Chapter 724
But in this moment, the corners of his eyes were red, lined with a suppressed dampness.
He held her, speaking the most agonizing words in the calmest tone, while a tear fell silently into her hair.
He gently lifted her face from his chest, cradling her cheeks in his hands.
His thumbs carefully brushed away the dirt smudged across her cheekbones.
Under the moonlight, the rims of his eyes were indeed tinged with red.
That redness made him suddenly look far less invincible.
He looked just like an ordinary man who could feel pain, fear, and devastating loss.
He was holding the one person he couldn’t bear to part with, struggling to form a complete sentence.
“Sienna p>
He lowered his head, resting his forehead against hers, their breaths intertwining. “If I trade my life so you can live.
Over a hundred years from now, when we meet again in the next life, will you give me another chance p>
Sienna’s lips parted.
She stared into those eyes just inches away, witnessing a humility and obsession she had never seen in him before.
The emotion pooling in his gaze was far too heavy—so heavy it made her throat constrict.
She could have easily tossed out a comforting lie to put him at ease.
But she couldn’t deceive herself, and she couldn’t deceive him.
She gently averted her gaze, her voice unimaginably soft. “Jarred, maybe… this is the best ending for us p>
Jarred squeezed his eyes shut.
When he opened them again, he nodded, actually managing to pull a smile onto his lips.
The smile was bitter—so bitter it looked as though it had been squeezed straight out of an open wound—yet it carried a resigned, absolute tenderness.
“That’s fine too.” He let go of her face, his fingertips sliding down past her ear. “At least, you’ll always remember me p>
If this messy, abrupt end was all he got, at least he had secured a permanent place in her memory.
The footsteps in the forest behind them were so close now that the sound of boots crushing dry twigs echoed clearly.
The beams of flashlights swept across the treetops just behind them.
Someone yelled, “I think there’s someone over there p>
Sienna’s back went completely rigid, and she instinctively turned her head to look.
In the two seconds her attention shifted, Jarred pulled a length of rope from his waist.
Before she could react, he wrapped it around her.
In swift, practiced motions, he secured her upper body to the thick trunk of a nearby tree.
By the time she turned back around, she was already bound.
“Jarred p>
Sienna snapped back to reality, her pupils contracting as true panic set in.
She struggled violently, genuine terror filling her eyes for the first time. “What are you doing! Let me go p>
“Don’t be afraid.” He dropped to one knee in front of her, adjusting the end of the knot.
He looked her straight in the eyes, his voice steady enough to cut through the wind. “This knot isn’t hard to untie. Just loop it around your left hand in a minute and it will slip right off.
Don’t move right now. Wait until I draw them away, then undo the rope.
Then follow this slope down p>
He pointed in a specific direction. “There’s an abandoned quarry passage down there that leads straight to Heron Bay at the bottom of the mountain p>
Watching him, Sienna suddenly realized what he was doing.
She started shaking her head frantically, her voice pitching up in panic. “No, you can’t p>
“Shh p>
Jarred pressed his index finger against her lips.
His fingertip was ice-cold, smelling faintly of blood and gunpowder resting gently against the seam of her mouth.
His hand was trembling—a very faint, almost imperceptible shake.
“Don’t make a sound p>
The pursuers were right on top of them; there was no time left.
Jarred gave her one last look, then peeled her jacket off her shoulders, holding it in his hand.
He suddenly pulled her into a fierce, desperate embrace, holding her with every ounce of his strength.