Vittorio’s POVI didn’t know where I was. But the IV in my arm said hospital. The burn in my chest said otherwise. My mind split between now and the crash.“Fuck” I gasped and sat up, then choked. Water.In my lungs. In my throat. In my head. I was drowning again.My body jerked. My back lit up in fire. I couldn’t breathe. My hands clawed the sheets. The smell of salt. Of blood. Of wet earth and smoke. I remembered it. The crash.The fire. The scream. Katarina.And then Hands. Someone’s hands had pulled me out. Strong. Cold. Not hers.I’d stopped fighting. I’d let go. And something, someone dragged me from the dark.Then the light slammed into my skull.Now I was floating again. But not in water.In a room. Soft pillows. Clean sheets. IV line in my arm. A tube near my nose.Drugs.They’d pumped me full of something. I couldn’t move. But I could see.Something warm. Wet.A body moved on top of mine, slow, smooth, riding me like a prayer.I couldn’t open my eyes, but I could feel
Selena's POV I hadn’t read a damn word. “Shit,” I muttered, flipping the same page again for the fifth time.The words just swam. Nothing stuck. It was anatomy. Or was it psych? Didn’t matter.I needed Katarina.She was the brain. The reason we even studied nursing. She used to sit beside me, tapping her pen, rolling her eyes, saying, “No, dummy, that’s the liver.” Now?I didn’t even know if she was alive.I slammed the book shut and leaned back on my couch, staring at the ceiling. My chest felt tight. My mouth tasted like old coffee and panic. I didn’t sleep last night. I just scrolled news and Twitter, looking for any hint. Any clue. Nothing.Knock knock knock.I froze.Another knock.I stood slowly. Barefoot. No weapon. Regret already crawling up my spine.I tiptoed to the door and peeped through the peephole.“Christ.” What the hell? “Liam?!”I yanked open the door. “You crazy or just stupid?”He blinked. “What?”“How do you know where I live?” I stepped out and shut the d
Katarina povTouch him? Just to know what he felt like? To see if I could still make him groan, even when broken?My fingertips brushed the edge of the sheet. I leaned in closer. I turned away, embarrassed. Angry. Confused.The drugs in my blood made everything hot. Every sound louder. Every breath heavy.I felt stupid. Drunk on something I didn’t ask for. But I didn’t leave.I stayed. Watching him mutter her name.Watching his cock pulse through the sheet.Wondering what he saw in the dream.What she was doing to him. What he’d do to me if he woke up and saw me watching.And then he opened his eyes. “Why’d you stop?”His voice was raw. Cracked. Dangerous. My breath caught. He didn’t open his eyes. Just lay there. Still.I pulled my hand back like I’d been burned. “I—I wasn’t.” “You were,” he said. “Do it again.”My heart thudded. “No.” I froze. Turned.His eyes were half open. Watching me. “Go to hell,” I whispered.He smiled. Barely. “You first.”I stepped back. “I’m leaving. “No,
Katarina’s POV…At The Hospital .. I woke choking on salt.My lungs screamed. My throat burned. My ribs ached like they’d been smashed by a truck.Water poured out of my mouth as I rolled onto my side, coughing, gagging.The sky above me spun in a thousand colors.The wind cut across my wet skin like a blade.I couldn’t move my left ankle. It twisted wrong under me. My hands scraped against cold rock and sand. My shoulder felt torn open.But I was alive.Barely.Flash.Glass breaking. Bullets flying. The engine screaming.Vittorio throwing his body over mine.The weight of him. The heat of his blood.The last thing I remembered before the crash was him whispering was“Stay down.”I turned my head. The moon hung over black water.And there, next to me, was him. Vittorio. Lying motionless, half in the mud. Shirtless. Bleeding.His skin was so pale, it looked like stone.“Vittorio,” I rasped, crawling toward him.My fingers brushed his arm. He groaned.He was breathing. Barely. Then the hea
Chérie Noir’s POV“Fuck! Fuck!”I dropped the needle. It hit the floor, rolled under the sink.Blood dripped from my shoulder, warm and steady.I couldn’t get the damn thread through.My hand was shaking too much.“Piece of shit,” I hissed, digging through my kit again. The gauze was soaked. The scissors were dull. Everything smelled like vodka and old rot.I stared at the gash in my arm. The bullet had skimmed me deep. Should’ve gone to a doc. But I didn’t trust anyone.Didn’t even trust my own hands right now.I kicked the metal trash bin.It bounced off the wall.“Calm the fuck down,” I told myself. “It’s just blood. Just muscle. You’ve stitched worse.”But I wasn’t calm.I was cold. Wet. Angry.And I had no backup.No meds. No time.No one to blame but myself.I finally wrapped the wound tightly. Sloppy. Ugly. But it’d hold.I lit a cigarette with one hand. Sat on the left counter. Exhaled smoke through my nose like a dragon about to kill again.The mirror above me was cracked. Ha
Giordano’s POV“Do something!”His voice thundered through the white hallway like a bomb.“DO SOMETHING, GODDAMMIT!”The doctor flinched but kept working. Mask on, gloves bloody, eyes panicked.Giordano stood by the hospital bed, fists clenched so tight his nails dug into his palms. The little body on the bed, his son, jerked again. A cough ripped through the boy’s chest.More blood.More red on the sheets.“Papa…” the boy whimpered. “It hurts…”Giordano’s whole body snapped. He grabbed the edge of the bed, breathing hard. “I know, bambino. I know.”The boy was five. Just five.Didn’t even know how to tie his shoes right. Still used the wrong fork. Still had nightmares about shadows under the bed. Still smiled like he thought the world was good.Now he was choking on his own lungs.The machine beeped faster. Louder. Then flatlined for a second.Giordano lunged forward. “Get it BACK UP!”The doctor shouted for meds. A nurse rushed in with adrenaline. The boy twitched again. Barely.His