ing. He shoved her forward, forcing her toward th

, absolute-steel wrapped in si

umbled over his words, struggling to assemble them into something that made sense. The

r knees and

rching for the lie, the bluff, the crack that would tell her this

"No." The word came out steady, even as every

had signed their contract, surrendered her freedom, let them strip her clothe

. His palm was warm. His grip was not. He pressed down with

her ear. His breath wa

you over to the FBI for attempted murder right no

t her like a blade

topped

ld. Her mother was in a facility bed, dependent on machines and medication and the fragile thre

deep it had nowhere else to go. They dropped onto the coll

herself to

ed forward, pressing her bare palms against the wet tiles. The spilled water was cool against her skin. Her

er face towar

er body be

was familiar, pain she had learned to breathe through. This was something else. This

sternum, fingers clawing at the fabric of her scrubs as if she co

inward-knees to chest, spine curved, the fetal reflex of a

of air. Each inhale was a battle. Each exhale was a wheeze.

xpression twisted into som

ice dripped with contemp

lips around the syllables, but all that came out was a wet, rattling wheeze

His eyes tracked the color draining from her lips, the way the skin around her

ls were

was goi

hit him like a

sn't f

ying on h

up in a burning clinic with his face peeled off and his best friend dragg

users, but he didn't notice. He grabbed her wrist. His fingers pressed hard against her

tic flutter, too fast, too weak-like a dy

wet tile. He caught himself against the wall and sl

ly cracked-on the single word. "G

button and tur

w, useless breath. Her eyes were open but unseeing, fixed on some point

how. His hands-hands that had broken bones, signed billion-doll

The only language he knew. "You don't get to die before I

e wasn't sure he was eve

n burst through, medical kit in

illed water that had started it all, watching the gray creep across the

hought, the realization c

e on her feet than

e near