"John! Oh my god, John!"
Nicole's screaming voice echoed through the vast, empty warehouse, sounding thin and hysterical against the metal walls. She knelt in the dirt and oil, her expensive trousers soaking up the dark, warm liquid pooling beneath John's head.
Her hands hovered over him, shaking so violently she couldn't control them. She didn't know where to touch him. He was bleeding from his head, and his chest was uneven. His usually perfect, arrogant face was deathly pale, his eyes closed tight in pain.
"Why? Why are you here? Why did you do that?!" she sobbed, tears streaming down her face, mixing with the dust on her skin. Panic clawed at her throat. She fumbled for her phone with bloody fingers, trying to dial 911, but her hands were shaking too hard to hit the right buttons.
A cruel, loud laugh echoed behind her.
Nicole froze. She slowly turned her head. Kelvin had stepped out of his damaged gray sedan. He stood there, looking down at the dying man who was worth billions, not with guilt, but with cold, amused disgust.
"Well," Kelvin sneered, kicking a piece of broken plastic from the crash away with his shoe. "That actually worked out better than I planned. I wanted to kill you to buy time, but having the great CEO John sacrifice himself? That's even more poetic. The police will be so busy investigating his death, they won't even look for us until we are halfway across the world."
"You monster!" Nicole screamed, her voice raw with hatred. "Help him! Call an ambulance!"
"Are you insane?" Lisa shouted from the driver's seat of the sleek black Maybach. She revved the powerful engine impatiently. "Kelvin, baby, leave the losers. Let's go! We have a flight to catch!"
Kelvin smirked at Nicole one last time. "Goodbye, Nicole. Thanks for the retirement fund. Try not to cry too hard at his funeral."
Without another glance at the carnage he had caused, Kelvin turned and jogged toward the thirty-million-dollar supercar. He jumped into the passenger seat and slammed the door.
VROOOOM!
Lisa slammed her foot on the accelerator. The massive Maybach tires spun on the concrete, and the car shot out of the warehouse like a black rocket, disappearing into the dark night. The sound of its powerful engine faded into the distance, taking Nicole's freedom, her dreams, and her foolish heart with it.
She was completely alone. Alone with the man she had betrayed, who was now dying for her.
"Nicole..."
A weak, strained whisper came from below her.
Nicole gasped, snapping her attention back to John. His dark eyes had fluttered open. They were hazy and unfocused, the usual cold, sharp intelligence replaced by pain and fading life.
"John! Don't move, please don't move. Help is coming," she lied, grabbing his large, cold hand with both of hers. She pressed it to her tear-stained cheek. "You're going to be okay. Why... why were you so stupid? Why did you jump in front of the car?"
A faint, pained smile touched John's pale lips. Even dying, he looked devastatingly handsome, but it was a broken kind of beauty now.
He coughed, a trickle of blood escaping the corner of his mouth. Every breath he took sounded wet and difficult.
"I told you..." his voice was barely audible; she had to lean her ear close to his mouth to hear him. "I told you... since that day at the pool... I only recognize you in this life. As long as I am here, I won't let you get hurt."
Nicole's heart shattered into a million pieces. The weight of her guilt was crushing her, making it hard to breathe. "I'm so sorry," she wailed, rocking back and forth. "I stole from you. I ran away with him. I treated you like garbage. You should have let me die!"
John slowly moved his other hand. With great effort, he reached into his suit pocket. His trembling fingers pulled out a small, black velvet ring box. He pressed it weakly into her palm.
"The things in the safe... the money, the cards, the deeds..." he whispered, his eyes starting to close again. "I didn't care. They were all meant for you anyway. I just... hadn't given them to you yet. So... you didn't steal anything, Nicole. You just took what was yours."
Nicole stared at the ring box in her hand, her whole body numb. He knew. He knew everything, and he still came to save her.
"John, please, stay with me. Don't close your eyes!" she begged, gripping his hand tighter, trying to transfer her own warmth into his rapidly cooling body.
"It hurts," he breathed out. His chest heaved one last time, a terrible, rattling sound. He looked up at her, his dark eyes regaining clarity for one final second. "Now... I've paid you back for saving me in the pool. I don't... owe you... anything."
A single tear rolled out of the corner of his eye, mixing with the blood on his temple.
"I love you, Nicole."
The words were soft as a feather, carried away by the wind.
His hand went completely limp in hers. His chest stopped moving. His beautiful, dark eyes, which had watched her with such intensity for seven years, stared blankly up at the warehouse ceiling.
"John?" Nicole whispered. She shook his shoulder gently. "John?"
Silence.
CRACK! BOOM!
Outside the warehouse, a massive clap of thunder shook the ground. As if the sky itself could feel her pain, the heavens opened up. A torrential downpour began instantly, the heavy rain hammering loudly against the metal roof of the warehouse.
Rain blew in through the large open doors, soaking Nicole to the bone. She didn't feel the cold. She threw her head back and let out a scream of pure, unfiltered agony that rivaled the thunder.
She collapsed onto his chest, hugging his lifeless body tightly, ignoring the blood staining her clothes. She cried until she had no voice left, rocking him back and forth in the cold, dark, abandoned warehouse, realizing too late that she had just lost the only man who had ever truly loved her.