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Epilogue
When consciousness finally starts to come back to me, it comes in the form of a steady, throbbing pain in my ribs. It seems to have dulled all of a sudden, although why, I don’t know—hell, I don’t even know where I am, and my eyelids are so damn heavy. I feel my breath catch in my throat as I try to move, to speak, to call out for help.
But my voice doesn’t seem to work, and my whole body feels heavy and weak. I can’t even seem to lift my head as I struggle to remember what happened. My eyelids flutter against my cheeks, dragging slowly open, and I find myself staring up at a set of glaring fluorescent lights.
My first coherent thought is,Interrogation room. Someone busted us and now they’ve taken me in.Except something about that doesn’t make sense, and even though I can’t put my finger on what, the dull sense of panic I’m feeling starts to abate as I stare up at those lights, trying to clear my swimming head.
God, what happened? Where’s Theo? The pain in my chest is so intense that it’s making it hard to concentrate, pulsing in time to my heartbeat, which is pulsing in time to...
With a huge effort, I rotate my eyes to the left and find myself looking at an EKG monitor, its steadybeep beep beepfilling my ears. Next to it is an IV drip, along with untold other gadgets, and as it finally registers that I’m in a hospital room, it all comes flooding back to me: Lucas. Theo. The gun. The shot...
Wincing, I turn my head, trying to get my arms under myself. The beeping of the EKG picks up speed as new panic rushes through me. Is Theo safe? What happened after I blacked out?
I struggle to sit up, but the movement makes my chest feel like it’s about to explode—along with my left upper arm, which protests at the exertion. I clench my teeth against the pain and fall back against the pillow, exhaling loudly as the last of the sleepiness fades away, even though the disorientation remains.
“Hey there, sleepyhead,” comes a deep voice, and a hand lands gently on my right arm. “You were out for a long time.”
Relief fills me, and I lean into the touch, turning my head, ready to greet the man who risked his life for me—
Except it isn’t Theo sitting in the chair next to me. It’s Lucas.
My throat suddenly feels paper-dry, and a cold sweat breaks out on my skin. My eyes dart from the IV drip to the door, and from the door to my husband’s face. His black eyes are unreadable, and his expression is distant but somehow also... content. “Lucas...” I croak, my voice hoarse.
“You must be thirsty,” he says absently, grabbing a water glass from the side table and pushing it against my lips.
I take two small sips and then back away from it, shaking my head. I don’t want to drink, and I don’t want my psycho husband playing nursemaid. I’m already alarmed at the fact that he’s the one who’s here. “What...” I manage, my voice a little more forceful this time, “What happened? Where’s Theo?”
“Ah, Theo.” Lucas shakes his head. “It always comes back to him, doesn’t it? Such a shame—he was perfectly normal until recently. No cause for concern. But you know how these things go; sometimes you don’t notice the symptoms until they’re too far gone to be helped.”
A rush of fear goes through me, as cold as ice water. “What do you mean?” I ask. “What symptoms?”
“Vivian, darling,” Lucas says, patting my arm in a way that’s a bit too aggressive to be reassuring, “I’m afraid my brother Theo has gone mad.”
“Mad?” I shake my head in disbelief. “Lucas, what— how—”
“A real tragedy,” Lucas says, nodding, as if in agreement to himself. “I never would have expected it from him, of all people, but there you have it. The poor bastard did have a way of bringing out the worst in people. Like me, for instance.” His dark eyes settle on me, and my stomach churns. “And you.”
I open my mouth to reply, but no words come out. If Lucas notices, he gives no indication, continuing, “If only he’d been able to open up to me, we might have been able to find a path forward together. But it’s no use crying over spilled milk, is it? What matters is that you’re on the mend, and soon everything will be back to the way it was. The way itshouldbe.”
“Lucas, I don’t understand.” I’m struggling to keep my voice steady, but my panic is seeping through. “What happened? Where is he?”
I try once again to sit up, but he puts a firm hand on my shoulder and shoves me back down—hard enough to make tears of pain and shock fill my eyes, despite whatever drugs I’m on. “Theo has been dealt with,” he says, and the answer is so damningly cryptic that my stomach about drops through the floor.
“What does that mean?” I whisper, afraid to hear the answer even as the words leave my mouth.
Lucas doesn’t reply. Instead, he slaps his knees as if we’ve just had a grand old chat, gets to his feet, and heads for the door. “I’ll let you get some rest. You clearly need it.”
“Lucas!” I call after him.
But he gives me nothing more. All he does is pause in the doorway, one hand on the handle, and turn around for a moment to glance back at me. And the look on his face holds no sympathy. “Get well soon, Vivian,” he says.
Then the door swings shut behind him, and I’m alone.
Keep readingwith Tattered Brothers here…
Description
I’m married to the head of the Emmerico family, but I don’t love him…
