Page 68 of Dark Alliance
Caterina
I stare at Tony’s corpse.
He was my friend once. Sort of. He’s still my brother’s friend, and he’s been part of my life for years. My first boyfriend. My first lover.
Now he’s just a body lying in a pool of red liquid. Connor’s blade protrudes from his chest, glinting in the dim light.
The scent of wine and blood curdle together, clogging my throat as Tony’s sightless eyes gaze up at the ceiling. Scarlet coats his blond hair, turning the strands a strange orangey shade.
I bend over, gagging, spitting nothing onto the floor. My stomach roils, threatening more.
“Cat. Let me help you.” Connor snags my arm, blotting at my cut with his shirt.
“It’s just a scrape. I’m fine.” I pull away, my breathing short and shallow. Heat rushes through my face, and my dry tongue thickens with the taste of acid and copper pennies.
Connor knows I’m anything but fine.
He places his palm on my back, his warmth seeping into my body but doing nothing to calm me. “You want to try and slow it down. With me.” He takes a long, deep breath, exhaling it overseveral seconds. “Like that. Take a deeper breath and hold it if you can.”
I try to obey, sucking in air as patiently as I can. It smells of Tony’s death.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I press closer to Connor to try and inhale his cologne instead.
It sort of works, allowing me to hold the breath in my lungs for as long as I can.
“Now release.” He rubs circles on my spine as I repeat the breathing exercise a few more times.
After what feels like hours but is probably only seconds, my heart rate eases.
Connor’s voice is low and steady in my ear. “Good job. You’re okay, Cat.”
I open my eyes and glance down at the paling body on the floor.
Shit, just…shit. Tony’s dead. Fuck.
I’m responsible for this. I’m the one who forced Connor into sex down here. I all but threw myself at him.
I insisted.
And now, Nino’s best friend, a man I’ve known my entire life, is dead.
Because of the gala upstairs, I don’t even have time to come to terms with this sharp turn of events. Everyone’s waiting for us…
Damn it all.
Connor didn’t attack Tony.
Tony was out of control and wouldn’t let me explain. After that, everything snowballed so quickly.
It’s all my fault. This situation didn’t need to end in death.
Worse, Nino won’t even care that Connor acted in self-defense.
“Cat, I’m sorry about your…friend.” Connor’s tone comes across as robotic. He might be sorry I’m upset, but he doesn’t care about Tony’s death.
When our eyes meet, I don’t know what to say. This is the world we live in, but I never…
I’ve never seen a friend die in front of me like this.
