He yanked the knife from Dimitri’s chest, and Dimitri collapsed onto his side, blood pooling beneath him.
“Now,” Ethan said, turning toward me with the bloody knife, “it’s your turn.”
Ethan advanced slowly, savoring the moment, the knife raised. “I’m going to make this hurt. For Selene. For everything you took from me.”
My mind raced, searching for options. My hands were bound. I was barely able to stand. Behind me, Dimitri was dying, the wolfsbane spreading through his veins with every passing second. But I wasn’t going to just give up. Wasn’t going to let this bastard win.
My eyes darted around the warehouse floor. And then I saw it—a pile of loose sand from a broken bag near the wall, maybe ten feet away.
As Ethan raised the knife, I lunged sideways toward the sand pile.
My bound hands scrabbled at the ground, fingers closing around a fistful of gritty sand. Then I spun, ignoring the screaming pain in my ribs, and threw it directly into Ethan’s face.
He groaned, clawing at his eyes, temporarily blinded.
I didn’t hesitate.
I launched myself at him while he was vulnerable, my shoulder driving into his midsection. We crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs. The knife fell from his grip, skittering across the concrete.
We grappled on the warehouse floor. Even blinded and caught off guard, Ethan was stronger than me. His hand found my throat, squeezing, cuttingoff my air.
My vision started to darken around the edges. My lungs burned.
My hands were still tiedbehind my back, but I kept searching anyway. My fingers scraped over rough concrete, catching only dust and grit, until they finally hit something solid. The knife!
I curled my fingers around the knife immediately, twisted my wrists and pressed the blade against the rope, trying to saw through it.
Ethan’s grip tightened around my throat, cutting off what little air I had left. The edges of my vision began to blur, I was starting to gasp for air.
But I pushed harder. The blade slipped once, slicing into the side of my hand. A sharp jolt of pain shot through me, but I forced myself to keep going. I didn’t have a choice.
The rope didn’t break completely, but it loosened just enough for me to yank my arms forward. And with the last bit of strength I had, I drove the blade upward in one wild, desperate motion.
It hit his side.
Ethan’s eyes widened in shock, and his grip on my throat finally loosened.
I twisted the knife, pushing it deeper, feeling it slide between ribs.
Ethan’s hands fell away from my throat completely. He slumped to the side, blood spreading across his shirt.
I didn’t wait to confirm if he was dead or not. I scrambled toward Dimitri. His skin was gray, his lips turning blue. The wolfsbane had spread through his entire chest now, black veins visible beneath his skin. Blood still seeped from the wound, but slower now. Too slow. He was dying.
One of Dimitri’s men—the only man left from the battle that ensued—moved toward me, helping me with the bind and the gag.
“No, no, no.” I tried to stop the bleeding with my bound hands, pressing against the wound, but there was so much blood. “Dimitri, please. Stay with me. Call Edmund. Tell him to send the helicopter!” I yelled to the man who darted outside to do as I told.
“Please hold on,” I whispered amidst the tears forming in my eyes. “Help is coming.”
His eyes found mine, fluttering. He was struggling to keep them open. “Isabella…”
“Don’t talk. Save your strength. You’re going to be fine.” Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the blood from my injuries. “You have to be fine. We need you. Adele needs you. I need you.”
“Love…you…” His voice was so quiet I had to lean close to hear it. “Both…of you…”
His hand, when I grabbed it with my bound ones, was cold. So cold.
“No, no. Dimitri.” I pressed my forehead to his. “Don’t you dare give up. Don’t you dare leave us. We just found each other again. We’re supposed to get married. Supposed to be a family. You promised!”