Page 289 of Ruin Me Gently

I turned back just once.

Clark was still there. Still lying in the waterlogged cabin, his chest barely rising and falling.

Pathetic.

The ghost of the man who had once tried to seep into my skin—to crawl beneath it and take root in my bones, like he could make a home out of my pain and suffering.

I stared him down, for one final time.

“Drown.”

Then I turned, and ran.

CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE

Thick sheets of raindrenched my skin, slicking my hair against my face as I sprinted across the docks, my hand clasped tightly in Silas’.

Run. Just run.

The storm raged around us, the wind slamming into me like a physical force, cutting through my soaked clothes, whipping the scent of salt and oil in the air. The metal rigging on the boats groaned under the pressure, ropes straining, wooden planks beneath my feet slippery with rain and seawater.

I gasped for breath, lungs burning, the sound of my own pulse pounding against my skull.

Then, I stopped.

Just—stopped dead.

Silas’ fingers slipped from mine as he kept going, his body still moving forward at full speed. He didn’t even notice at first, too focused on getting us the fuck out of here.

The world tilted.

I couldn’t breathe.

The thought came out of nowhere—like a bullet between the ribs.

Scratching. Hitching. Struggling.

Clark was drowning. He was dying.

Silas spun, finally realising I wasn’t there anymore. “Lilith?” His voice was rough, breathless, barely carrying over the storm.

I couldn’t move.

Every nerve in my body screamed to turn around, to keep running, to leave.

He deserved it. Every single second of it.

But did I? Did I deserve the guilt? Did Silas deserve the guilt?

I gripped my hair, nails pressing into my scalp, the pressure the only thing keeping me upright.

Coughing. Crying. Writhing.

I couldn’t breathe.

“Lilith? What are you doing? We need toGO.”

If I left Clark now—

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