CHAPTER 79
A sharp agonizing pain stung the side of her body as she moaned in pain.
She panted as she tried to blink the blurriness away.
There was a long silent pause for a moment when a scream left her mouth as her body was jerked forward.
Confused and panicked she yelped as she felt something trailing down her arms.
Looking down she saw blood oozing down her arms, the pain came afterwards when she realised she had a deep cut over her upper arm. The tattered piece of shirt dug into the wound as she winced at the stinging sensation. Crawling on her legs she pushed herself up as she swayed at the dizziness.
With unfocused vision, she breathed heavily trying to stand still but due to weakness and exhaustion, she stumbled a step back before a large pair of hands e flushed her in a warm embrace.
There was chaos all around but what stood among them was shooting sounds.
Amara felt her heart pounding loudly in her chest as she looked baffled at the person behind her.
Her eyes widened as she saw his familiar face.
Someone she hadn't expected to see for a long time.
His once cheerful features contorted in a frown and his concern narrowed on her bleeding arm but Amara care less as she completely broke out in tears.
"Lorcan!" Amara cried as she engulfed him in her arms. Lorcan felt his heart clenching at her sight. She looked drained. She seemed weak. He never thought the girl Kaelith randomly brought would mean so much to him now. He viewed her as his little sister.
Lorcan gulped as he assessed her from top to bottom.
There was a big bruise on her forehead, her cheek was swollen, blood dripped down her arm and several other bruises were hidden underneath her tattered clothes.
He cursed Kaelith for suggesting ambushing them out in the open.
But they did not have any options left. If they were a minute late, they would have lost her forever.
He looked over his shoulder as he picked her up.
"I need you to stay with me, okay? Don't close your eyes, we'll get you out of here.
" Lorcan muttered as he dodged the bullet and ran to the side of the helicopter when suddenly he felt something hard— or someone colliding with his body.
Lorcan let out a grunt as he stumbled with Amara in his arms. He lost his footing as both of them rolled down on the ground.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Amara heard Abigail’s familiar voice as he straddled Lorcan’s waist and punched him repeatedly. She groaned as she watched in horror as Abigail’s mad eyes screamed with rage and anger as he pulled out a blade from his waist and raised it above his head ready to stab Lorcan.
Lorcan groaned.
But before his blade could touch him, Amara grabbed him by the neck and pushed him off Lorcan with all her strength. Since he was a lot bigger than her, she was only able to move him halfway when Abigail twisted and slammed his elbow into her abdomen. She hissed but did not lose her hold on him.
"YOU DAMN BITCH!" Abigail growled as Lorcan immediately lunged forward and slammed his fist on his nose as tears gathered in Abigail’s eyes.
Lorcan nodded at Amara as she hooked her arm over Abigail’s chest and pushed him flat on the ground. He and her worked in synch as they pinned him to the ground. Amra felt relieved for a second but it was short-lived.
Abigail laughed like a maniac as Francis fired two bullets in their direction. Lorcan tripped Amara as the bullet grazed past his shoulder.
Amara worriedly looked at him.
"FUCK!" he growled dodging another bullet.
"GET DOWN!" He blocked her body with his as they both ran to the opposite side of the crashed helicopter. The smoke surrounded the area as Lorcan pressed his palm over the wound on his shoulder.
"What do we do?! You're bleeding!" Amara panicked as more blood started oozing through his wound. Lorcan shook his head as sweat tripped down his forehead.
"Just run, find Kaelith." He muttered as Amara felt tears gathering in her eyes.
There she was again. Amidst the mess she created.
Getting her loved ones in trouble. She hated herself.
Only if she wasn't alive, only if Kaelith hadn't saved her, only if she was dead, nothing would've happened.
Lorcan wouldn't be harmed, and there wouldn't be this much blood.
At this moment, she desired peace and no one.
Francis cursed as she helped Abigail up.
His angry raged eyes stared as Lorcan and Amara ran.
All these years of suffering, life of fear.
They had everything, and suddenly it was ruined.
Their empire, their fame, their reputation everything went in vain.
The price they had to pay for Abigail’s obsession.
His jaw ticked as he saw Lorcan shielding Amara with his body.
*****
Kaelith growled firing two bullets at the guards in front as they hit their shoulders. He grabbed the other one by the neck pulled him up and head-locked him.
"What's happening? I'm scared!" Amara cried in Lorcan ’ s embrace as he felt a sudden chill running down his spine as he caught a movement in his peripheral.
His eyes widened as he swung Amara to his side and grabbed her head to make her look at him.
"Shh...it'll be alright. Just don't look back, okay?
" She frowned as she heard a commotion at the back but as she tried to look, Lorcan grabbed her face and handed her a gun.
"Shoot anyone who comes through that door.
" He motioned to the back door of the mansion.
Amara felt her hands tremble as the gun slipped from her hands.
"I-I cannot—" Lorcan picked up the gun and shoved it in her palm again.
"You can. You will." He looked into her eyes as she saw storms brewing in his dark eyes. He did not look like the bubbly man she looked up to.
"When I say run, I need you to do as I say and don't even think about us, got it?" Lorcan nibbled on his lips as emotions quelled in his chest. Amara felt cold all of a sudden as Lorcan shoved her back. "Just run, don't look back."
