Page 89 of One Forbidden Moment

The darkness thickened, pressing against his chest until he couldn't breathe.The veil clawed at him, tearing through muscle and bone like it wanted to break him apart.

"Jillian," he screamed.

Her hand slipped from his.

The loss hit like a blade driven clean through his chest.He threw himself forward, frantic, clawing at the darkness where she'd been only moments before.His fingers found nothing but empty air.

"No," he choked."No!"

Pain exploded through him, white-hot and blinding, ripping through every nerve like fire.His body convulsed.His breath vanished.His mind shattered.

"Jillian!"

The darkness devoured him.

It dragged him backward with impossible force.An invisible hand that cared nothing for his struggle, his fury, or his terror.The veil tore between them, ripping them apart with a violence that seemed inevitable, as if the universe itself had decided they were never meant to touch.

"No!"He reached for her.

His fingers caught nothing but emptiness.

For one impossible heartbeat, he saw her.

Then she slipped away.

"I love you..."he whispered, the words breaking apart as the darkness swallowed them too.

Agony exploded through him.

It consumed every thought, every memory, every piece of who he was.

And then—

Nothing.

Chapter 34