Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Gideon
Everything felt suspended in time, each second stretching painfully as I struggled to wrap my head around what just happened.
My vision blurred from the loss of blood, but I forced myself to focus. Myers lay crumpled on the ground, his eyes wide with shock as he futilely tried to stop the bleeding from the deep gash across his abdomen. The pool of blood beneath him widened, the vivid crimson stark against the cold concrete floor.
Imogene stood over him, the blade still clenched in her trembling hand, her gaze fixed on Myers. Her breaths came in short, sharp gasps, her chest heaving as though she couldn’t draw enough air.
As though she couldn’t comprehend what she’d done.
“Imogene,” I choked out, my voice raspy and raw, but I didn’t have time to get to her.
A percussive shot tore through the space, forcing my eyes from hers. I whirled toward the source, the guards charging toward us like a pack of wolves descending on their prey.
I didn’t think. I just moved, the adrenaline surging through me like fire. My muscles burned, protesting every step, but I didn’t care. I was focused on one thing only — keeping Imogene safe.
“Liam!” I barked, my voice sharp enough to cut through the noise. He jerked his head toward me.
He was wild-eyed, panting, his hands red with blood.
My blood.
He looked less like a man and more like an animal.
“They’ll kill us all if we don’t work together,” I instructed, each word measured and deliberate. “Do you understand? We have to fight them together.”
I never thought I’d willingly work with Liam again. Not after what he did to me. Not after he stole years of my life and tried to take everything I cared about.
But now, survival trumped revenge.
His eyes darted to the approaching guards, then back to me. For a heartbeat, I feared he’d use this opportunity to let me die, to finish what he started years ago.
Then he gave a sharp nod, his eyes gleaming with a primal determination.
The first guard reached the cage, his gun raised. I surged forward, driving my fist into his jaw, the crack reverberating through my knuckles. He went down hard, and I grabbed his gun.
Behind me, Liam let out a guttural growl as he picked up the knife Imogene had dropped, the blade catching the light as he ran out of the cage, driving it into another guard’s stomach. The man screamed, crumpling to the ground, but Liam didn’t stop. He moved like a rabid beast, his strikes wild and uncoordinated but devastatingly effective, eliminating guard after guard.
I hated that I needed him. Hated that I was relying on the same man who had betrayed me, who had taken everything from me. But in this moment, I couldn’t afford to hate him.
I moved purely on instinct, the muscle memory from years of fighting kicking in. Every breath felt like fire, every step like dragging my limbs through molasses, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.
Not with Imogene’s life at stake.
She was frozen in the corner of the cage, her wide, tear-filled eyes darting between me and the guards. One of them lunged toward her, and I fired the gun without hesitation. The bullet hit its mark, sending him stumbling back.
The air reeked of sweat, blood, and gunpowder. Every movement sent fresh waves of pain through my battered body, but I kept going.
Another guard rushed me, larger and faster than the others. I barely managed to sidestep him, but he knocked the gun from my hand before grabbing my injured arm, twisting it until I heard a sickening pop. I screamed in agony, dropping to one knee. Thankfully, it was right in front of the knife I’d refused to use during my fight.
I wrapped my fingers around it and slashed upward. The guard fell, clutching his throat.
My breaths came in ragged gasps. Blood dripped from my side, my arm hung limp, but I couldn’t stop. I had to make sure Imogene made it out of here alive… Even if I didn’t.
I became the man Meyers turned me into. A ruthless killing machine who took lives without a single care. When one guard dropped, another would take his place, who I’d kill without mercy.
The chaos around me was deafening, but I couldn’t hear any of it. I was in a trance.
But with each guard I took out, I felt myself getting weaker and weaker, my motions growing slower.
“Gideon! Behind you!” Imogene’s voice cut through as I took a moment to gather some strength.
I stumbled around, time standing still as I stared down the barrel of a gun.
I told my body to move, but I was too slow to react after the beating I’d taken.
Then I felt something slam into me, pushing me to the floor at the same moment as the shot rang out.
Time seemed to stop as I tried to make sense out of what happened. But then I saw Imogene.
