My throat locked.Grief and fury tangled so tight it hurt to breathe.
“Yeah.”
“He deserved better than this world.”
A promise — black and terrible — settled into my bones.
“He’ll get better,” I whispered.“I’ll make sure of it.”
44
Atlas
Pain came first.A searing, electric sting that seared through my ribs.Then came the fire.It was hot, merciless, roaring through every nerve like someone had poured gasoline into my veins and struck a match.And finally, the darkness.It folded over me in thick, tar-black waves, swallowing sound, swallowing breath, swallowing the world whole.I was drowning in it, sinking fast.
Somewhere far away, voices ripped through the void.
Gianni.
Maybe Marcello.
Maybe the dead.
Their shouts faded beneath the thunder in my skull.I couldn’t make sense of anything except the instinct that dragged me upward?—
Reach.
Move.
Fight.
Protect her?—
Her.Neve.Her name tore through me, slicing through the fog, carving open my chest.It was the only thing that anchored me to the world.
I clawed my eyes open.
The floor was slick beneath me.Dark.Red.Mine.There was too much of it.
Someone’s hands pressed down on my chest so hard that my vision splintered into jagged pieces.White spots burst behind my eyes.
“Pressure!We need more pressure!”someone ordered, voice breaking.“He’s bleeding out, man—fuck—he’s bleeding out!”
I tried to lift my arm, reach for my gun, for anything, but my fingers barely twitched.
Another voice shouted, raw with panic.
“We’re losing him!I need help here—now!”
The world lurched sideways.The ceiling tilted.Faces blurred.Shadows pulsed.Lights screamed.Everything stretched into one long smear of color and pain as the darkness dragged me under again, and this time, it felt like it might not let me go.
The room was too white.Too blinding.Clean lines.
The air tasted like lilies.Like sad endings.And there was a polished white coffin in front of me.
My breath punched out of my chest.I staggered once, my knees almost giving out as I stepped forward slowly, like every inch of floor was trying to collapse under me.
No.