Page 167 of Monsters Wear Crowns
But she didn’t look at him. Her eyes found mine instead. The rain slid down her face, her grip on the gun unshaken, her lipspressed into a line I couldn’t read.
She stood there, cold and composed, every inch the woman I’d fallen for–only now, I wasn’t sure if I ever truly knew her at all.
She wasn’t shaking or even fucking hesitating. She was in control. And in that moment, something inside me cracked open. This was real. She wasn’t going to save me. She wasn’t going to fight for me.
She’d made her decision.
And somehow, that hurt more than the broken ribs, more than the blood in my mouth, more than anything I’d ever survived. I had fucking lost her. And I had never known pain like this before.
***
ADELA
The gun felt heavier than it should have. Rain lashed against my skin, soaking through my clothes as I stared at him. Rafe was bound, bloodied, and kneeling in front of me, his devastated blue eyes locked onto mine. He didn’t speak or plead.
Moreau’s laughter slithered through the air like a serpent. “Go on, Adela.” He leaned in close, voice a smooth whisper against the storm. “Put him down like the dog he is.”
I lifted the gun.
Rafe watched me, his chest rising and falling in slow, steady breaths. I had never seen him like this.Defenseless.
And yet, he wasn’t afraid.
I let out a sharp breath, tilting my head slightly. “You know, I told myself I’d never become my mother.”
Rafe’s expression flickered, just barely, but I saw it.
I tightened my grip on the gun. “She loved a Vaughan man, too. And in the end, what did it get her?” I shook my head, my voice cold. “Nothing. Nothing but grief, blood, and ruin.Collateral damage.”
Rafe’s jaw clenched.
“I told myself I was smarter,” I went on, each word like a blade through my chest. “That I would never let a man make me small. That I would never let someone hurt me and stillwantthem the way she did.” I swallowed against the bitter taste in my mouth, the storm roaring between us. “But I never thought you’d truly do it. I never thought you’d hurt me like that night in your office.”
His expression twisted with regret.
Good.
I wanted him tofeelit.
I lifted the gun higher, aiming straight at his heart. “I can’t forgive you.” My voice wavered, but I held steady. “And I won’t let myself be destroyed because of you. Since you walked into my life, I have experienced one inconvenience after another. And I’m done. You made my life so fucking stressful. I hated looking over my shoulder everywhere I went because when I took you on as a client, I took on your enemies, too. I didn’t want this.” Lightening pierced the sky, followed by the immediate rumble of thunder.
Moreau hummed in satisfaction beside me. “Smart girl.”
I took a slow breath, steadying my aim.
Rafe’s expression was unreadable. His dark eyes locked on mine.
Moreau was right. Rafewasself-destructing. He always had been. And standing here now, soaked in rain, my finger curled around the trigger, Icouldhave let him. I could have let this storm swallow him whole.
But Moreau didn’t know me as well as he thought.
Because if Rafe was going down, it wouldneverbe by my hand.
I exhaled.
One heartbeat.
Two.
