Page 115 of Graves

I feel hands come to my own, a knife freeing me for the second time today.

“Babygirl. Are you hurt? Fuck, of course you are. Can you walk?” he asks as he slices the bindings holding my feet together.

“Yes. I just?—”

Dominic lifts me into his arms, throwing me over his shoulder regardless as he turns to leave.

“Wait! Zayden!” I shout.

Dominic shakes his head. “This is the plan. Hold on tight, babygirl. I’m gonna get us out of here.”

I begin thrashing against him, screaming and shouting for him to put me down. Just as we are about to crest out of view, I watch as Maxim sinks a knife into Zayden’s leg, forcing him to let out a rough growl. I scream in response, forcing Dominic to stop.

“Zayden! Help him! We have to help him!” I shout.

He hesitates for a moment before setting me down.

“Stay here,” he says before he runs back into the cell, tackling Maxim to the ground before he can hurt Zayden again.

Zayden’s eyes frantically go from his brother, landing on me instantly. Those bright blue eyes widen as he screams at me.

“RUN! Get out of here!”

But like hell am I leaving them to die. If they die, I die. I run back toward them as Zayden tries to stand before he collapses. He must be hurt really badly.

Looking at Dominic, I see him and Maxim wrestling with a gun before a shot rings out. My heart stops when I see blood beginning to pour from Dom’s shoulder. He presses his hand to it tightly, but the blood is pouring through his fingers. Maxim kicks him for good measure before standing, looking down atZayden and Dom, gun in hand, before he swings his wild eyes to me.

“Perfect, come here.”

I know better than to defy him at this moment. Slowly, I make my way to him as he speaks.

“You seemed to have trouble choosing, so here is your chance. Who should I kill first? Dominic? Or Zayden?” he asks, pointing the gun at both of the guys.

I shake my head, tears pouring down my face.

“Please, please don’t do this. Don’t hurt them. Please,” I beg.

He snarls at me, shaking his head. “You’re so weak. Are you sure you were her daughter?”

Maxim levels the gun toward them, and I just react. I jump in front of him, gripping the gun in an attempt to change its direction. Unfortunately, I’m not fast enough, and the bang that sounds is deafening. Everything quiets, though I hear two screams that tear my soul in two. I feel as if life is moving in slow motion as I look up to see Maxim’s surprised expression.

Gripping the muzzle like Zayden taught me, I take advantage of Maxim’s surprise, hitting his hand as hard as I can and forcing his hold on the gun to break. I twist the gun in my hand, firing blindly until the gun runs out of bullets before I fall to the ground.

My eyes land on a body in front of me, and something fulfilling replaces the pain for a moment as I see Maxim’s dead eyes. Two holes in his head and one in his chest. That’s one dead piece of shit.

Zayden and Dominic both drag themselves to me, pinning me between them as Zayden rips his shirt off, pressing it against my sternum. I inhale a pained breath as he does, and I look to see Dominic shaking his head, his mouth moving quickly. A few seconds go by before the ringing in my ears subsides, and I’m able to focus on the words.

“Baby, baby, baby! NO! No,” he sobs as one of his bloodied hands begins pushing my hair away from my face.

“FUCK! She’s bleeding too much!” Zayden shouts. “I-I don’t know what to do! What do I do?!” he screams in panic to Dominic, who continues sobbing over me.

I want to tell them how much I love them. How I don’t want them to worry about me. How they made my shit life worth living, no matter how short our time was together. I want to tell them how I’m so thankful that they tried, how lucky I feel to have their love, but I don’t think I could physically say any of that, so instead, I settle for what I can.

“Even i-in deat-th. Foreve-r y-yours,” I rasp before I begin coughing, blood filling my mouth as Zayden and Dominic begin screaming.

“No, baby. No! Keep your eyes open! Keep your goddamn eyes open!”

“Angel, please! Please don’t leave me!” Zayden cries, tears hitting my arm as he does.

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