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My phone stuck out from my pocket. I shoved it down deeper and clutched my windbreaker closer against a battering gust of wind. The contact was gone…had he meant dead?
Terror filled me.
Had.
He.
Meant.
Dead?
“Finley!I roared until my throat burned, and stumbled forward in the darkness.
But no matter how fast I ran, he was gone…like he hadn’t been there at all.
Confusion was a fog inside my mind. What the fuck was happening to me? I ran until the ground blurred, and the panic inside me blended with the pounding in my chest. I ran until the soft dirt turned harder and finally my boots smacked concrete.
Darkness moved at the edge of my vision. Still, he was like a mirage, elusive, and addictive, drawing me along the pathway until the lights of the buildings shimmered in the distance. I shouldn’t be back here. I should be gone, hiding as the contact sped me away.
But there was no meeting…and no escaping—not tonight.
My phone gave abeep.But I didn’t reach for it. Deep down, I knew who it was. Instead, I kept pushing until the hardthudof my steps pushed agony through my ankles. I raced past the first building and punched my fists into the air as my own building loomed.
I caught sight of the guard seated in the foyer, oblivious to my escape. But I wasn’t escaping now, was I? No. I turned my focus to the pathway in front of me, driving my hurting feet along the path as I narrowed in on the lights that twinkled in the distance. I wasn’t escaping at all.
“Salvatore!”His name burned along my throat.
I was too far gone now, heading toward building one, then past it, only slowing as agony moved through my side. I shoved my hand against the stitch as my breath caught.
I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t feel anything other than the wretched burn tearing through my veins. I wasn’t myself now, wasn’t in my right frame of mind. I wasjust like he wanted me,unhinged. Reeling. Adrenaline numbed my thoughts as I stumbled toward his building, lifted my hand, and slammed my fist against the glass door.
The guard sitting in the foyer whipped his head up at the sound.“Let. Me. In!”
He rose from the sofa and lifted his hand, his lips moving as he spoke into a mic. Seconds passed like hours. That burn moved deeper, forcing me to slam my fist against the glass once more. But then he strode toward me and hit the button, letting me stumble inside.
Into the quiet.
And the dryness.
Hard breaths consumed me. For a second, I couldn’t speak. A harsh rasp was all that came as I lifted my hand and pointed. “I want to see him.”
“I don’t kn—”
I curled my lips and whipped my glare toward the guard.“NOW!”
He moved fast, striding toward the elevator and swiping the card before pressing the button. The bright lights of the elevator were blinding as I staggered inside, grasped hold of the railing, and watched as the doors closed.
Sonofabitch…
Goddamn sonofabitch.
My body quaked as the elevator rose, inching slowly toward the top until it stopped with a jolt…and the doors opened.
The silence was eerie. Empty.Vacant.Not just as though the moment we'd shared was only my own private fantasy…but as though he'd never existed at all.
I stumbled into the apartment, finding faint outline of the leather sofa in the muted amber lights. Darkness pushed in, choking the life out of this world, leaving me to try to focus and scan the apartment.
“What are you doing here, Anna?”
