***Ivy***
Everything felt cold. Lonely.
I don’t know how long I’d been floating in that black nothing…hours, days, maybe weeks. The first thing that reached me was the steady beep of a heart-rate monitor. Then voices. I thought one of them was Jarett’s, low and soothing the way it used to be before everything shattered. My eyes fluttered open, fighting the harsh white lights.
“Where… where am I?” My throat felt like sandpaper.
A warm hand closed around mine. “Easy, Ivy. You’re safe. Just breathe.”
A face swam into focus. Pale blond curls, worried brown eyes I’d known since university.
“Stephan?” My voice cracked. “You… you came.”
He looked like he hadn't slept in days.
“I knew something was wrong the moment I couldn't reach you, so I had to come to New York. I never stopped looki
