Page 144 of Pucked Around and Found Out

“Wait,” I croak, and my voice sounds like I gargled gravel. “What⁠—”

“You're in the hospital,” Harper says, no warmth in her tone. “You've been in and out of consciousness for hours. They said you weren't breathing when they found you. That he had to⁠—”

She stops herself, jaw clenched.

Xaden.

The name cuts through the fog even though she won't say it.

Memories slam into me all at once.

Masen.

The fight.

The skillet.

The blood.

Fiona appearing, trying to kill me too.

Setting the fire.

Sitting in that kitchen, waiting to die.

My hand goes to my stomach instinctively, panic flooding through me.

“The baby,” I gasp. “Is the baby⁠—”

“Stable,” Harper says, her tone softening slightly. “The doctors checked. They're monitoring, but so far everything looks okay. The baby's heartbeat is strong.”

Relief makes me dizzy.

“Masen?” I ask, even though I know the answer.

“Dead,” Harper confirms flatly. “The fire, they couldn't recover his body. It's just... ash.”

I should feel something.

Grief. Guilt. Horror.

But I just feel empty.

“Fiona?”

Harper's expression hardens. “Alive. Unfortunately. Carnage and his men pulled her out. She's in custody.”

“Whose custody?”

“Alex Denver's,” Harper says, and something in her voice makes it clear exactly what that means. “And apparently your boyfriend is helping.”

I don’t correct her and try to remind her that Xaden isn’t my boyfriend. He isn’t my anything… Just the father to my baby.

“He's there? With Fiona?” I ask.

“According to Carnage,” Harper says stiffly. “Been there for the past three hours. Torturing her with Alex while you've been unconscious in a hospital bed.”

“Harper—”