Page 121 of Beautiful Obsessions
“Tone.”
It was Atlas.His voice cut through the haze of my grief, but I only shook my head violently, tears blurring everything into angry streaks of red and grey.
“No, don’t—don’t?—”
Strong arms pulled me up, moving me away from the only place I wanted to be.Away from him.
My hands reached for Archie, desperate, useless, grasping at air as I tried to get back to him.
“No—please?—”
Medics rushed in.Fast.Efficient.They were too calm.
They pushed in around him, hands moving with practised ease—cutting fabric, pressing, working.
Working on a body I knew—I knew?—
“Clear!”
The word cracked through the air.
I flinched as a sharp, artificial jolt ran through Archie’s body.
My breath caught.
Hope—stupid, desperate hope—flared for a fraction of a second.
“Again.”
There was another charge.Another violent jerk.
Nothing.
The machine beside him screamed—a flat, unbroken sound that seemed to slice straight through my chest.
“No…”
The word dragged up my throat, thick and reluctant, forcing its way out like it didn’t belong there.
I couldn’t watch.I couldn’t… I turned away, my body folding in on itself as the reality hit in full, brutal force.
Gone.He was gone.
The air left my lungs in a shudder, my hands shaking as I pressed them to my face, trying—failing—to hold myself together.
Everything inside me tore loose at once.Something vital had been hooked and ripped straight out of my chest, leaving nothing behind but an echo and a hollow that couldn’t be filled.
“T—Tone…”
Gianni.
His voice reached me through the wreckage, softer than I’d ever heard it.Careful not to add to my pain.
I didn’t pull away when he stepped into me.Didn’t fight when his arms closed around me.I didn’t have anything left to fight with.
My body just… folded.
His hold was solid, unyielding, the only thing keeping me upright as my knees buckled beneath the weight of my grief.His hand pressed firm against the back of my head, anchoring me there, forcing me to stay in a world that had just lost its center.
