Ignoring the doctors' pleas, Ethan burst out of the hospital room.
The hallway echoed with his frantic footsteps, and each one felt heavier than the last, like a drumbeat of despair.
Through the haze in his mind, he had caught wind of Aria flying overseas.
He gripped the wheel with white-knuckled hands and kept dialing her number over and over, but the line stayed dead.
"Aria," his voice cracked, "just this once, pick up."
Rain lashed the windshield as his vision blurred. He never saw the eighteen-wheeler barreling around the bend.
A loud screech and a crash tore the night open, and the metal screamed like a dying beast.
Blood oozed from his forehead, thick and sluggish, and painted crimson trails down his ashen face.
His eyes froze wide, and his lips parted in silent shock with no
