stered was the sickeni

fight through the haze of morphine and register

own left

erile, and biting cold. It was the private clinic the Outfit used for bullet wound

d to s

neck, stealing the breath from my lungs. I gasped, fa

, Miss V

the monitors, his back to

pathy. "We had to perform a debridement to remove the

c

ndage covering my should

r creak

e air in the room shifted, becoming heavy wi

Matteo

ir ties gone, their eyes bloodshot and wide with panic. But

, taking a hesitant

hed for

hockwave of pain through my shoulder, but I would hav

as if I'd

teo said, his voice rough. He h

ry. It smelled like

ote it in the waiting room. She's devas

oice sounded like shards o

aking into his tone. "The tube malfunctioned. The kickb

staring blankly at the ceiling tiles,

Luca snapped. "Don

cold. "Because she's fragile? And I'm ju

, his voice rising. "She's terr

shoul

didn't com

from the

filled the frame. He was wearing his long tren

ntion, their spines straighteni

said, his vo

me. He looked at the bandages. Then, slowly,

voice was quiet. Lethal. "Taste her f

d fast," Lu

ed," my father said. He walked into the room and

Matte

s. Gun

placed their Glocks on the bedside table with sh

"You are stripped of your rank. You a

personal guard st

girl. So

forgetting himself. "Sir,

ake," my father s

world, that meant a

mean it!" Ma

," my fa

s eyes begging me to

oked out the window at

silence

, the silence

guards outside should have stopped her, but t

ide with a frantic, performative terror. Luca and Matteo

med. "Please! You ha

e impact sent a shockwave of white-hot agony throug

ff my bed,

Luca said, his voice shaking. "They're go

" I a

's sorry!" M

sucked all the air out of the small room. "I'll do

dinner on the side table. It was a dull, serrated b

he debt!" s

he blade acro

insipid line of red beaded on her

knife and clutching her arm as if

" Luca

h like she was hemorrhaging. Then he look

you wanted?" h

, looking at the pathetic

jaw tig

up the f

gripped the blade in hi

ood-welled up instantly and d

Drip

" Luca said, star

ok the bloody knife from Luca

r debt," M

lled the room, overpowering t

at thei

me. They had cut those same palms ten years ago

to save a social climber w

to them, finally snapped. It wasn't a loud noise. It w

ay her debt,"

od pooling near the

efaulted on

call button

d. "And take you

nd his bleeding hand. He looked at

Elena," he said

here," I

m, cooing over her scratch, leav