Nothing could.
But it would be something.
Dario stepped closer again, lowering his voice further.
“Elena, listen to me. This isn’t about forgiveness right now. It’s about survival. You have infections that could turn septic. You’re still bleeding. You can barely stand.”
As if to prove his point, my legs trembled violently.
Ethan moved subtly closer, ready to catch me if I fell.
“Elena, your legs are shaking...”
Dario’s voice reached me through a veil of static, soft but edged with urgency. I hadn’t noticed at first. I’d been too focused on breathing. On staying upright.
Ruslan Baranov’s estate.
The name alone felt like a verdict.
I looked down.
My knees were trembling violently, knocking together beneath the torn hem of my gown. Not from cold—the night was mild. Not even from exhaustion alone.
It was fear.
Pure. Primal. Bone-deep.
The sleek black Mercedes idled a few feet away, headlights casting long beams across the ruined lot.
The car looked pristine, untouched by the carnage behind us. It didn’t belong in this scene of smoke and blood.
Just like I didn’t belong in his house anymore.
My foster brothers stood in a loose semicircle around me—six solid figures forming a barrier against the world.
They were walls.
But even they couldn’t block what I felt pooling in my stomach.
“Elena,” Dario tried again, stepping closer. His tone changed—gentler. “We’ll stay with you. A couple of days, that’s all. We’ll figure out how to annul the agreement. We’ll find a way to move you clean.”
His hand hovered near my elbow but didn’t touch.
“But right now...” He exhaled slowly. “We can’t just disappear. Ruslan’s men are everywhere. He has eyes on every road out of this city.”
Of course he did.
Control was Ruslan’s greatest addiction.
I shook my head slowly.
No.
The movement hurt. My last two fingers on my right hand—swollen, bent at grotesque angles—throbbed violently in protest. A prison souvenir. Harlan had slammed a metal door on them during a so-called routine inspection. I still remembered the crunch. The laughter.
I lifted that hand anyway.
No.
