ADRIANThe pain woke me like a fucking bullet to the chest. There was no gentle return to consciousness. It was just fire, pressure, and the terrifying awareness that something inside me was broken. Really broken. My lungs screamed with every shallow breath I managed to take, and my side felt like it'd been ripped open by claws made of glass."Fuck," I groaned, voice cracking. "Fuck…fuck…fuuuck…"I couldn't move or see straight. My vision was a mess of light and shapes, swimming together in one blinding haze. I didn't know where I was. I didn't know what the hell had happened. All I knew was that I was dying. Or maybe I already was.I tried to sit up and was immediately punished for the attempt. My back arched off the mattress, and a scream tore its way out of my throat before I could stop it. White-hot agony lanced through my abdomen, spreading like wildfire, and I clawed at the sheets beneath me, desperate for something (anything) to hold onto.My body was soaked in sweat. My pulse
SOFIAI couldn't sit still.Every time I tried to stop pacing, my legs wouldn't let me. My body felt jittery and restless, like something terrible was about to happen if I dared to stay in one place. I'd walked up and down the length of the living room so much that I'd worn a faint path into the carpet in front of the fireplace. But I didn't care. All I was thinking about was Adrian, and the fact that he was upstairs right now, battling for his life. Melissa sat on one of the armchairs with her rosary wrapped tightly around her fingers, whispering silent prayers into the space between her and the flames. Ariana meanwhile stood by the window with her arms crossed tightly, chewing her lip raw while she stared at nothing. And Rafe was in the corner sitting silently like a stone, with his hand resting on the gun holstered at his hip. His foot tapped every few seconds, but he hadn't said a word since the doctor went upstairs. None of us had, because we didn't know what exactly we were sup
SOFIAI hated the silence in this room.Not because it was loud or eerie or unnatural, but because it let me hear myself too clearly. I could hear every shaky breath, every little sniffle I tried to swallow, and the way my heart was still beating like it hadn't realized yet that the only person it was beating for had just walked out of the room and left me shattered in the wreckage of my own feelings.I pressed the pillow harder over my head and curled tighter into the blankets, but it didn't help. Nothing was helping. Not the hot shower I'd taken just now, or the tea someone had left at my bedside. Not even the painkillers they'd given me for my leg, or even the memory of how gentle his hands had been or how soft his voice had sounded when he kissed my shoulder just hours before.Because none of it changed the fact that I told Adrian DeLuca I loved him, and he walked out like I hadn't said a damn thing worth hearing. And it hurt even more than I was willing to admit.I'd barely gotte
ADRIANI pulled the hoodie over my head and shoved my arms through the sleeves so quickly that it took me several attempts to get it right. The cold fabric clung to my skin, still damp from the shower I’d just taken. My joggers stuck to my legs, and my hands moved on autopilot as I stuffed my phone and wallet into my pockets.What were the odds that she would be in New York right now? It was astronomical. But I was glad she was here. At least we could get this over with quickly and I could figure out what to do with Sofia. I wasn't dressed to see her, but maybe that was the point. I wasn't trying to impress her. I wasn't trying to open old wounds and let her crawl back in. I just needed answers, and maybe a little bit of closure. I needed a straight line drawn between what was and what could never be again. And maybe, if I was honest with myself, I needed to understand why the fuck Sofia's voice in my head was making my chest feel like it was caving in every time I closed my eyes.I
ADRIANI didn't even make it to the end of the hallway before I lost it. My fist slammed into the wall with a dull and splintering thud, sending cracks through the plaster and pain shooting up my arm. I welcomed it, and I wanted it. I wanted more. I needed something to hurt. I needed something to fucking break, because God help me, I couldn't stand the way my chest was caving in right now. I couldn't fucking breathe, and I had to try so hard to stop myself from screaming. The silence after I left her was deafening. It wasn't just guilt anymore, because it was something much worse, and much deeper. It was like I had just stepped on the throat of the only person in this world who had ever looked at me like I was worth something more than the empire I controlled.And I walked out on her. I fucking walked out on her, like a fucking coward who couldn’t stand and deal with his own problems. At the first sign of vulnerability, when I should have been grateful that someone like her could loo
SOFIAThe entire walk back to my room, I kept thinking about the way Adrian had scooped me off the mat like I was weightless, like I wasn't soaked in my own sweat and embarrassment. He held me like I meant something, like I was breakable and like I wasn't the same girl who had just spent the last twenty minutes getting her ass handed to her by Ariana DeLuca in the name of combat training."You need to stop pushing yourself," he said quietly as he set me down on the edge of my bed. He crouched down in front of me, his hand brushing over my knee like he was afraid I'd shatter. "You're still healing, Sofia. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should."I sighed and leaned back, letting the ache settle deep into my muscles. "It's the good kind of pain," I said, reaching up to pull the band out of my hair. "It means I'm getting stronger."Adrian wasn't convinced. His brows were pulled tight, and his jaw was clenched as he said, "That's not the point.""Then what is it?"He di