Page 168
Painkillers: one
Sergei: zero
“Elara, you look like you died yesterday.” Hearing Elara and death in the same sentence snaps my eyes open.
Roman looms over her, looking murderous, while she rests her head on the edge of my bed like she hasn’t moved in hours.
“I don’t see you breathing fine either.” She shoots back, though the usual bite in her tone is dulled by exhaustion.
Roman lifts a brow, almost amused. “Hello? Who said you could talk to me like that?” He leans closer, voice dropping. “I could kill you, dollface.”
“I just stabbed a man yesterday. You wanna test me?”
That does it.
A laugh rips out of me, cut short when pain slams into my skull, turning it into a rough groan. Both of them snap their attention to me.
Elara straightens instantly, her hand wrapping around mine as an instinct and she scoots closer.
“Hey!” she chimes and I almost laugh again.
Her hair is a mess; she’s still in the same clothes from yesterday.
She hasn’t left my side, and the revelation causes me to smile.
“Hey, baby.” I mumble, then shift my gaze to Roman, my glare sharpening. “Stop threatening my woman, arsehole.” I grit out.
“Well then, you threaten her. She hasn’t slept for days. God knows what happened in the base—”
“Roman stop.” My head pounds again, as unwanted memories start resurfacing.
My eyes close unable to fight it again.
“Sergei.” Elara whispers, her hand tightening in mine and I nod faintly, forcing the words out.
“I’m fine.” I just need rest.
And then I fall back into the darkness.
Painkillers: two
Sergei: zero
When my eyes open again, I’m lying on my bed. The place is familiar but so is the loneliness.
My mind is foggy as I try to piece together how I got here and how much time has passed, but nothing comes except the rapid realisation that I’m alone.
When I try to call out Elara’s name my voice comes out rough and weak, barely above a whisper, dissolving into the silence around me.
My chest tightens as panic starts swirling through me, but the sound of approaching footsteps cuts through it, easing it just enough to let me breathe.
“Elara?” I call out, hope lacing my voice, only for it to falter when Roman appears instead, leaning against the wall with a look that tells me everything at once, sympathy carved into his features in a way I don’t like, yet like a fool I still ask.
“Where is she?”
His silence stretches for a few unbearable seconds before he finally exhales. “Her sister fell down the stairs last night, she—”
“Where. Is. She?” I nearly growl, the words sharp and unsteady as I throw the sheets off and push myself up, ignoring the warning in my body until my feet hit the ground and pain explodes through my calves.
