Page 156 of Anton

Boone holds the light above me while I descend, and when I drop into the narrow space and hit the dirt below, the first thing I see is Charlie on top of her.

Everything in me goes dark with rage.

His hands are in her hair, her body limp beneath him, blood running from her head into the dirt. He doesn’t even see me, too consumed with hurting the woman who means everything to me.

My gun fires before he realizes I’m there. The first shot tears into his shoulder, the second into his leg, and when he screams and rolls away from her, I put a third round into his other leg because I need him alive.

“I will skin you like a pig.”

“F-fuck you,” he whines, curling on the ground, choking on pain.

But I’m already dropping beside Thora and lifting her into my arms. She doesn’t react when I press my fingers to her pulse. It’s there—faint, but still there.

I climb the stairs with her carefully draped over my shoulder, terrified I’ll hurt her worse, but knowing there’s no other way to get her out.

As soon as Boone sees her, his face goes white. “Oh, Jesus.”

When I’m close enough, he reaches for her, and I let him take her only because I need both arms to climb out. The second I’m out, I take her back, hating that anyone else had to touch her.

“Who did this?” he asks.

“Charlie. I shot him. He’s alive, but he won’t be getting out.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me.”

“She needs our hospital, or she might not make it.” I hold her closer, her blood smearing across my shirt. “Call her family. Tell them what happened and tell them to meet us at Marinov Hospital.”

Her body lies limp in my arms as I press my lips to her hair and carry her toward the car, Boone keeping pace at my side.

“Everything will be okay.” The promise scrapes from my throat as I hold her closer. “Ya s toboy.” I’m with you.

“Hey!” Boone calls after me. “Let me drive. You stay with her.”

For once, I don’t argue. I hand him the keys and climb into the backseat with Thora on my lap. After ripping off my shirt, I press it to the wound at the back of her head while Boone gets behind the wheel and tears out of the field toward the road. Her face is too pale, her lashes resting against cheeks streaked with dirt and blood.

Bending over her, I kiss her forehead. “Stay with me. Please, detka. Just hold on.”

Her fingers twitch against my shirt, or maybe I imagined it.

“I can’t live without you. Do you understand?” My voice breaks, and I don’t care that Boone can hear me. “I will die with you, Thora. If you leave me, I will follow you, so don’t you dare.”

Boone drives faster, the tires screaming around a turn, but her blood on my fingers is the only thing I can focus on.

My forehead presses to hers. “Stay.” My mouth moves over hers, desperate for any sign of life. “Please, Thora. Stay with me.”

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

ANTON

After the doctors take her away, it’s like part of me is being shredded from the inside. I should be with her. I need to know what they’re doing.

But instead, I’m here in the waiting room, with her family and mine.

I can’t be around anyone, and I especially don’t want to hear shit from Konstantin. If anyone pushes me right now, I’ll lose it, and I won’t give a damn whose blood ends up on the floor.

After Boone called the Whitlocks, they sent men to get Charlie and keep him alive until I decide what to do with him. He can rot in their barn until she opens her eyes, and then I’ll take him apart piece by piece for what he did to her.

Fury surges through me every time the image returns: her head covered in blood, her body limp beneath him. I pace the length of the room, my hands flexing at my sides, desperate for a gun, a knife, anyone I can tear apart.