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We immediately headed for the lower level. The warehouse seemed to go on forever as we descended, and my desperation grew with every second. I could hear Trevor giving orders, but I didn’t care about anything other than finding Sofia.

***

We found her at the far end of the lower level. The door to the room was only partially ajar, and in a single awful moment, I saw only blackness. Then my eyes adjusted, and I spotted Sofia on the floor. Something in my chest went completely numb. She was unconscious, one arm beneath her, her hair splayed on the concrete.

There was blood pooled by the side of her head, another dark stain smeared on the shoulder of her shirt, and her face was frighteningly still.

“Sofia.” I rushed across the room and knelt beside her.

For a few seconds, I let my hands float above her. I was suddenly terrified to touch her. I checked her breathing and felt for her pulse. It was steady enough for me to hope, but I couldn’t trust it. The warehouse dissolved around me. For a split second, I wasn’t there anymore.

Fifteen years ago, the air was thick with smoke and flames were devouring everything I was being paid to demolish. I saw the fear in the eyes of a child, a look of helplessness that followed me for a long time after the night ended. I’d lived with the justification that there was nothing I could have done to prevent it.

And now Sofia lay unconscious, injured because the same world that had taken so much from her had reached her again. I wasn’t going to lose her. I slid one arm beneath her shoulders and the other beneath her knees, lifting her gently against my chest. Trevor appeared in the doorway.

The relief on his face appeared briefly before it hardened into resolve.

“Get the cars ready. We’re leaving.”

By the time we reached the vehicles, her chest was moving slowly with her breathing. I kept stealing glances down at her face, searching for a flicker of consciousness. There was nothing. I hated this feeling of helplessness.

The doctors were waiting at the penthouse when I arrived. They swooped in, taking over the moment I walked through the door, immediately checking the wound on her head.

“She took a significant blow,” one said, “that requires close monitoring.”

“Will she wake up?”

“We anticipate she will, but we’ll need time to observe her.”

A short while later, after they’d put Sofia in the bedroom and settled her with IV fluids and monitoring equipment, Trevor walked in.

“Sokolov wanted leverage,” he said, his eyes fixed on the bed. “Either to manipulate the O’Connors or put you on your back foot.”

“I’m…I’m just so glad she’s alive,” I said, struggling to push his words out of my mind. All I could think of was how close I’d come to losing her.

Trevor lingered for another moment in the doorway, then left without another word, leaving me alone with her. The room was silent except for the rhythmic hum of the monitors attached to her body. I looked down at my hands.

My knuckles were still faintly raw from the warehouse, a smear of her blood beneath my fingernails. I should have washed my hands, but I couldn’t force myself to leave her side. Sofia stirred in her sleep, and my eyes snapped up.

“I’m here.” There was no response, but I stayed anyway.

The night was long. From the window, I watched the city lights glimmer like forgotten promises. And as I sat there beside the woman whose life I’d unwittingly scarred before I knew her name, I made myself a vow: nothing from my past would ever take her from me again.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Sofia

My head throbbed, and I had no idea where I was. I stared at the unfamiliar ceiling for a few seconds, trying to recall exactly how I’d gotten here. The room was silent, expensive, and nothing I’d ever seen before. I tried to sit up, but a sharp pain shot through my head with the motion.

“Don’t move too quickly.”

I spun my head around and saw an elderly woman wearing a doctor’s coat.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Dr. Lowry. You were brought here following an accident. You sustained a concussion, but thankfully there seems to be no indication of serious brain damage.”

Accident. The word brought a frown to my face. Then the memories came flooding back. The late-night drive home from the café. The cars shadowing me at every turn. The second car blocking my path in the intersection. The sharp sound of my car window shattering. The crack of something hitting my head, and then darkness.