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My face crumples. “I was trying, but he’s so big⁠—”

“I’ve got him,” Dad says tightly, blowing another breath into Dame’s mouth before he twists to look at me. “But I can’t breathe for him and drive.”

Tears are rolling down my face as I whirl and bolt around the car to the driver's side, blood still streaming from my shoulder.

"I'll drive!" I scream as I slide behind the wheel. “Just keep him the fuck alive!!”

I gun the engine and turn to look at my dad.

His eyes flash with fire as he nods. “He’s not gonna die in this car,” he hisses. “But you need to drive it like you fuckin’ stole it, kid.”

My foot slams to the floor and the car roars into the night.

43

DAMIANO

Consciousness creeps into my brain slowly, like daylight around the gaps in a window shade.

There's no violence this time as I gradually wake up.

No screaming. No Sorel. No nightmarish lake of blood. And, judging by the absence of hellish pain stabbing through my shoulder, no meat hook.

The soft hum of machinery whirs nearby. The scent of flowers tickles my nose. Soft sheets cover me, and there’s an even softer pillow behind my head.

When I open my eyes, I’m expecting hospital tiles and fluorescent lighting in the ceiling above me.

Instead, I see white plaster. Ornate crown moldings. A brass chandelier.

Where the fuck am I?

A rustle pulls my eyes open a little wider before I turn my head in the direction of the sound and smile.

My parents are asleep on a midnight blue tufted sofa against the far wall. Dad is slouched in a corner of the couch, his suit jacket under his head like a pillow and his white dress shirt undone a few buttons. Mom is curled against him, her cheek on his shoulder and her coppery red hair cascading across his chest.

“Don't hold it against them that they're asleep.”

At the sound of the voice, I slowly turn my head the other way.

“They've been awake for almost thirty hours watching you breathe.”

Hades Drakos sits sprawled in a leather armchair by the window. His hair is disheveled, there’s a shadow across his jaw, and dark circles hang beneath his tired eyes. Pretty sure he's wearing yesterday's clothes.

But I don't give a shit about any of that right now.

“Where’s Bella?”

Hades cocks a brow as a smile that feels an awful lot like approval lifts his lips.

“Great question.”

I frown. “I’m serious, where the hell is⁠—”

“No, no.” Hades exhales. “I mean, it’s great that the first thing you ask me is where my daughter is.”

My brow furrows. “What the fuck is happening right now? Where is she?”

Bella’s father chuckles. “Good morning to you too, Damiano.”