Page 81 of Condemned By Pain
Just then, she stops struggling. I quickly look at her face. Her eyes are empty, staring through me.
I freeze. Everything around me goes black—except her blue face. My hands won’t move, won’t check her pulse. I just stare, clutching her to my chest. My heartbeat fades to nothing.
If she dies, I won’t live a single minute longer. I couldn’t bear the pain of drawing another breath.
But then she stirs. Her eyes flutter closed.
My heart thunders back to life. I crush her to my chest, breathing again, then pull back to look at her. She’s breathing through her nose, her mouth closed.
“I can breathe,” she whispers.
I kiss her. My tears fall onto her face.
She takes deep breaths.
“You... kissed me.” The words barely exist.
I rub her back. “Focus on breathing.”
Bruno climbs onto the bed and sniffs her face.
“She’ll be fine,” I tell him, wiping my face on my sleeve.
I move back against the headboard, keeping her upright in my arms. I look up and find Antonio watching me.
“I’ll call the doctor.”
I nod. He leaves.
I brush the hair stuck to her forehead aside and kiss her there.
“You don’t hate me.” Her voice is clearer now.
I kiss her again.
“I love you, Princess.”
She struggles to keep her eyes open.
“I love you too.” Her words slur.
“I’m not... dying, right?” she whispers, her eyes drifting shut.
“You can’t die, Princess.” I press the hoarse words into her forehead. “You’re the morning after all my darkest nights. God can’t be cruel enough to take you away too.”
She doesn’t speak again. Her breathing steadies. Slowly, color returns to her face.
By the time Antonio returns with my personal doctor, her condition has stabilized.
Liam examines her and administers another injection. She’ll remain in short-term neural suspension—a coma-like state lasting twelve to fourteen hours.
Once Liam leaves, I look at Antonio.
“Ask Robin to prepare the jet and the capsule.” I glance down at her face in my arms. “Tell him I’ll go, too.”
“Are you sure?”
“I can’t keep her. Alessio will find her soon, and she’ll still hate me after I kill Alexander.”
