Page 139 of Ugly Beautiful Scars

"The police won't get here in time. You have to go out the window. It's the only way." My voice hardens like I'm barking out orders as a Sergeant. "I'm going to attack and clear a path. But I need to know you're safe." I grip her shoulders tighter, willing her to understand. "My job is to keep you safe. That's my sole purpose. Go out the window.Now."

Her eyes flash. Not with fear but with a fierce, burning certainty. She steps even closer, her body almost flush against mine, refusing to be intimidated by my tone. "I amnotleaving you. If they kill you, what's left for me? Nothing."

Time seems to stretch between heartbeats. Outside, the footsteps pause—they're strategizing—but all I can focus on is Londyn's face, inches from mine, unmasked and raw with an emotion that terrifies me more than the armed men outside: complete devotion.

I don't deserve it.

I don't deserve her sacrifice.

An ache sparks deep in the place where body and mind meet the soul. My voice drops to barely a whisper, the hardness evaporating beneath something far more vulnerable. "What are you saying?"

"I've spent my entire life alone, Sean. Even in Hollywood, surrounded by people, I was so alone." She takes my hand, pressing it against her heart. "I was invisible for six years because I thought that was the only way to survive. But that's not living. You, us…thisis living. You gave that back to me."

I stare at her, unable to process what she's saying. The world has narrowed to just this—her face, her heartbeat under my palm, the impossible weight of her words. Outside, the threat continues to circle, but in here, something dangerous has already happened.

"I'm not running away this time," she says. "If this is how my story ends, fine. But it ends with you."

"You're willing to go out together?" The question sounds incredulous even to my own ears.

She nods once. "Together."

Something in me breaks open. I've spent my entire life fighting alone and carrying the heavy toll of others' safety on my shoulders like it was mine alone to bear. Outside of the military, no one has ever stood beside me, shoulder to shoulder, ready to face whatever comes without flinching.

Not ever like this.

This woman—this incredible, stubborn, brave woman—is choosing to stand with me at what might be the end. Not because she has to, but because she wants to.

But the soldier in me can't accept it. Won't accept it. I step back, my hand sliding away from her heart, leaving a cold emptiness where warmth had been.

I'm a soldier. This is how it was always going to end for me. But she deserves to go on and have a better life.

"No, Londyn. If you die, I've failed. Everything I've sworn, everything I've—"

"It's not your choice," she cuts in. "It's mine. And I choose you. I choose you over everything."

There's a crash and scraping from the bedroom. We both flinch. Heavy boots thud against hardwood. Whoever was outside must've breached the bedroom window. Another set of boots is coming down the hallway.

No. Two sets in the hallway.

There may be three enemies approaching.

We're out of time.

I'm desperate now. I grab Londyn's shoulders, physically trying to push her toward the window. "Out. Now, Londyn. I won't let you give up your life for me."

She fights against my grip, not with panic but with deliberate resistance, pressing closer instead of backing toward the window. Her eyes never leave mine, even as death approaches inch by inch.

"I don't want a life without you," she whispers fiercely. "Why don't you understand that?"

But I do understand. God help me, I understand perfectly. The truth of it burns in my chest, simultaneously the most painful and beautiful realization I've ever had: I feel exactly the same way.

A life without her isn't a life at all.

She's my purpose.

Footsteps pause just outside the bathroom door.

Londyn covers her mouth and neither of us dares to breathe. They'll be in here within seconds.

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