Marvis's POV
There was blood on my hands. Not metaphorical.
Real. Sticky. Warm. Hers.
And I couldn't stop it.
"Stay with me, Melody," I whispered, pressing my jacket to her chest. "You're okay. You're okay, you hear me?"
She wasn't answering anymore. Her eyes were fluttering shut.
I'd seen people die. I'd killed people. But never like this. Never her.
"Where the heck is the ambulance?!" I roared.
Nico's voice crackled through my earpiece. "Two minutes out."
Two minutes was too long. I looked down at her again.
Her skin was too pale. Her breathing…shallow, broken.
And yet her hand found mine. Weak. Shaking. But still holding on.
"Why?" I whispered. "Why the hell would you take a bullet for me?"
She tried to speak. I leaned in.
"I… saw him," she rasped. "Couldn't… let them… take you."
A tear slipped down her cheek. Or maybe mine. I wasn't sure anymore.
"You idiot," I choked. "That wasn't your job."
Her lips twitched. Almost a smile. "Wasn't… yours either. Still did it…"
Then her eyes closed. The ambulance came.
They pulled her away from me. Hooked wires into her skin. Shouted codes. Asked me questions.
I didn't answer. Couldn't.
I just stared at the blood on my hands. I could still feel her heartbeat in my palm.
Later, at the hospital, I stood outside the operating room. Covered in her blood. Staring through glass. Waiting.
Nico showed up. "We got the guy. He's alive. Barely."
I didn't flinch. "Don't kill him."
Luca blinked. "You serious?"
"I want him to talk. Then suffer."
He nodded once, then disappeared down the hall.
Hours passed. I didn't move.
Mary came. Tried to talk to me. I shook her off.
"You're shaking," she said softly.
"She was bleeding," I replied.
She paused. "You love her, don't you?"
I didn't answer. Didn't have to.
Because the truth was in my silence. In the way my chest ached. In the way I kept replaying her voice in my head slurred, fading, still protecting me.
They let me see her once the surgery ended.
Pale. Unmoving. Machines breathing for her.
I sat beside the bed. Took her hand.
No gloves. No barriers. Just skin to skin.
"You weren't supposed to do that," I whispered. "You weren't supposed to matter this much."
I looked at her face peaceful, even now.
"I let you go once. I won't do it again."