My voice cracks. My throat burns.
Behind me, Lily is sobbing—loud, broken, terrified—but she’s alive. I cling to that fact like a lifeline as the dean thrashes against me, half-blind now, roaring my name like it’s a curse.
The elevator doors slam open.
A familiar voice cuts through the chaos like a blade, saying my name.
It’s Silas. He takes in the entire scene in three seconds flat.
Bethany is on the floor, surrounded by blood. I’m locked onto the dean, who still has the gun in his hand and is thrashing about wildly.
Two shots ring out. Controlled. Precise.
They punch into the dean’s knees with surgical accuracy.
He collapses instantly, screaming, the sound tearing out of him as his legs fold and he glides to the floor. The gun clatters from his hand, skidding across the floor and spinning to a stop near the wall.
My body finally gives permission to collapse.
I sink to the floor, my legs folding beneath me like they’ve forgotten how to hold weight. The adrenaline drains all at once, leaving me hollow, shaking, barely upright.
Silas is on the dean immediately, his hands moving fast. Efficient. Brutal.
He flips the man onto his stomach, slams cuffs onto his wrists with a force that rattles the man’s bones. The dean is still screaming, still thrashing, but it doesn’t matter anymore. He’s finished.
Silas turns and sees Bethany. She’s on her back, unmoving, her face pale. Blood is spreading across her side, dark and wet, soaking into the floor beneath her. The sight of it steals the air from my lungs.
“No,” I whisper. “Beth?—”
Silas is with her in a second.
He drops to his knees, already pressing his hands against the wound, firm and practiced. “Stay with me,” he urges. “Stay awake.”
Bethany’s lashes flutter.
Her eyes open slowly, unfocused, glassy. She squints up at him, her mouth twitching weakly.
“Wow,” she murmurs. “Have I died and gone to heaven?”
The sound that leaves Silas is half laugh, half breathless exhale of relief.
“No,” he smiles softly. “You’re still very much alive.”
Lily crawls toward us on her knees, shaking so hard she can barely move. She reaches Bethany’s hand, clutching it like a tether.
“I’m here,” Lily sobs. “I’m right here.”
Bethany smiles faintly. “Good,” she whispers. “Because I really hate hospitals.”
I choke on a sound that might be a laugh—or a sob. Sirens wail in the distance now, growing louder, closer. Silas looks at me.
“You okay?” he asks, already knowing the answer.
I nod anyway. Once. Weakly.
My hands are shaking. My arms burn where the dean’s nails cut me. My heart is still pounding like it doesn’t know the danger is over.
But Bethany is breathing. Lily is alive. And the man who tried to steal me is screaming on the floor in cuffs.