He muttered as she watched him stepping back away from her. Amara felt helpless and confused unable to form any word with the gun in her shaky fingers as she watched Lorcan bobbing his head to the side.
"Run!" He yelled as without thinking twice, she turned around and ran.
Tears streamed down her cheeks but she did not stop.
Her heart pounded loudly as fear and anxiousness settled in.
She heard screams and cried filled with pain but she couldn't bring herself to look back.
She wanted to escape this blood bath so badly.
Anywhere. Anywhere where her feet would take her.
She sprinted just over a few feet before someone tackled her from behind.
The impact sent her tumbling forward as her blue collided with the ground.
Her knees and elbows scrapped as she felt stinging in her sore limbs.
She grunted as the gun slipped from her hand and landed on the ground a few feet away from her.
It was just for a second she felt weight over her body.
A pair of large hands grabbed her by the bicep as she was pulled up.
Amara felt her world-shaking at his sight.
"Are you okay?!" Kaelith growled as Amara stood paralyzed in front of him as he assessed her from top to bottom. His hands patted her down for any serious injury and his heart shattered when he saw her limbs covered in blood.
She opened her mouth as her fingers trembled and her eyes watered. Was he real? Was he really here?
"Why did you come here?" She muttered watching him as he pulled out his handkerchief and wiped the blood off her lips and cheeks. Amara was confused as she felt immense pain in her head, several memories clashing together, ones that belonged to her and ones she had no idea about.
"Of course, I came for you... it would take far much more than that to stop me."
He cupped her face and she felt something strange in his eyes. Fear. Longing panic.
She swallowed hard when a scream left her mouth as she was yanked back but she couldn't move, Kaelith grabbed her pushed her behind his large body and stared at the front man.
"Get behind me," Kaelith muttered as he stood in front of her shielding her with his body. He stared at Rafael whose face contoured with unbotherness.
She gritted her teeth and shift her gaze as her temples throbbed with pain.
"Amara, come here," Rafael ordered without taking his eyes off Kaelith. Kaelith scoffed grabbing her by the wrist.
"All the cocaine in the world, and your nose is still in my business." Kaelith darkly muttered as Rafael's jaw tensed. Before he knew it, he was lunging forward and tackled him. Amara looked wide-eyed at them as she stumbled back.
"RUN, AMARA! RUN!" Lorcan screamed as Kaelith straddled Rafael and rained punches on him. She looked at Rafael as his desperate angry eyes glared at her. He did not want her to go. She felt her chest tighten once again as she took a few steps back without taking her eyes off Kaelith.
She felt her heart shattering as Kaelith growled. She did not want to leave but circumstances called her to. She gulped and shut her eyes. Now or never.
Rafael watched horrified as she sprinted to the car waiting half a mile. His heart stopped for a moment. No, he couldn't lose her again. He waited for her for the longest time, consoled his heart a thousand times.
Kaelith looked at her, feeling relieved she was going to be safe. He fell in love with her, with the separation between them.
He yearned for her like a barren land, and she was his rain. He did not wish for anything but one look at her.
If he was to die today, he wanted her to be the one to give her death.
To get lost in her, with her, for her.
She felt her chest tighten as she struggled with heaviness in her chest. The farther she ran, the intense pressure increased in her chest. With a frustrated sigh, she looked over her shoulder.
"No..." she halted in her steps as her eyes widened.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion—she looked around at chaos, blood splattered all around, familiar and unfamiliar faces contoured in pain, but what caught her attention was the man with his gun pointed in Kaelith’s direction, a wildfire in his cold eyes.
Her eyes widened as she watched him pressing the trigger.
She felt her throat tightening, a strange tension in her chest, mouth parting open.
"AMARA!" Kaelith yelled at her. But she could not hear anything except for a loud noise in her ear.
Before she could even process it, she was running towards Kaelith, the loud sound of a gunshot already echoed throughout the chaos, making her heart drop at the sight of Kaelith’s face.
"Kaelith!" Multiple curses echoed in the air. But she could not process anything as she clenched her jaw and glanced at Abigail.
Her adrenaline was up already because she saw it coming. She saw Kaelith’ s facial expressions twisting in shock and panic as he yelled something at her. She did not feel or hear anything except that she could not see him in pain again.
Abigail’s face turned into shock as she blocked Kaelith with her body at the same time bullet penetrated her abdomen.
Once she felt it, it was like someone sticking her with a hot poker and holding it there.
Her heart stopped beating. The voices died in the distance, and she felt tears streaming down her face uncontrollably as she gasped and fell to her knees.
She struggled to breathe as she stumbled forward, hands trembling pressing in her stomach and raising them as she saw them covered in her blood. She wanted to look at Kaelith to know if he was alright, but she could not as her vision got blurry.
A gut-wrenching scream escaped Kaelith’s lips, echoing through the air as he tried to crawl to her. Amara panted.
"No, no, no..." her eyes blinked as Kaelith immediately carried her in his arms and sprinted with her in his arms to the car.
"NO!" The last thing she heard was Kaelith’ s growls and relief that he was safe as her eys shut close.