Page 16 of Poison Vows

I can only look at him, my throat too clogged up to speak.

“She said, and I quote, ‘His heart is still beating, isn’t it? So I won’t dare throw away my life. I’ll wait to go back to him. I’ll wait for him.’”

My entire body trembles so hard that I reach for the chair in front of me to stabilize myself.

“She’s a girl that struggles with chronic depression. She’s even struggling right now! Still fighting her sadness and loneliness, but she doesn’t dare throw away her life because of you!” Spider snaps. “Now, normally I would be on my knees with gratitude, thanking you for giving my sister some sort of will to live but, Em, tell me, is this a blessing or just a one-way ticket to the most brutal circle of hell?”

I flinch, knowing exactly what Spider means.

Angel clearly pinned her entire life and future on me… linking us together.

But… I don’t have a future.

I’m literally a dead man walking.

Any heartbeat could be my last… and judging by the indescribable agony in my chest right now, I might croak this very second.

“Please… stop,” I mutter slowly.

“Forgive me, Em, but I won’t stop. Not anymore, because I need you here,” Spider presses, his voice low in a heartfelt plea. “I need you to do what needs to be done.”

“But… it’sher,” I whisper dispiritedly, struggling to keep breathing. “From the beginning, it’s always been her.”

Spider sighs heavily.

“I know how you feel. I saw it when you two were growing up. Hell, I don’t even know the half of it, but you know your situation far better than anyone else.”

My situation…

That includes my murderous family that has put Angel and her family in danger for years.

The old grudges that will hurt Angel.

Not to mention the other matter I found out recently about Angel’s biological mother…

But above that, the thing in my chest is torn apart at vital points.

It leaks blood every five business weeks.

The valves don’t work like other people’s.

The arteries are too thin and unstable to have another transplant done just yet.

As of eight months ago, I have a few years if I’m lucky.

Yes, I know my situation better than anyone…

“Emmett, I know you’re hating my guts right now, but you’re also an unparalleled war strategist. You can see far ahead but, most of all, I know there’s nothing you wouldn’t do for that girl.”

I look at him, but my soul, body and mind completely in shambles.

“What do you want me to do?” I ask quietly.

Spider stares at me for a long while before he speaks again.

“One day, my sister will grow the guts to come to you and confess her feelings,” he starts slowly. “Deny her.”

“What?”

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