Chapter 34
Nina’s POV
Rain hammered the cobblestones like fists. My lungs screamed with every breath, but I kept running. The hotel’s yellow lights shrank behind me, swallowed by the storm.
My bare feet slapped through freezing puddles, toes numb, heels raw from the rough stone.
The diamond waist chain was gone—ripped from my hand by that sneering receptionist—and with it went my last fragile hope of money, a room, a plan. All I had left was motion. Stop, and the city would crush me.
I darted down a narrow alley flanked by tall shuttered buildings. Water cascaded off rooftops in silver sheets, drenching me again and again. My black top clung like wet paint, outlining every rib, every bruise. Hair plastered across my eyes. I shoved it back with a trembling hand and kept going.
B