She was inches away, where I was standing seconds ago, her face contorted in shock and pain. She took a step back, then another. Then she collapsed, blood staining her shirt.
Rage filled me, pulling me to my feet, and I rushed the guard, snapping his neck in one swift motion and tossing him aside like a rag doll.
I scrambled toward Imogene, pressing my hands to the wound on her stomach, desperate to stop the flow of blood.
“It’ll be okay. You’ll be okay,” I managed to say through the tightness in my throat, peppering kisses to her face.
The frenzy around us grew louder — the sound of gunfire, shouting, and heavy boots pounding against the floor. I snapped my attention away for a split second. The remaining guards fell one by one, taken out by men in tactical gear storming the compound.
At first, I was confused, but when I saw Henry and Alexander pull up the rear, I was momentarily relieved, sending up a silent prayer that my friend finally came through.
But any relief was fleeting as I looked back at Imogene, her skin pale and her breathing shallow.
“I… I’m so sorry,” she strained to say, her voice barely a whisper, fragile and broken.
“Don’t,” I choked out, cradling her closer to me as if holding her tighter could somehow keep her with me. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
Tears burned at the corners of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not now. Not when she needed me to be strong.
“I never should have pushed you away,” she gasped, each breath becoming more difficult than the last. “Never should have run from you. Never should have wasted time.”
“You didn’t,” I said fiercely, grabbing her trembling hand tightly in mine.
My gaze fell to the ring on her finger, the blood-stained diamond a brutal reminder of everything we’d fought for — and everything we stood to lose. My chest ached, a raw, relentless pressure that made it hard to breathe. But I couldn’t let her see.
“And now,” I continued, forcing a steadiness into my voice I didn’t feel, “we’ll have all the time in the world together. I promise.” I pressed a trembling kiss to her forehead, my lips lingering against her skin. “We’re free.”
A faint, almost imperceptible laugh escaped her lips. “I didn’t take you for an optimist,” she murmured, the sound so feeble it shattered something deep inside me.
I tilted my head back, blinking rapidly against the tears threatening to spill. “I’m not,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “I’m a realist. And you will make it out of here. You hear me? You do not get to die in this goddamn cage.” I pressed my forehead to hers, desperate to anchor us both. “Just stay with me, Imogene. Please. You can’t leave me.”
“Gideon,” a voice worked its way through the haze, followed by a firm hand on my shoulder.
I jerked my head up, blinking through the tears to see Henry standing over me, his face tight with urgency. Behind him, medics surged forward, pushing a stretcher, medical bags slung on their shoulders.
“Let go of her,” Henry said, his voice calm but firm.
His words didn’t register. I stared at him, trying to comprehend, but the meaning slipped through my fingers like sand. Let go of her? How could I?
“Please, Gideon,” he begged, the faintest crack of emotion breaking through. “Every second counts. There’s a med-evac helicopter waiting outside, but you have to let her go.”
I looked back down at Imogene, her face ashen, her breaths shallow. The blood pooling beneath her seemed brighter than before, its sickening vibrancy clawing at my chest.
“I can’t,” I rasped, shaking my head, my fingers tightening around hers. “I need her.”
“You’re not losing her,” Henry said, crouching beside me. “But you have to trust me. Let me help her. Please.”
His words pulled me back just enough to meet his eyes, and what I saw there finally broke through the haze. Resolve. And something else. Fear.
My hands trembled as I released her, every fiber of my being screaming against it. Henry steadied me as the medics moved in.
I could only watch as they carried her onto the stretcher and immediately went to work on stabilizing her. Their actions blurred together, too fast and too slow all at once.
As they wheeled her away, I caught one last glimpse of her, so still, so pale. My chest tightened, panic spiraling into a suffocating weight.
“She’ll make it,” Henry said, his hand gripping my shoulder. “She’s a fighter, Gideon. So are you.”
But his words barely registered as my knees buckled beneath me. The ground rose up to meet me as my strength gave out, my hands bracing against the cold, blood-streaked concrete.
The last thing I saw before the darkness took me was the trail of blood Imogene left behind.