Chapter 188

Lila

The painkillers had begun to wear off.

Not the physical ones I’d been injected with enough meds to numb a grown man twice over. No, the emotional ones, the adrenaline and shock that had cushioned me from the horror of it all, had finally ebbed.

Now I sat in the hospital bed, propped up by too many pillows that still didn’t make me feel comfortable. A warm blanket was tucked around me, the room too bright, too sterile. My hip throbbed, a dull reminder that I was alive that I was lucky.

But all I could think of was the blood. My own blood. The terror in Lena’s eyes. The helplessness.

And the sound of gunshots echoing in my ears like a song I couldn’t shut off.

I looked down at my baby boy, swaddled and asleep in the hospital bassinet beside me. His chest rose and fell in perfect rhythm, unaware of how close I came to not being here at all. I reached out with trembling fingers and stroked his cheek, my touch so gentle it felt like a whisper.

"Hey, baby," I murmured, trying to keep m