Page 279 of Ruin Me Gently

Finn nodded, grabbing the slip of paper and bumping me to one side so he could get to my computer. He started keying in the codes, fingers flying over the keyboard.

I could feel Lilith watching. I knew she was just as wired as I was, her breath shallow, her body practically vibrating with tension. Her hand found my wrist, her thumb dragging slow circles into my skin.

I stayed quiet, letting her touch anchor me.

The screens blinked, rows upon rows of feeds filling the monitors. Driveways, doorbell cams, private pools, backyards. Dozens of fragmented angles. Hundreds of tiny windows into other people’s lives.

“Holy shit,” Finn murmured. “That’s… a lot.”

I pressed a kiss to the back of Lilith’s head, breathing her in. She felt warm and solid against me—real. Andfuck, I needed that right now.

This was it.

This was the thing that would finally rip the weight from my chest. That would finally stop that sick, endless loop in my head. The one that kept replaying every second of that night. The sounds. The blood. The fear. Pain.

He’d been right there. So damn close. And I hadn’t stopped him. I’d let him get away.

I wasn’t gonna let him slip through my fingers again. I wasn’t gonna let him get to Lilith. Not now, not ever.

I’d kill him before I let that happen.

I pressed another kiss to her hair.

I’ll keep you safe. No matter what it costs me.

My gaze flicked back to the monitors, scanning every flicker of movement.

It wasn’t my fault she got hurt. I knew that now. But that didn’t mean I could sit back and let it happen again. If I couldn’t rewrite the past, I’d make damn sure I controlled the future.

I dragged a hand down my face, fingers pressing hard into my brow like I could knead the tension out of my skull.

“Come on,” I muttered under my breath. “Show yourself, you coward.”

CHAPTER SIXTY THREE

Loud. Too fucking loud.

I flinched awake, heart hammering, eyes flying open as I jerked upright. My vision swam, disoriented in the dark, my ears ringing from the god-awful noise.

What the fuck?

It was deafening—sharp and shrieking, reverberating through the penthouse like the whole damn place was collapsing in on itself.

My stomach dropped.

Was that…

The fire alarm.

Oh, shit.

Adrenaline hit, hot and sudden, seizing in my ribs in an iron grip. I twisted, shaking Silas’ shoulder. “Silas, wake up!”

He grunted, brows furrowing as he blinked up at me, groggy with sleep. “What’s wrong, sweetheart? Did you have a nightmare?”

“The fucking penthouse is burning down or some shit!”

That got him moving. He shot out of bed so fast he got tangled in the sheets, nearly face planting as he caught himself on the edge of the mattress. “Oh, fuck—oh, fuck.”

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