Page 75 of Secrets & Desires
“Hang on, baby girl. Hang on, please…keep breathing, Livvy…” He was struggling with Sandor now, trying to get control of the gun. Another shot rang out, the bullet burying itself in the wall, then another and Nox jerked back, his shoulder gushing blood. Sandorlaughed.
“Whatever you do to me now, Nox,” Sandor snarled at Nox, “she’s still a dead woman. Look at her, bleeding out. And I thought killing your Ariel was satisfying. You can watch while I empty the rest of this gun into your beautiful girl, Renaud.” He aimed the gun at Liviaagain.
Nox, weakening from blood loss, nevertheless threw himself at Sandor again and the two men tussled once more. Livia was losing consciousness, but she was desperate to stay awake, desperate to help Nox. Somehow, she managed to crawl to where Sandor had discarded his knife. Grabbing it, she plunged it into the back of Sandor’s knee, then yanked it out and sliced his Achillestendon.
Sandor roared in pain, going down, and Nox grabbed the gun from him. Sandor laughed, knowing he was beaten. “I hope she suffers before she bleeds to death. My only regret is that I only got to kill her once.” He spat out the words, looking up at Nox in pure hatred. Without a moment’s hesitation, Nox shot his half-brother in the face. Sandor went down, stone cold dead. Nox staggered over to Livia, who wasfadingfast.
“Stay alive, baby, please…we get our happy ending. I swear. We deserve our happy ending…” He collapsed next to her, trying to stem the blood flowing from her body, ignoring his own savage wounds. “Please, Livvy, staywithme.”
Livia stroked his face. “If I die, I want you to know, I loved you more than you will ever know. You are the reason Ilived.”
“If you die,Idie. We go together or we live together, baby, that’s the deal.... Liv? Liv,please…no….”
Livia heard his beautiful voice, begging her to live, hearing the love in his voice. But then the darkness took over, and she heardnothingmore.
ChapterThirty
There was somuch pain and Livia didn’t want to open her eyes but she had to know if she was alive.Please, please, she begged,let Nox be alive too. Ifhe’sdead…
“Livvy.” She had never heard such a beautiful voice in her life. “Livvy, baby, you can open your eyes,sweetheart.”
She opened her eyes and focused on his face. Nox was pale and needed a shave but he was there, alive and smiling at her. He stroked her hair back from her face. “We made it,Livvy.”
“Kiss me.” She said the words but no sound came out—her throat was so dry. Nox smiled and helped her sip somewater.
“Kiss me,” she said again and this time, her voice rang out, pure and strong. Nox pressed his lips to hers and she sighed happily. “We’realive.”
“Yes, we are.” Nox took her hand. “You, just barely. But you’re a fighter,Livvy.”
She touched his face as if she couldn’t believe he was real. “Sandor.”
Nox’s expression hardened. “Dead. Good fuckingriddance.”
“Agreed. He was a hell of an actor though. Imagine holding onto that anger, that jealousy, that rage all those years, just waiting for when you fell in love again? All because his daddy couldn’t keep it in hispants.”
Nox nodded. “Sandor didn’t intend to get arrested either. He left a suicide note, mailed it to the local news station. He intended to kill us, then himself. I saved him the bother. He’d killed Roan weeks before. That’s how I knew it must have been Sandor, that’s how I knew to gettoyou.”
“My hero.” She kissed him again then groaned. “God, I could kill him all over again for how much thishurts.”
“I know, I’m sorry, honey. Press this if you need the morphine but docs said you’d be in pain for awhile.”
Livia pressed the button and felt a warm rush of something in her veins. It took the edge off. “How about you? Why do you looksogood?”
Nox grinned and pulled his shirt up. A heart-shaped scar was healing well, stark pink against his skin. Livia was confused. “Nox…how long have Ibeenout?”
Nox’s smile faded. “Three weeks. You had a pulmonary embolism, plus the bullet damaged your liver.God.It was touch and go for a long time. You were in a coma, which, strange to say, was a blessing.” He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what he was saying. Livia took all this in and thennodded.
“Nox?”
“Yes,baby?”
“Is it allovernow?”
Nox nodded. “It is, honey. It was all in the letters Florian wrote to my mom. He didn’t regret a thing, the bastard. He wrote such vile things, told her the way he was going to kill her. He never mailed them, obviously. Florian raped my mom, she had the baby and gave it to them to raise. Then she met my Dad. Florian held onto that jealousy for years, and one day, he just snapped. He killed them all, saving my mom for last. In his letters, he wrote that Florian wasn’t even the one who pulled the trigger on my mom. It wasSandor.”
Livia felt sick. “He murdered his ownmother?”
Nox nodded. “He was asickfuck.”
