Chapter 21
The moment Clarisse saw that familiar face, a sharp pain pierced through her skull. Images then exploded in her mind.
A woman kneeling outside a villa, begging with a child in her arms…
Theodore’s cold, expressionless stare as she sank beneath the pool’s surface…
His desperate plea for forgiveness backstage at the concert hall…
Everything came rushing back. And by the time she snapped out of it, all she could see was the oncoming blur of a speeding car zooming wide in her eyes. It was too late for her to dodge.
Behind the wheel, Bianca locked eyes with her as she let out a hysterical laugh. “Let’s go to hell together, you fucking bitch!”
“Clarisse!” A scream tore through the air.
Then, something slammed into her with the force of a truck.
It was Theodore. He had thrown himself at her, shoving her out of the car’s path with everything he had.
The impact was deafening.
Clarisse was hurled to the ground, pain flaring hot across her elbows and knees as they scraped against
the pavement. She barely registered the wound when her head whipped up.
Only a few seconds had passed, but the scene, played as if in slow motion.
Theodore’s body hurled through the air like a kite with its string snapped. He came crashing to the ground with a bone–breaking thud several feet away.
The red car smashed into a roadside tree. The front end crumpled like paper. Bianca slumped over the wheel, blood streaming from her head.
It was impossible to tell if she was still alive.
Clarisse’s mind went blank. She scrambled forward on her hands and knees, crawling to where Theodore
lay.
He was sprawled on the cold ground, and a spreading pool of blood bloomed beneath him. His eyes
found hers as she reached him. He seemed to try lifting his hand, but it did not budge at all.
He could only stare at her face. His skin was losing color rapidly, and his breath came shallow and faint.
His eyes had started to dim, too.
“Theodore! Theodore!” Clarisse cried.
She wanted to reach out her hand to touch but was afraid she would hurt him more. Tears poured down
Chapter 21
her cheeks. Her mind was in chaos, spinning with a single desperate thought.
He could not die. Not like this.
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Theodore’s eyes struggled to focus on Clarisse’s tear–streaked face. His lips parted, and blood spilled out in a sudden gush.
He used all he had left and moved his fingers, barely. Like he was trying to grab hold of something.
She caught his hands instantly, clasping them tightly. It was cold and slick with blood.
His fingers curled ever so slightly in her palm. It was his response or maybe his final farewell.
A final flicker of light sparkled in Theodore’s eyes as he looked at her, like he was trying to engrave her face deep into his soul. There was a fierce longing in his gaze.
“Clarisse…”
His voice was barely a whisper, so faint it seemed to float apart in the wind. Yet, she heard every word as clear as day.
“Don’t be scared… I’m… here…”
The words were almost identical to what he had said all those years ago, when he took a blade for her. Her chest tightened as tears clouded her vision.
He gasped, each breath more labored than the last. His mouth moved one last time. “I’m… sorry…”
The final syllable left Theodore’s lips as his eyes slowly slid shut.
Clarisse knelt there, frozen in the pool of red. The world around her dulled to black and white. His hand, growing colder by the second, lay still in hers. In the hollow ringing of her ears, only two phrases remained echoing:
“Don’t be scared. I’m here.”
“I’m sorry.”
This time, Theodore was truly gone from her world.
