for us—collapses into a void where only despair thrives.

“Please, no…” My words dissolve into sobs, my body curled protectively over hers, as if my love could somehow reverse the cold finality of death. But it’s too late. My precious sister, the one I’ve fought so hard to provide for, to protect, is gone. And with her, a part of my soul.

“Carolina.” Nick’s voice is thick with unspoken pain. He reaches for me, but I recoil from his touch, lost in the abyss of my grief. Willow was all I had left in this world, and now…

Now there’s nothing.

Well, almost nothing. One thing remains…

Heat ignites in my veins, a searing fire that eclipses all reason. My grief is a living thing, clawing its way out of the chasm left by Willow’s absence. Marco and his men have the shooter pinned down, a writhing mass of limbs and muffled curses on the checkered floor of the restaurant.

“No! Stay here!” Nicklas’ rough command barely registers over the roar in my ears.

I shove him aside, an unexpected strength surging through me, propelling me toward the man responsible for extinguishing Will’s light. He struggles against the security, but my focus narrows to the cold, sharp promise of pain.

“No!” I hear Nicklas bellow, a distant echo as I launch myself at the assailant with a primal scream.

Our bodies collide, and I’m vaguely aware of shocked gasps and shouts around us. The shooter’s eyes widen in terror as I straddle him, his arms flailing in a futile attempt to defend himself. I rain blows upon him, each strike a release of the tempest inside me.

---