Ethan shook his head. Voices circled us—Oliver, Henry, tense and too loud.
I needed them safe. I needed?—
“Hey,” Ethan murmured, stepping in and lowering his voice so it was only meant for me. “Breathe in for me. One deep breath.”
His thumbs brushed my cheekbones.
I swallowed and inhaled.
You have to keep your brothers in here?—
THUMP.
“And out,” he said.
Again.
In—
Keep them?—
And out…
“That’s it. Come back to me.” His hands stayed on my face, steadying my focus, guiding me back into my body.
The ringing in my ears ebbed. Sounds returned in fragments—chairs scraping, hurried footsteps, someone speaking into a phone. Ethan’s face sharpened into something fully there—not just a pair of eyes, but the whole person in front of me.
My hands lifted to his wrists—not pulling him closer, just making sure he stayed.
“I’m here.” Something loosened in him when he saw me breathe. “One more?”
I inhaled through my nose and let it out slowly. The rest of the room came back: Oliver holding one phone, Henry speaking into another, Charlotte typing fast.
“The car is outside,” she said.
Henry pocketed his phone. “Plane will be ready by the time we get there. Let’s go.”
Ethan’s hands slipped from my face, but when he stepped back, I didn’t let go. Our fingers caught and laced in the same motion. He didn’t question it—just held on and led me toward the door.
The restaurant blurred behind us, then the hallway, the rush of cool air outside, the car pulling up fast. Oliver took the passenger seat, and the rest of us slid into the back.
“I’m getting his doctor on the phone,” Oliver said, already dialing. “I couldn’t understand half of what Vivian said.”
Thank God. Not just me.
My hand flexed around Ethan’s. He stayed close, knee pressed lightly against mine, eyes flicking up to check on me before he looked away again.
Get it together, Sebastian. They need you.
A vague memory surfaced—Henry mentioning tests, something I hadn’t paid much attention to at the time.
“What were the tests?” I asked, leaning forward.
The sound of my voice startled all of them.
“The ones from a few weeks ago?” Henry said. “Cardiac panel. EKG. They were checking for an arrhythmia.”
“So it could be a heart attack?”
