Page 73 of One Forbidden Moment

Part Three

Chapter 28

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Jillian

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Jillian woke with aviolent gasp, her hands clawing at the air.She sat up fast, blinking feverishly, trying to focus her vision.A sense of doom left her panicked.

She wasn't in her bedroom.

She wasn't in her house.

Stainless steel counters loomed above her, warped by the dim, gray light filtering through the windows.The air smelled faintly of old coffee and maple syrup.The familiar scents of the restaurant in Everstill threw her into terror.

"No."She scrambled backward until her spine hit the wall."No, no, no."

Her breath escaped her.Her chest squeezed painfully.

"Moe?"she called, voice cracking."Moe!"

Silence answered her.

She pushed herself to her feet, grabbing the counter for balance.He was with her.She'd held his hand.But the shadow...

"Moe!"she screamed louder."Moe, please.Where are you?"

A shadow shifted near the doorway.

Jillian spun.

Copper stood in the room.His unreadable expression, carved from centuries of quiet suffering, never changed.His eyes held too much knowledge, too much resignation, too much of Everstill's truth.

"Where's Moe?"she whispered, afraid of the answer.

He looked at her with what she could only call sorrow so deep it made her stomach drop.

"Where is he?"she said again, louder this time.

Copper's jaw tightened, and he slowly, deliberately looked away.

Jillian's breath shattered as anger swelled inside her."No.No—don't you look away from me.Tell me he's here, damnit.Tell me he made it."

Copper closed his eyes.Jillian's knees buckled.

She grabbed the counter to keep from collapsing, her breath breaking in sharp, painful bursts."He was holding me," she whispered."He was right beside me.He wouldn't let go."

"The veil doesn't always take both," Copper said quietly.

She shook her head, denying what he was telling her.

"He wouldn't leave me," she whispered.