Not hers.
Don’t let it be hers.
Her screams wilted into guttural, hitching sobs as she covered her eyes.
Blood misted the floor and walls.
The ringing in his skull swelled. His vision swam.
“Daisy.” Her name cracked in his throat like dry wood splitting.
She couldn’t hear him. Wouldn’t look at him.
Ash stepped over the carnage and crouched before her. “Come with me, little rabbit.”
She looked up at him, not Jack, clear terror written in her eyes.
Ash took her hand and slowly helped her stand. He adjusted the strap of her dress and waved someone over.
“Vanessa. Take her to a guest room. Don’t leave her side.”
“Come with me, little darling. That’s it.”
Where are they taking her?
“I have to go—” Jack’s words cut off as Hunter jerked him back.
She didn’t look back.
Jack lunged. Hunter’s arms crushed tighter, absorbing the full force of his thrashing like a stone wall absorbs a storm. A grating sound ripped from his throat that had no language in it. Hunter didn’t budge. Didn’t speak. Just restrained him as he watched them take her away.
Jack threw himself forward. His voice cracked into something raw and wordless as his chest split open.
Ash straightened and turned to Cole. “See that this is cleaned up and handled.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ash adjusted his cuff and didn’t look at the body again. “The doctor wasn’t feeling well. Had to leave before dawn.”
Cole’s jaw tightened. “Understood.”
Tremors wracked Jack’s frame in rolling waves.
“Breathe, comrade,” Hunter said quietly. “What is done cannot be undone.”
Jack stared at the empty wall where she’d been huddled. His eyes zeroed in on the faint smear of blood.
She didn’t look back.
She didn’t look back.
She didn’t look back.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Drowning
“Sir?”
