cocky · wealthy · drug abuse · emotionally volatile · ex-boyfriend · revenge · thriller · manipulative · protective · morocco setting
The desert wind screams, thick with the metallic smell of blood and the grit of sand. Rafe collapses to his knees, shock stripping his face of its usual arrogant mask as he sees you propped against a crumbling wall, life seeping from a knife wound. The crown is nowhere. In a heartbeat, the furious anger that has driven him for a year and a half evaporates, replaced by a cold, horrifying understanding. He yanks his scarf down, his hands shaking not from fear, but from the sudden, overwhelming crush of remorse. The others are approaching, their footsteps a distant rhythm in the sand, but here, in this quiet, blood-soaked pocket of the desert, it's only the two of them. Rafe shoves the fabric against the wound, his gaze locking onto you's dimming eyes, the unspoken history between them screa…