No.
The muffled scream sharpens, growing louder.
That’s not a dream.
My eyes fly open. I shoot upright, my head spinning.
“Kasien!” Her voice ricochets through the manor.
Pure panic. Pure terror.
I run toward it, chest tightening, lungs burning. Her scream turns into a sob.
Holy shit. What’s happening?
I tear through hallways, yelling back for her, checking every door. Who the fuck made this house so big?
Then I hear her voice closer, frantic, coming from one of the downstairs bathrooms. I crash through the door.
And then I see it.
She’s on the floor, scattered and shaking. Adrien lying in her lap, motionless. She’s holding him, sobbing, mascara smeared, eyes wild and red. She looks up at me—wrecked.
“I don’t know how much he took, Kasien,” she chokes, voice breaking.
Then I see it. The bag of pills spilled beside his body.
No. Please no.
I drop to my knees, Adrien a dead weight in my arms.
God, please no. Don’t take him away from me.
Not yet. Not yet. Not yet.
I’m supposed to go first.
I shake his body, searching for his pulse. I don’t feel it. Bile is rising in my throat.
“No.” My eyes sting and I can’t hold back the gulp and silent whimper. “No. Please no.” I sob.
And then I feel it. The pulse. It’s there.But it’s too slow, it’s fading.
Okay. Act. Now. He’s not going anywhere.
I get up, take him under his armpits, and move his body into the big marble shower right next to us. I sit on the shower floor, his body in my lap, trying to turn him around.
Kiara runs to us, understands what I’m trying to do, and while I hold his head, she sticks her fingers down his throat. She’s panicking when it doesn’t work, same as me, but I try to hide it.
“Kasien, it’s not working!” she cries.
I need to hold him. I can’t try it myself—he would smash his head on the shower floor.
“Push deeper, it’ll work,” I assure her.
And finally, it works.
He wakes up, his body reacting to the gag reflex, retching and letting it all out. Relief slams into me so hard that my arms give out for a second. I drop my forehead against the back of his neck, shaking without meaning to.
