Billionaire's Match (by Tangy Candy) novel Chapter 1205

"Don't tell her."

Noah seemed to have anticipated Ethan's next move. The words had barely left his mouth before he broke into a violent fit of coughing, one hand clamped over his lips.

Ethan startled hard. "What's wrong?"

He leaned in and reached out, only to feel something hot and sticky under his hand; that was when he realized Noah's body was riddled with wounds.

"You…"

"Shh."

Noah tilted his head up. The cap covered most of his face, but in the dim light, dark stains were visible around his mouth and across his skin. Blood.

"I'm taking you to the hospital... the ambulance should still be nearby..."

Ethan panicked, moving to haul Noah onto his back, but before he could get a solid grip on Noah's arm, another violent cough cut him off.

Noah retched up another mouthful of blood, spattering it across Ethan's clothes and the side of his face.

"Sorry..." Noah's voice was faint. He used what strength he had left to push Ethan back. "But... can you listen to me for a moment? I think... this is it for me..."

"Nothing's going to happen to you. Where are you hurt? I'll stop the bleeding!"

Ethan tore at his own shirt while fumbling for his phone at the same time, clearly panicking, his hands unsteady.

Noah reached out and stopped him.

"Been a mercenary long enough to know... whether I'll live or not... thirteen blades, every one of them... vital..."

He managed only a few words before another fit of coughing seized him, blood pouring from his mouth without end, his whole body looking as if it might dissolve into a pool of it. Even Ethan felt his blood run cold at the sight.

"Noah..."

"Thanks... for still wanting... to save me..."

Noah tried to smile at Ethan, but he'd already lost control of his own face, and his words came out slurred.

He'd already made his peace with this moment, long before it arrived.

Good man or bad, he'd been dealing in death since he was a child; it was always someone else who died, or him.

He'd had more blood on his hands than he could count, from becoming a weapon to slowly becoming a person again. He knew full well that redemption would never really be his to have.

But in the time he'd spent with Charlotte, Khloe, and the rest of them, he'd gotten to experience something. What an ordinary person's life actually felt like. What it felt like to have friends, to have someone to love, how much happiness that could bring.

Even if... it hadn't lasted long.

But for someone like him, that was already more than enough.

Since he was never meant to have it for himself, then protecting her happiness instead wasn't such a bad trade.

Charlotte's chest tightened without warning, as if something had burst open inside it, the pain so sharp she nearly lost her footing.

"What's wrong?" Lucas asked, concerned. "Are you feeling overwhelmed too?"

Charlotte's face had gone pale. Before she could answer, Lucas spoke again. "Ethan looked pretty tense a minute ago too. If you two are shaken up, go back and rest first..."

"Where's Ethan?" Charlotte suddenly snapped to attention.

"Not sure," Lucas said. "Maybe he went to the hospital already?"

That didn't add up. Ethan usually stuck close to her side. Why would he not have followed along this time?

Unless...

Charlotte turned and started back the way she'd come. She hadn't gone far before she spotted Ethan.

His clothes were in disarray, his jacket gone entirely, the white shirt underneath soaked through with blood, almost entirely red.

There was blood on his face, on his arms, everywhere.

"What happened to you?" Charlotte's pulse jumped, and she rushed over to check him from head to toe.

Ethan's expression was blank. It took him a long moment before he spoke, held in her grip. "I'm fine. I'm not hurt... not at all."

"Then why is there so much blood on you?" Charlotte's heart began to race, a terrible feeling growing stronger by the second.