“Kasien!” I cry out when I find a fucking bullet wound on the side of his waist.
“Why didn’t you say something you fucking idiot!” Kasien yells at him and hits maximum speed.
“Maybe I would’ve got to that,” Adrien grits out, “if you hadn’t started with the whole sacrificing-yourself bullshit,” Adrien slurs, but his words are barely coherent.
“Hold the wound, Kiara. We’ll patch him up on the plane,” Kasien instructs me while gripping his hair with one hand and driving with the other.
“It’s okay. It went right through, no organs hit,” Adrien explains and chokes on the blood again. “Stop panicking. Jesus, both of you,” he keeps mumbling something, but his head is falling to the side.
No.
He can’t pass out. I slap him. He flinches but doesn’t open his eyes.
I slap him again—nothing but a weak groan.
The bile in my throat climbs. Tears burn their way out despite me.
“Kasien, he’s lost a lot of blood.”
My voice breaks in half. This is all my fault.
I keep my fingers pressed deep into Adrien’s side, trying to hold the wound together, when headlights explode across the windshield, too close and too fast.
“Kas—”
I don’t get to finish, a hit slams into us from the side. Metal screams. Glass bursts. The SUV tears through the guardrail andthe world tips violently as we tumble off the road. My body whips sideways, weightless, air ripped from my lungs.
We’re falling.
The car crashes into the water below the cliff, rear-first, the back end plunging down like an anchor. The car tilts vertically, nose upward for a split second before it levels slightly, groaning under the weight of the black salty river dragging it down.
Freezing water floods in through the fractures in the side windows and front vents.
The water level rises fast, reaching our knees, then our waists, cold enough to steal breath.
Adrien is fully unconscious.
Kasien’s head is bleeding, eyes unfocused, but he’s awake, barely, gripping the wheel to stay oriented. The windshield is cracked in a spiderweb, bowing inward under the pressure. Not broken. Not yet.
“Seatbelts,” I rasp, dazed but functional.
My fingers fumble with the buckle, then tear it free, Kasien doing the same. I lean over Adrien, unclipping his belt too as icy water reaches my waist. The car lurches again, dipping steeper.
We’re going under. We don’t have time.
I yank the gun from Kasien’s belt with shaking hands. I brace myself, aim straight at the fractured glass and shoot twice, breaking it completely. The underwater retort is a brutal, muffled blast that shakes the whole SUV. The windshield caves instantly, blowing inward as a violent surge of black water explodes through the gap. The force punches me back against the seat, knocking the breath from my chest.
The car fills fast. Chest, shoulders, throat.
Kasien reaches for me, grabbing my waist with his good arm, anchoring us together as I sneak my arm under Adrien’s and twist toward the broken front, letting the flood drag us through the torn-open space once the car is completely filled with water.We’re forced out of the SUV just as the last pocket of air collapses behind us and the car tilts again, sinking tail-first into the darkness below.
The world is cold, crushing silence. Kasien’s hand stays locked on my waist, steady.
We kick. My lungs burn, vision tightening, pressure screaming inside my skull, I have no idea how deep we are. The water feels heavy all around us, as if it’s pushing us down.
Then finally, we break the surface. I gasp, coughing, dragging air into my chest as I seize Adrien’s body, locking my arm around him. Kasien surfaces beside me, breath ragged, stroke uneven but determined.
“I’ve got him,” I rasp, voice shredded.
