Until You Break (The Devout and the Damned #1)

53. The Escape

Chapter fifty-three

The Escape

Aria

I sit in the dark, clutching Dominic’s hoodie around me like it’s the only thing tethering me to reality. The fabric still smells faintly of him—oil and metal, like his garage, like the life he told me about.

It makes me sick now.

My fingers curl into the worn fabric, shoulders trembling, but it’s not from fear or grief anymore. It’s rage. Betrayal. I should have seen it, should have known. The pain in my chest feels too real, like something I can’t ever replace is shattering inside me.

The man I thought I trusted… the man I thought I loved… is a liar.

Somewhere down the hall, a muffled shout cuts through the silence, then another. A burst of gunfire echoes, and my pulse kicks into overdrive.

The lock clicks.

The door swings open, and there he is. Blood-soaked, panting, gripping a set of keys in one hand and a knife in the other.

“Hey, Little Sinner,” he rasps, a lopsided grin stretching across his blood-smeared face. “Miss me?”

I don’t answer. My heart is pounding too hard, my mind spinning too fast. He steps closer, unlocking my cell with shaking hands, and shoves a knife into my grip.

“Stay close,” he orders. “And if anyone gets in your way, you know what to do.”

He pulls me out of the cell, dragging me into chaos. The air reeks of blood and gunpowder. Bodies are strewn across the corridor like discarded mannequins, and Dominic moves with the precision of a predator, his knife glinting as he cuts down anyone in his path. His brutality is mesmerizing, horrifying, and when a guard charges at us, I freeze.

Adrenaline takes over. Without thinking, I rush forward, driving my knife into the guard’s side. He gasps, his grip loosening, and I yank the blade free, stabbing again and again until he slumps to the floor.

Blood splatters my face, warm and sticky, and for a moment, I just stand there, staring at the body. My heart races, but it’s not fear anymore—it’s exhilaration.

“That’s my fucking girl,” Dominic says, a hint of pride in his voice as he pulls me close and kisses me so hard I’m not sure whose blood I’m tasting.

Something dark stirs in me at his words, something I don’t recognize. He pulls back and I glance down at the bloodied knife in my hand, then back at him.

“Let’s go,” he says, his tone soft but insistent, and I follow, the rush of what I’ve just done still thrumming in my veins.

We break into a run, Dominic pulling me through the labyrinth of corridors until we burst into the open air. The night is dark, the forest looming around us like a wall. I barely have time to process the freedom before Dominic stumbles, clutching his side where blood seeps through his shirt.

“Dominic—”

“I’m fine,” he grits out, even as his steps falter. “Keep moving.”

But I can’t. My legs freeze, and my chest tightens as the truth I’ve been avoiding slams into me. The setup. The guards. The escape. It was too perfect, too orchestrated. I turn to Dominic, my voice trembling. “You planned this, didn’t you?”

He stiffens, his face hardening. “Aria, we don’t have time for—”

“No.” My voice is trembling. I stare at him, my chest heaving. “I can’t do this anymore, Dominic.”

He freezes, confusion flickering across his face. “What are you talking about?”

“I know,” I say, my voice breaking. “I know what you did. You set this up—our kidnapping, all of it. You wanted this. You wanted me to need you.”

His expression hardens, but he doesn’t deny it. “I did it for us,” he says quietly. “You’re mine, Aria. You’ve always been mine and you fucking know it.”

The possessiveness in his voice sends a shiver down my spine—not fear, not entirely. I always wanted him to say that; to make it clear to everyone that I belong to him. But a niggling voice in the back of my mind tells me this is sick and wrong.

“I loved that about you,” I whisper, tears burning my eyes. “I loved how much you wanted me, how far you’d go for me. But I can’t—” My voice cracks. “You’re just like me, Dominic. Worse. And it scares me.”

Before he can respond, I move. The knife in my hand flashes, and Dominic gasps as I drive it into his side. His hand shoots out, gripping my neck, but he’s already falling and pulling my necklace along with him.

“Aria,” he chokes, his knees hitting the ground.

I back away, the knife slipping from my hand, my chest heaving as I watch him collapse. I watch as blood pools beneath him, and something inside me snaps.

I can’t do this.

I can’t be this.

The blood, the violence, the darkness—it’s suffocating, and Dominic… he’s too much like me. Too willing to destroy everything for what he wants. I can’t breathe, can’t think, and when I look at his face, pale and still, all I see is a threat.

My breathing quickens, panic flooding my veins. The sight of him, broken and bleeding, should horrify me—but instead, it feels like I’m watching a mirror shatter.

“Aria… don’t,” he rasps, his voice weak.

The forest blurs around me as I stumble back, his blood on my hands. My mind fractures, the world tilting as every sound becomes a threat. Shadows twist into monsters, the trees closing in, and I spin around, running blindly into the night.

Branches claw at my skin as I tear through the trees, Dominic’s hoodie still clutched around me. His scent lingers—oil and metal and blood—and I can’t shake it. I run until my legs give out, collapsing against a tree. My fingers dig into the fabric of his hoodie, my breaths ragged as I curl into myself.

The blood on my hands feels like it’ll never wash away. I loved him. God, I still love him.

I press my forehead to my knees, clutching the hoodie tighter around me, desperate for the comfort it brings. But the scent—the scent of him—it doesn’t soothe me. It suffocates me, dragging me back into that cell, to the blood and the screams. To the look in Dominic’s eyes as he fought for me, as he bled for me.

As I stabbed him.

My mind twists, the memory blurring and rewriting itself. I close my eyes, trying to hold onto the truth, but the truth slips through my fingers like sand.

Dominic, standing in that cell, covered in blood but smiling like the devil himself.

Dominic, putting the knife in my hand and telling me to fight.

Dominic, my savior.

No, he’s not your savior. He’s your nightmare.

But the thought won’t stick. It’s like my mind can’t decide—was he the one who broke me, or the one who held me together? The tears come again, hot and relentless, as the world warps around me. I hear his voice in my head, low and steady, telling me to run. Telling me to survive.

Telling me he’d handle it.

“Dominic,” I whisper, my voice cracking. The hoodie feels heavier now, suffocating and grounding me all at once. My hands tremble as I clutch the fabric tighter, feeling the worn threads dig into my palms.

I stabbed him. I killed him.

But the shadows shift, and for a split second, I swear I see him. Standing there, leaning against a tree, blood dripping from his side but smiling like he’s won. “Miss me, Little Sinner?”

I scream. The sound rips through the quiet night, raw and guttural, as I scramble to my feet. My heart races, my vision blurs, and I stumble backward, away from the phantom. My foot catches on a root, and I fall, the impact against my head jarring but distant, like I’m not really here anymore.

“Stop,” I whisper, clutching my head. “Stop, stop, stop.”

But the image of him won’t go away. Dominic, covered in blood, smirking even as he bleeds out. Dominic, telling me to fight. Dominic, letting me run. He fought the guards, he killed them to get me out and I… I left him there to bleed out.

“I’m sorry,” I sob, curling into myself. “I didn’t mean to—I didn’t—” My voice breaks, the words tumbling out in a desperate stream. “I didn’t mean to…leave you.”

The phantom smiles and shakes his head. “If you ever cared about me… even just a little, you’ll go and you’ll live that life. Just… let me go out knowing I did one good thing. Okay, Little Sinner? Promise me you’ll live.”

I nod, even though it feels like my heart is shattering. “I… I promise,” I sob, then I get to my feet and run.

I know I’ll never forget him, never forget the man who walked through hell and back just to keep his promise, to give me a chance at freedom.