Her eyes fluttered open, and for a moment, she didn’t know where she was.
The ceiling above her was cracked and stained, the air thick with the copper sting of old blood and the faint smoke of gunpowder.
Her body ached like she’d been torn apart and stitched back together with barbed wire.
And then it hit her—
Dominic is dead.
Lucian shot him.
Her stomach twisted. She rolled onto her side and vomited onto the dusty floor.
⸻
A hand touched her back.
Gentle. Familiar.
Wrong.
Lucian’s voice was soft, almost tender.
“Easy, baby. You’re safe now.”
Safe.
The word echoed in her skull like a bad joke.
Was she?
Was she really?
She pulled away from his touch, her body shaking so violently her teeth clacked together.
Her voice came out raw.
“Where… where is he?”
Lucian’s eyes flic
